sudden death of chicks

[Bangonthedoor]

So..we got our first ever chicks on Saturday afternoon from a very good breeder friend of mine. X2 6 week old light sussex and x2 8 week old legbars.

Yesterday morning we found one of the light sussex dead in the nest box then an hour or so after that the other light sussex died.

This morning i opened the door to the house for the legbars and both went down into the run for breakfast and a drink. Then 10 mins later, i popped back and one of the legbars was dead. Ive been watching the last remaining one all morning and just found it in a bad way, looks like it wont be long until she dies either.

I feel so sad and ao confused :-( my friend is due to pop by soon to check our set up is ok etc which im sure it is as is quite similar to what she has at her house.

We are giving them crumble which our local poultry centre recommended. DP seems to think its too cold for them butim not so sure..any advice would be more than welcome.

Feel like its all my fault and shouldnt keep chickens ever again.

Did they have plenty of water to hand - ours drink an incredible amount - even more in this hot weather. Were you feeding them chick crumb?

Thanks for your reply smashedhen yes they have had plenty of water to hand. Ive been putting a carte dor ice cream tub in there about 3/4 full id say. Water changed daily.

Ive just ready the packet of the crumb and it doesnt say for chicks or not for chicks.

The last remaining chick has perked up a bit this afternoon so i suppose only time will tell with her.

Could it have been the shock or moving or would that have been more instant?

My friend is coming over soon. Willow looks ever so sad on her own though.

*shock of moving

Have you inspected them?

Sorry inspected them in what way? When i found them dead i did check them over and seemed fine physically to the eye.

Could it be Marek's disease?

Just wondered because lice or mites can take down a bird pretty quickly

are they drinking the water?

did their bedding get damp?

are they vaxed or on medicated food?

do they have most of their feathers? How long have they been off heat? How cold is it? Is it damp?

you can ask on backyard chickens, there is a lot of advice and info there.

Sorry to hear of your troubles :( I'm sure it is something other than this, but worth mentioning that sudden death in multiple birds is a notifiable condition (as it is a sign of bird flu - as I said, it is probably something else) and therefore should be reported to DEFRA.

I think that you should start with POL (point of lay)hens so 16-18 weeks rather than chicks.

we wouldn't normally put our chicks separately until at least 8 weeks at the very earliest. they are either too young and not weaned off the lamp as well as they should have been or they are diseased. chicks need chick crumb. that's what its called so make sure you have some of it. agree that you should be letting defra know I am afraid as this is a lot of birds to go down. you need to tell the person you got them off of that you are doing this as well. go for older birds next time if this is your first time as chicks are quite tricky. good luck - feel sad for you.

It sounds like they could have got chilled - they are still very young.
Or it could be Merek's. Or coccidiosis - this does often strike about 6-8 weeks, though some feeds will protect against this. It tends to strike in damp conditions or poor hygene - eg water contaminated with poop.
Or it could be some chemical residue in your coup. Did you disinfect it as they arrived - could you have put them in the coup whilst it was still damp, something like that?
The water arrangement isn't ideal, you can get poultry water towers which help keep the water clean and prevent the chicks from getting wet (by not having any depth of water). They're not expensive. Could it be that the water has been contaminated - eg by droppings? Chicks can get very sick very quickly.
The food sounds confusing - is it chick crumb? Some are suitable for both hens and ducks. You should be using the same feed as they're used to, moving gradually onto the new feed you want to use. I'm not sure if an abrupt change to something completely different would kill otherwise healthy chicks so quickly, assuming the change was from one type of poultry chick crumb to another.
I agree that reporting to DEFRA could be in order.