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Hi, Ellendra,

I think I need some more “fowl” advice: ;-)

After having no problems raising chicks in the past, my attempts this year to build our flock back up to about 10 hens per rooster have been disastrous. First was “missing” twice on getting Buckeyes, then there were the failures with the Black Copper Maran eggs (two destroyed by a rooster, then our broody hen left the rest, and the attempt to incubate them failed), then “mutt” eggs we had put in a little incubator also all failed to hatch. We had another hen go broody and so left her 8 eggs to try to hatch: Two were broken, one hatched and is ok so far, and the other 5 have not hatched and at this point I’d say they won’t. (One is cracked but I think the chick inside is dead - will check again shortly.)

So... I went to Rural King a few days ago and got a mix of 8 chicks, and that’s where my new need for advice comes in.

The mix was 1 Black Sex-link, 1 Asian Black, 2 ISA Brown, 1 Black Australorp, 2 White Leghorns, and 1 Rhode Island Red.

Though we’ve had no problem with buying & raising mixes in the past — never lost a chick — this time, 3 have died. One ISA Brown died the morning after the evening I brought them home, another a couple days later, and now (another couple days later) the RI Red last night. Temperature in the brooder is good: About 93 deg. F this 1st week, with cooler spots ~ 85 deg. F at the far end. Behaviors seemed fairly normal all around until I would discover a chick dead (the two Browns) or nearly so (the Red). Chicks were (and the remaining are) fairly active, feeding and drinking, and not all bunched up at one end or the other.

The two “oddities” were that @ purchase the Leghorns were only slightly larger than the other birds, with the Asian Black, the 2 Browns, and the RI Red the smallest - I’d guess 3-4 days younger based on size alone, but, the Leghorns immediately spurted in growth. I’d guess their weight more than doubled in 3-5 days. The rest grew more slowly, and the Browns hardly at all - granted they didn’t live long enough to notice much increase. :-(

We have had much larger size disparities @ startup previously, with no problems.

The other thing I noticed is that the Leghorns from the start seemed out unusually inclined to climb on top of the other chicks, often jamming the smallest, against the feeder, etc. I would not be at all surprised if the deceased simply died from smothering and / or internal injuries.

In the past we only had one White Leghorn at a time, and had no such problems - at last not that we noticed or that seemed unusual. I also don’t recall any Leghorn “outgrowing” the others so quickly.

Size? Heck, one time we had a couple tiny bantam chicks in the brooder with a mix that included a couple Red Rangers - no problem. (Granted that the bantams were really active and quick - I don’t recall seeing them scrunched by other chicks. The little Asian Black seems similar in this regard. In fact, a couple times I’ve seen her climb & stay on top of a resting Leghorn, much the way chicks with a mother hen will climb on the hen.

As it stands now, the Asian Black seems feisty & active enough to avoid getting hurt, the Black Sex Link is big enough now to hopefully be ok, and I’m a bit worried about the Black Australorp as it’s 2nd smallest and least active of all the remaining chicks, but, so far it seems ok.

My best guess, probably a lousy one, is that having two slightly larger (and now much larger) very active chicks (the Leghorns) in with the passive Browns and the Red, was a mistake, as the Leghorns unwittingly(?) just beat the crap out of the Browns and the Red.

My FIRST guess was that there was something wrong with the ISA Browns from the get go (too young, trauma in shipping, etc.), but with Red dying too, it seems there must be something else going on.

Maybe I’m just too sentimental (chicks are such sweet little creatures!) but on top of all the other crap going on (virus / income destroyed causing great stress on the family front, riots everywhere, yada-yada) I’m really discouraged at this point. Losing what should be two really top notch efficient egg layers has me particularly groused. (Pun intended.) Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by not losing any purchased chicks in the past!

Anyway, “rant off”. Thoughts on the notion that some chick mixes are a bad idea even when they are just chicks???