First bantam hatch. Twelve chicks, and I have lost three in four days. They are tiny, maybe half the size of the standard chicks I raised last year, and I think I am treating them like standard chicks.
Brooder has a heat plate, chick crumble, and an open waterer. The ones that died were found away from the heat rather than under it. Where do I start, because I would rather not lose any more while I work it out?
Get marbles or clean pebbles into that open waterer today. Bantam chicks are small enough to fall in, get soaked and chill, and small enough to drown, and an open tray is the usual way it happens.
While you are in there, dip each chick's beak in the water once. Some of them do not work out drinking quickly, and for very small bantams a lot of keepers grind the crumble finer so it is easier to get at.
Check every vent for pasty butt daily. Droppings crust over it and block it, and it kills fast at that size.
Three deaths in four days means I would want you watching for coccidiosis rather than only fixing the brooder: lethargy, hunched and fluffed, watery or bloody droppings, and sudden deaths. It is common in young chicks and it tracks damp dirty bedding.
Isolate anything that looks unwell, get the bedding dry and clean, keep notes on ages and symptoms and timing, and ring a vet or your extension service if the deaths continue. Some poultry diseases are reportable and the notes are what make that conversation useful.
@temp_at_chick_level · 4d ago · 3 replies
Away from the heat rather than under it points at overheating rather than chilling, which is the opposite of what people assume when chicks die. Measure the temperature at chick level, not at the plate, and make sure there is a genuinely cooler zone they can get to.
Chilled chicks huddle under the heat and peep loudly. Overheated chicks spread out as far as they can get, pant, hold their wings away from the body and go lethargic. Yours were found at the far end.
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@lost_three_chicks · 3d ago
The plate is in a corner of a fairly small brooder, so there may not be anywhere properly cool to go.
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@temp_at_chick_level · 3d ago
That is likely it. The point of a heat plate is a gradient, and in a small brooder with the plate in a corner the whole box ends up warm. Bigger brooder or less heat, and check at chick level in several places so you know what you actually have.
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