Updated:
When chicks start dying during brooding, do not start with medicine. Start with the brooder.
Check the heat. Look at how the chicks are spreading themselves. Check the space, water, feed, litter and ventilation. Then look harder at disease if the pattern does not point to a management problem.
I learnt this lesson with the first 1,000 day-old cockerels I brooded after leaving school. They arrived from the hatchery looking fine. I provided charcoal heat and, because the chicks moved away from the newly lit heat source, I thought the brooder was hot enough. I left them for the night.
By morning the house was cold, the chicks were huddling and I had picked more dead chicks than I expected. The losses continued until I corrected the heat and stayed with the birds to make sure the brooder remained warm through the night. The mortality dropped sharply and by about day seven it had stopped.
Then I made another mistake. I did not expand the brooder guard quickly enough as the chicks grew. Around days seven to eight, mortality appeared again. This time heat was not the main problem. The chicks needed more space.
That experience taught me a rule I still consider important: the fact that chicks are dying does not tell you why they are dying. You have to read the birds and the brooder.
Chicks Are Dying: What Should You Check First?
- Heat and chick behaviour: Are they huddling, spreading evenly or moving away from the heat?
- Space: Has the brooder become too tight as the chicks grow?
- Water: Can chicks reach clean water easily throughout the brooder?
- Feed: Is starter feed available to all chicks, not merely present somewhere in the house?
- Litter: Is it dry, or is it wet, caked or beginning to smell?
- Ventilation: Is fresh air entering without creating a cold draught across the chicks?
- Chick quality: Were some chicks weak, dehydrated, injured or unresponsive when they arrived?
- Disease: Are deaths continuing after the brooding conditions have been corrected, or are there clear signs of illness?
1. Heat: Watch the Chicks, Not Only the Thermometer
Correct brooding temperature is essential, especially during the first days. The thermometer matters, but so do humidity, floor temperature, air movement and chick behaviour.
If chicks crowd tightly together beneath or close to the heat source, they may be cold. If they stay well away from the heat, pant or spread toward cooler edges, they may be too hot. Comfortable chicks should be active and reasonably well distributed with easy access to feed and water.
Do not judge the whole night from what happens immediately after lighting a charcoal stove or turning on another heat source. Heat output can change over time. Whatever system you use, somebody must monitor the chicks, especially during the first nights.
Safety: charcoal and kerosene can create fire and air-quality risks. Keep heat sources secure, maintain ventilation and never allow fumes to build up in a closed brooder.
2. Give Chicks More Space as They Grow
A brooder that was comfortable on placement day can become overcrowded quickly. Expand the brooder area as the birds grow instead of waiting until they are packed together.
In my first flock, the return of mortality after the cold problem had been corrected confused me at first. I found groups of dead chicks in particular areas. The problem was no longer simply temperature: I had delayed opening the brooder guard and the chicks did not have enough room.
Overcrowding also worsens feed and water competition, litter moisture and air quality.
3. Feed and Water Must Be Reachable
A farmer can have plenty of feed in the store and plenty of water on the farm and still have chicks that are not getting enough. What matters inside the brooder is access.
Spread feeders and drinkers so chicks do not have to struggle or travel far. Watch smaller and weaker chicks. After placement, do not assume they have eaten and drunk simply because feed and water are present. Observe crop fill, activity and flock distribution.
4. Wet Litter and Ammonia Are Warning Signs
Do not wait for a strong ammonia smell before acting. Check for leaking drinkers, wet patches, poor drainage, overcrowding and inadequate ventilation.
Remove badly wet or caked litter where necessary and replace it with clean, dry material. Correct the source of moisture as well; otherwise the problem will return. Ventilation should provide fresh air without creating a direct cold draught over the chicks.
5. Sometimes the Problem Started Before the Chicks Reached Your Farm
Hatchery conditions, chick quality, transport time, dehydration and handling can affect the start on the farm.
On arrival, record weak chicks, abnormal navels, dehydration, injuries and dead-on-arrival birds. Keep records by hatchery, batch and delivery date. Repeated patterns are more useful than memory when you need to discuss chick quality with a supplier.
6. When Should You Suspect Disease?
Disease moves higher on the list when mortality continues despite correcting the brooding environment, when previously active chicks suddenly become dull, when deaths rise quickly, or when you see diarrhoea, pasted vents, respiratory signs, unusual weakness or a sudden fall in feed and water intake.
Do not diagnose a disease from one sign. Several infections can produce overlapping signs. Where mortality is unusual or increasing, get veterinary or diagnostic help.
For detailed disease guidance, see our Gumboro guide and Coccidiosis guide.
A Nigerian Farm Lesson About Gumboro and Secondary Infection
After several batches in the same poultry house, disease pressure became a different issue from what I experienced with the first flock. In one later batch, at around the second week, I suspected Gumboro and responded as part of a wider outbreak-management programme.
One thing must be clear: antibiotics do not kill the Gumboro virus. A sick flock can, however, develop a secondary bacterial infection. If a veterinarian uses an antibiotic in such a case, the antibiotic is for the bacterial problem, not for Gumboro itself.
Vaccination is also not something farmers should copy blindly from another farm. Maternal antibodies, vaccine product, disease pressure and farm history can differ. If birds are already sick or mortality is rising, get veterinary advice instead of simply giving another vaccine because a calendar says it is due.
Where Disinfectants Fit In
Products used for poultry-house sanitation, equipment, foot dips or water systems have different purposes and dilution instructions. Do not copy the mixing rate of one product and use it for another.
Disinfecting the house or sanitising water is not the same thing as treating a bacterial infection, and disinfectants are not direct cures for viral diseases.
7. Terminal Cleaning Between Batches
During my years of commercial brooding at Zartech, batches came and went throughout the production programme. After a batch left, we carried out terminal cleaning before the next chicks came in.
Pack out old litter. Dispose of it properly away from the poultry house, feed, water and other birds. Remove dirt and organic material, clean the house and equipment, allow the place to dry and use a suitable poultry disinfectant according to its label. Clean drinkers and feeders too. Then bring in clean, dry litter and control what enters the cleaned house.
Use our Poultry Biosecurity guide for the full farm procedure.
8. How Much Chick Mortality Is Acceptable?
There is no single mortality percentage that every broiler flock should be allowed to reach before action is taken.
Commercial breeder guides publish expected mortality or livability figures for particular strains and ages under defined conditions. Use the current guide for the exact chicks you placed, together with your own healthy farm history, as the reference.
More important than one final percentage is the pattern:
- How many chicks died today compared with yesterday?
- Are deaths increasing?
- Are dead chicks clustered in one corner or scattered across the brooder?
- Did mortality start after a heat failure, water problem, feed change or vaccination?
- Are there diarrhoea, respiratory signs, weakness or a fall in feed and water intake?
If mortality suddenly rises or the pattern changes, investigate immediately. Do not wait for the flock to reach an arbitrary 1%, 5% or any other percentage.
For a fuller explanation of mortality benchmarking, read our Broiler Mortality guide.
Keep a Daily Mortality Record
Record how many chicks die every day and where you find them. Add feed intake, water intake, droppings, chick behaviour and house conditions.
Ten chicks repeatedly found dead in one corner can tell you something different from ten chicks scattered throughout the house. The pattern helps you find the cause faster.
The Practical Bottom Line
If chicks are dying, do not treat mortality as a diagnosis.
Cold chicks need the brooder corrected. Overcrowded chicks need space. Chicks that cannot reach feed and water need better access. Wet litter and ammonia require litter, moisture and ventilation correction. A disease problem needs diagnosis and the correct disease-control response.
The same farmer complaint — “my chicks are dying” — can have completely different causes. Check the birds and the brooder before deciding on the solution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my day-old chicks huddling together?
Cold is a common reason, but also check for draughts and uneven heat distribution. Observe where the chicks are gathering and correct the brooder conditions rather than simply increasing heat without checking.
Can overcrowding kill chicks?
Yes. Excessive crowding can contribute directly to losses and can also worsen feed and water competition, litter moisture, air quality and disease pressure.
Is 5% chick mortality normal?
Do not use 5% as a universal benchmark. Compare the flock with the correct breeder reference and your own healthy farm records. Investigate unusual or rising mortality as soon as it appears.
Should I give antibiotics whenever chicks start dying?
No. Mortality caused by cold, overheating, overcrowding or poor water access will not be corrected by an antibiotic. Antibiotics act against susceptible bacteria, not viruses. Veterinary diagnosis is important when disease is suspected.
Sources and Further Reading
- Nigerian Journal of Animal Production — brooding-temperature stress
- Nigerian Journal of Animal Production — chick survival under feed, water and brooding stress
- Cobb broiler management resources
- Aviagen Ross broiler management resources
This guide is for poultry-farm education and practical management. Unusual, severe or rising mortality should be investigated with a poultry veterinarian or diagnostic laboratory. Do not use antibiotics, vaccines or disinfectants outside their approved purpose or product directions.
