csgibbs
In the Brooder
I am currently experiencing an illness in some of my chicks that really has me curious if anyone has experienced the same thing. I have been fermenting chick starter for about 3 weeks and everything seemed to be going well. There was no foul odor or visible mold on the feed. My chicks are 4 weeks old and on Wednesday I noticed one not able to stand up and was very wobbly. When I would put it on its feed, it would roll to the side or fall backwards. I was terrified it was Marek's, but the next day she was very much improved, although still seems to have tremors and a little uncoordination. On Thursday, I found a chick that was hanging its head very low and seemed weak. I brought it in the house and when it was apparent that it was not able to eat or drink, I syringe fed it every few hours. It became so weak last evening that it wouldn't even open it's eyes, but I continued to force feed/water it. I thought for sure it was going to die overnight, but when I checked on it this morning, it was up walking and eating on its own. Now, there is a third chick with the same floppy/flaccid neck and is very weak. Their coop is clean, they have clean water, and there is nothing dead around. They have not been out to free-range. I don't understand where it is coming from other than the fermented feed. I stopped feeding it to them when the first chick became ill on Wednesday. Does anyone know the incubation period for botulism? I have obsessively gone over and over what could be wrong and the only thing I can think of is there was possibly some mold growing around the sides of the bucket and I stirred it into the feed on accident. The feed was always submerged.