[Wannabee]

Have 50 chicks in a rearing box with infra red light over them for about a week and 3 days now and have lost 11 of them. The hatch went fine and there seemed to be no problems for 3 day after they were hatched when the first one died and then 1 or 2 every morning/evening. The only thing linking them is that they all seemed to have varying degrees of poo stuck to there behinds. Some had  pea size amounts and others had a good gooseberry sized amount which was dryer than toothpaste and seemed to be lagging in size when compared to the other chicks with out this poo problem. No blood in it just like a ball of feed.

Anyone seen this before?

[agapanthus]

Some chicks are prone to this happening.....one of my chicks had the same problem. You must remove this ball of poo or it can seal the vent over and they wont be able to discharge their poo. This might be why they are dying. Check each chick 3 or 4 times a day and remove any stuck poo. Hope this helps. 

[Big Jen]

I have 2 chicks in my brooder at present and had this problem for the first week.  Noticed they looked like they were straining/ squating down. Had to wipe their botties with damp cotton wool a couple of times a day Worse than having babies
They are 2 and 1/2 weeks now and perfectly OK

BJ

[Wannabee]

Could it be a disease or something?

or is this poo thing normal enough.

[Big Jen]

I think it is normal, just their little digestions getting going.

BJ

[Wannabee]

And that would kill them  have two more showing this poo prob hope they won't die. Should I change food. I'm using starter crumb.

[Foxy]

Its called "vent pasting" you have to clean their bots or they will die. Are they drinking enough and are they warm enough? If they get chilled this can cause vent pasting.

[Wannabee]

Ah thank Foxy,

That was the reply I was looking for, have clean there bots but maybe not often enough the poor things. The water drinker is one of those 1ltr 1/2 ones refilled every day even with half water still in it I always give them fresh water every day.

This is them .....



Do you think they have enough room, and there is a plywood lid that slides in over this box around the lamp with vents.

Out with the baby wipes then  just raging I didn't know this sooner. And this is why I love this forum..

Thanks

[Wannabee]

Oh and the lamp is only off for the pic which only took seconds

[agapanthus]

In my opinion the area is far too small. Chicks grow at an alarming rate and in a short while they will be very cramped. Also, there is no need to put a lid on the box.....they will probably be very hot. They need a choice of where to go when they get too warm and it looks to me that they have nowhere to go. We have our chicks in a huge fish box, that has the light at one end. If they get too warm they go to the end that does'nt have the light. We have a wire-mesh lid so they can get fresh air and also so we can see what's happening to them and of course so we can talk to them!!! 

For 50 chicks the size of pen should (preferably) be 6ft diameter circle. This stops the chicks from huddling together in a corner and suffocating one another. For this size 2 heat lamps would be required. We made one in our large shed, by putting down a large sheet of plastic. We then put a hoop of small mesh chickenwire 3 ft high on top of the plastic and secured the ends with cable ties. We lifted the plastic up the sides of the chicken wire and secured that to the wire, again using cable ties. We filled the bottom of the pen with shavings (the plastic up the sides stops the shavings going all over the place) and suspended the lights from the shed rafters.
Hope you did'nt mind me saying this.

[Wannabee]

This was the largest amount of chicks we ever brought out due to friends wanting some, I had thought it to small thats why I asked, Thanks for the reply. I'll split them in the morning after a quick dash to the shop for another light. I have some heavy wire mesh that would fit over them in this box but just didn't think it would be warm enough.

[Wannabee]

What is the correct temp for rearing on chicks or is it best to let them regulate themselves as agapanthus says?

[Vember]

Hi wannabee

They need to have a temp of  35oc at day old gradually reducing over the weeks

But as Aggy says they need to be able to get away from that at times especially if there are a lot of chicks in there, as they will generate heat themselves in that respect



Sarah

[GrannieAnnie]

Like Vember said, you start at 35°C then I think it goes down by 2° each week, but the last lot I had in the brooder, I did let the chicks tell me when they are warm enough.

Hope the chicks will be okay now!! It's awful when any die on you!