We were given about 50 2-day old chicks to raise, as a result of a 4-H incubation project. We're doing pretty good so far with adjusting the temp, medicated starter feed, and booder, etc. I just have a couple of questions... 1- My son used insulation to line the brooder to help maintain the warmth. The chicks are exposed to it. Will this cause any harm to them? (They seem to love cuddling next to it.) 2- Two or three of the chicks have a good case of diarrhea. Is this contagious? What can I do to help? Thank you so much for any help or advice anyone is willing to share. Vicki Robinson, Mocksville, NC

Wow, hope the chicks are doing well. I would not think that the insulation would be very good at all. Is it fiberglass insulation? Those small fibers can get into their lungs and cause big problems. Perhaps you could put the insulation outside the pen (just not so that they can peck at it or are directly exposed.) Perhaps this is why they have diarrhea too. The insulation is glass...however soft it may feel.

Congrats on your new project. The chicks should bring you and your family many hours of enjoyment.
I've been incubating eggs and raising chickens for 10 years and currently have around 35 chicks in my basement brooder.
If you have no draft in your brooder and adequate heat, you shouldn't need insulation at all. In any case - remove it. Chicks are very inquisitive and will peck at anything. The fiberglass could be very bad for them.
The runny poop from your chicks is normal and should go away with plenty of fresh water and a quality chick starter feed.
Good Luck

Good Luck.
Fiberglass is harmful to all animals.
Insulation is fiberglass.

hello, i need advice about 25 white leghorn chicks i've had for 1 week now. the chicks have been given fresh water and food about 4 or 5 times a day. the bedding in the brooder has been replaced 3 or 4 times a day. so far all has been fine and i've seen a large amount of growth this first week. this morning the chicks were all laying down like they do at night. the temp. is at 90f so i feel certain they are not cold. this is the first time i've seen them like this in the morning. also for about 2 days there has been some diarrhea but only when i'm changing the bedding and upset them. otherwise their waste is more solid. does this sound normal or bad. any advice will be welcomed, thanks!

I have recently purchased 27 chicks and they are a week and a half old, three or four days ago they started to get sick gasping for breath one has died and I have three sick now. They are Barhmas very beautiful and I have grown to love them in this short time I hate losing them like this I have written to my extention agent and gotten some advice which I hope works. He thinks they may have something like the flu gotten cold from traveling. Or they may have a virus I have heard old timers talk about chickens having the gaps that is what they do too is gap them gasp for breath. Does anyone have any advice.
Kat

Could they be too hot? They need enough room to get away from excessive heat. Your temperature under the heat source should be 90-95, but they will move to a space comfortable for them if they have room. You should have a container at least 2X3', and larger is better. If they have contracted something along the lines of a respiratory infection, an appropriate antibiotic like lincomyicin should help, but make sure that's what the problem is before medicating. If you will describe your conditions and setup, other people may have some better ideas about what is wrong. Good luck.

I have them in a two by three cage the 150w light is about 18 or20 inches above the chicks they seem to want to lay under the light. I started them on terimmycin today but they are dying left and right I lost two today they do seem to have a problem breathing one even peeps when it breathes, I am so afraid I am going to lose the whole lot of them, they are so sick. It doesn't seem to help to take out the sick because there are so many of them coming down with this. I am so down hearted about this I ordered them from Murry McMurry Hatchery I called them and they didn't tell me much of anything to do. Is the Barhama a hard breed to raise? I took them out in the sun today but it didn't help at all I am thinking about taking one to the vet. tomarrow.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks Kat

PS my temp is about 82 degrees I wouldn't think that was too hot, I have raised chicks several times before with no problem.
Kat

Could you describe all your conditions for readers to judge? What kind of building are they in? natural light? bedding? feed brand and protein level? water? What is your climate, and how hot and humid has it been? other animals around? vaccinations? Have they chirped or made noise along the way?

You say they are in a cage. Is there a floor with bedding? If there is no floor, put cardboard or several layers of newspaper on that wire floor at once and put shavings for bedding on top of it immediately. If there is only a wire floor, they probably have not been able to get warm enough, or have been in a draft from the convection set up by your bulb. Did you dip their beaks in the water when they arrived? Are they eating and drinking?

Could you Brahma folks suggest any ideas here? Is this breed prone to problems as chicks? Are they temperamental when little? Should we treat them like broilers because of rapid growth?

Hello!

I've just ventured in to the world of chickens
and ducks (3 rhode islands and two domestic mallards)

I have a question about my chicks...they are 3 weeks
old and seem to be feeling fine, but two of them
have big lums in the right side of their throats near
their breasts...is this something I should worry about?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Mich

I'm not sure what those lumps are. My chicks had them when they were that age. They never caused any problems and now they are almost a year old and are doing great. Hope its nothing serious. Good Luck!

This sounds like the crop, where food is stored until it can pass into the working part of the digestive system. They fill up and make this pouch protrude until the food moves on. Not to worry. You can feel this through the feathers and see if it feels like feed inside. Good luck.

We have as a 4-H project (Broilers). We picked them up in freezing weather at the fairgrounds approx. 2 weeks ago. They were day old chicks. Three continued to look weak the day after, even with continuous TLC (tender loving care). The brooder temp remained within normal range (90-95) and the chicks were drinking and eating well. Even with good airflow and no temperature variables we have lost a total of 4 chicks. The question I have is that the chicks act as if they are too weak to walk, then develope a head tilt. Soon after they die. I cannot find any resouce to indicate what may cause this. There does not appear any dehydration or runny stools.
I'm at a loss. Do you have any ideas.

I think if the readers had more to go on we might be able to offer more help. I assume these are Cornish X broiler chicks? Would you describe your brooder setup, bedding, feed, water, source of heat, drafts, the room they are in, numbers, etc. What hatchery did they come from, and how far away was this? How many came in the shipment, and how cold was it the morning they arrived? Do the chicks huddle in a corner or lay around and act lethargic from the start? How is your thermometer placed to display the temperature? Do you have any kind of broiler supplement or boost in the water? How far is it from their heat source to the feed and from the heat source to the water? If you have both of these close to the heat source, move them away in steps beginning immediately. Move them away about two feet now, then if they are eating there this evening, move them away another 2-4 feet tomorrow morning. They should have to walk 8-12 feet from the heat to get their feed within a very few days, and it should be that far to the water, too. It is important to enforce exercise and movement on broilers so they don't get the "sits" syndrome. When this happens, they eat, drink, sit, and just don't work well inside. A considerable percentage will die if left this way.
So you know, the weak ones you describe may well be lost soon, but there may be things to do when the readers here have more information to go on. We will check frequently for your reply. Good luck.

Dr. Smith,
Thanks for much needed information. The chicks were moved to a much larger area today. I hope thatI have lost the last of my chicks. I had them in a brooder 2o sq. feet initially. It is possible that they had outgrown the brooder. There was plenty of fresh air but nothing as far as drafts, etc. The food and water may not have been far enough from the heat source. The 4-H agent did not want any medications given to the chicks but we may use supplements.As far as where the chicks originally came from, I'm not sure. They are the Cornish X broiler which is the normal breed for 4-H projects of Louisiana. As far as history of the chicks;They were picked up late one night at the fairgrounds(9:00PM)in near freezing weather. These little guys had a tough start right from the beginning.
If you have any other information, it would be much appreciated.

When you get them back on regular feed and exercise, you might want to consider withholding feed at night. We usually let the feed run out about 6-7 PM, but keep plenty of water available. In the morning, pour the feed to them. This helps keep them from eating and sitting still in the dark all night. It really helped our broilers. Good luck.

Anyone have a clue to this question? The broilers have continued to drop and die. The temperature continues to remain within the normal range. Good airflow still maintained. They continue to eat and drink. There has been some loose watery stools. Their skin color becomes cyanotic (blue) just prior to seizure and death. They do not appear to be dehaydrated in any way. They have gained weight but their feathering is not great. I had one that we culled away that appeared to have a swollen craw. Its weight gain was stunted. I couldn't find any information re: this issue. If anyone has any ideas, please write.

hello i'm a new chicken farmer myself, it has started as a little hobby for my husband and I. we have an incubater and we are raising chickens from eggs. We got them from a friends farm I know they lay green eggs, sorry I don't know the name. after hatching we have kept them in a cardboard box with a smaller box inside with a doorway for entry, the very bottom is layered with plastic, then newspaper, and then hay ( iheard that is not good so i'm switching to shavings)but somhow they are getting sick and dying it is so sad. I change there water a few times a day, i feed them twice a day with chick scratch and a little crumbled bread. they are fine one minute and gone the next they fist start with limp feet (like foot rot I assume) then eventually they can't breath. I have started changing their bedding everyday and they are also on some chicken medicine (forgotten the name) it looks like yellow water?
If you have any advise that would be great because I have more babies hatching every week and the sooner I get on top of this the better Thankyou

Emryan, Perhaps before you get any more chicks, you will obtain a sack of Medicated Chick Starter crumbles. This is a complete feed for baby chicks right up until time they lay eggs. They should have their feed and water before them all the time, so they can eat whenever they want to (which is almost all the time!) Chick scratch can be fed after they are 5 or 6 weeks old as a very small addition to their Starter Ration, maybe just once a day. Are they warm enough? Don't know where you live or what the temperature is, but newly hatched chicks should be kept at 95f for their first week, and slowly reduced until regular daytime temperatures, but may need heat at night for several weeks. A thermometer to check temperature in their box is a must, can't guess. Of course, too warm, is just as bad for them. Hope you get a feel for their needs, they are so precious and a great deal of pleasure when things go right! CJR

Thanks for your help CJR, your advise was very helpfull!! we are building a proper coop tommorow. We live in British Columbia Canada, pretty fair to warm climate. The chicks are in my basement so they are room temperture with alight also, and their food is always accesible and fresh.hopefully the chick starter food will help.Thankyou.