Lost 3 more chicks :(

[ToyinPA]

During a nest check tonight we found 3 out of 4 chicks in a nest dead. Not a mark on them. No parasites of any kind. They were nice & fat, well fed. They were getting pin feathers. They were 11-12 days old. They each had a few blowfly larva on them 4 days ago, which I removed when we did nest changes. The larva were not big & hadn't been on them very long.

The remaining chick felt a little on the cold side. I placed a thick amount of dried white pine needles in the nest for him. The weather was very hot & humid. Monday night it never got below 80 all night & was very humid. Tuesday it turned much cooler, never getting out of the low 70's with some wind all day & very low humidity. Tuesday & Wednesday night the temps dropped into the 40's. Could the drastic weather change have caused them to die?

This has not been a good year for my colony:

2 ASY males dead (hawk atacks).
2 ASY females left due to loss of mates.
7 chicks dead.
4 eggs destroyed by a male sparrow, who has since been destroyed.

10 chicks remain. 2 eggs due to hatch.

ToyinPA

[CraigMo.]

Do you think the parents abandoned the nest with the dead chicks? Also sorry you are having a bad year.

[Carlton]

Sorry to hear that Toy. Hopefully, the remaining ten will fledge safely.

Carl

[ToyinPA]

CraigMO:

We saw parents feeding yesterday. All 4 chicks are the same size & you could tell they were well fed. These 3 chicks had to die sometime today, as they were still soft when I did a nest check. I was shocked to find 3 seemingly health chicks suddenly die at the same time. It wouldn't shock me to find the 4th gone tomorrow. My husband feels it was the Sevin powder I placed under the nest when we changed it out 5 days ago.

ToyinPA

[cransy]

What works for me is changing the nest and replacing it with cedar shavings. I also use a shop vac to clean out all the fleas and blow flies. too much controversy with sevin. I also did nest changes during the cold weather of 40 degrees but didn't change the nest on the 10 -12 day old until they turned 15. there is not Enough feathers on them to protect them from pneumonia. I think they died from pneumonia but weird thinks happen with the birds. I have 125 babies so far and loss 5 somewhere and don't know where they went. I continue to monitor there nest. Hang in there, your colony will continue to grow with time.

[John Miller]

My inclination would be the cool weather, although it was only marginally cool. Unfeathered chicks are susceptible to getting chilled. Perhaps with the windy conditions, which reduced feeding, this was the cause. The mother usually broods them at night, but the full nest change might have caused her to shift her position around in the nest more? Or she just left early in the morning to feed and they got to chilled. It wasn't the sevin. I've accidentally doused unfeathered martins when being clumsy with my spoon, and they did fine.

John M

[Carlton]

I agree with John, Toy. It was not the Sevin. Probably a chill.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Hot humid weather can kill chicks. The heat usually does not bother them, but the humidity along with the heat is deadly. Since it was so hot at night, the daytime temps must have been hotter, and along with the humidity, it may have killed them. I think the drastic change killed them.

People with commercial chicken houses have reported that misting the houses to cool down baby chicks usually causes more to die, rather than the misting helping. The higher humidity kills the chicks when the temps are high.

[flyin-lowe]

I know some think there is a controversy with seven but it is usually brought up by people who don't use it and say it causes problems. I am sure it has happened but everyone I know that uses it does so without problems. So unless you just completely covered the face of your chicks with it and they sucked huge amounts of it in that wasn't the problem.

[Trishy]

I lost a nest of 6 last year to cold weather and blow flies. This year in each nest I put in a little sevin, a handful of cedar shavings, and a couple of handfuls of regular wood shavings on top of that to provide a little barrier just in case. Then the martins line the nest with leaves so there is another barrier. So far, larvae, mites, and gnats have not been a problem. I still keep an eye on them though. Sorry for your loss.

[ToyinPA]

Chick #4 died this morning :(. Geez the whole clutch gone.

This is 2 complete clutches, 2 sets of parents, that lost all their chicks.

I would also agree it was the drastic drop in the temperature that caused them to die.

There's another nest on the same side of the house (facing North) that has 3 chicks about the same age as the ones that died. It's on the upper level tho, where the other nest was down on the lower level. They seemed OK at last check. Baby Huey is also on that side, but he's much bigger & fully feathered.

Tally is now:

8 chicks dead

ToyinPA

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Very sorry to hear about those babies dying I hope your remaining babies stay healthy and that you have a fantastic year next season.
Best wishes,
Ray

[Robbo]

I have a similiar problem in one nest. Thursday I did a nest check and found 2 dead young at the entrance and 3 fat babies in the nest. I removed the dead and did a nest change and Sevin, no signs of parasites. Yesterday still had 3 fat babies, I will do nest checks today after I get some nesting material and more Sevin(just in case) It's good for the Tomatoe plants anyway.
Robbo.

[oneidalaker]

Toy, I had a similiar die of to the north of you (Oneida Lake NY). It had to be the cold weather because I have not used Sevin and I had not done a nest change out. You most likely saved a few of your chicks by having done the nest change.

Outwardly my colony looks like it is thriving. Nest checks are so important for monitoring the status of the colony. Had we not done a nest check and left the dead birds in the rest the others babies might have died too. Had I done more frequent nest checks I might have prevented a few deaths by making nest changes after the wet weather.

Oneidalaker