3 week old Cornish maybe sick

[Riggjo]

Hello all,
We are new chicken owners. We purchased 10 Cornish and 6 egg layers from a hatchery 3 weeks ago, all have been vaccinated. Lost 2 the first few days. The others seemed fine until this morning I noticed runny diarrhea and just went into the coop where one is all by itself and just laying against the wall. I watched her for a little bit and she gets up to drink and eat, then go back to laying down. I believe she must be the one with the diarrhea since she seems sick. The diarrhea is brown and runny, like water. She is actually letting me pet her head which they usually don’t like to be touched. We are feeding non medicated feed as well as fermented which hasn’t been a problem. All the other birds are fine running in and out between the pen and coop. It has been warm enough for them. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cassie]

I may not be of much help. I will just tell you how I raised mine. I never had any problem with sick Cornish. Rarely I had a dead one, but they never bothered to get sick first. Since my Cornish X had such a short expected lifespan I never bothered to get them vaccinated. I made sure they were never exposed to drafts and that their bedding was always dry. I never fed them regular chick starter, medicated or otherwise. Since they grow so fast they need a high powered feed. I fed them broiler starter, broiler grower, and broiler finisher. If I couldn't get broiler feed I fed turkey starter, grower, and finisher. I put Broiler Booster, available from Murray McMurray, in their water from start to finish. It is a vitamin supplement formulated for the fast growing broilers and it goes a long way to keep them healthy. If I were you, I would see if I could get some Terramycin powder to put in their water. So many things have been taken off the market, it may no longer be available, but I found it to be a great help under certain circumstances.

 

[JustCallMeMaple]

So I'm raising mix of layers, ducks and cornish x. Mine get fed the same chick starter and run time (meat birds of this kind waddle worse than my ducks for the older 2) They get the same treats, snacks and goodies and I leave food out for them during the day night they get no food (even my layers everyone has their own methods this is mine). Now because i'm doing a more easy growth the older ones are 7wks and roughtly in that 7-8lb range (live weight). They are up for slaughter around 9wks but if their legs are good and they're still in good health I may let the hen get a bit bigger and just process the first roo. I keep A LOT of waters out (not just the shallow no drown my chickens but ducks can dip pool substitute) but I have 2 of the large standard waters plus a 10gal hanging water (has the metal chicken peck points) the 2 chick size ones are also there. I have more water use than a chicken only flock though because my ducks drink a lot and play a lot with the splashing from drinking. Would this work for everyone maybe, maybe not. It works for me because I spend a lot of time filling water adding any electrolyte booster in their water (hot days it helps a lot) give them yogurt with goodies mixed in because even if I will eat it I still treat it with care. I can also say that they're pretty friendly. The cockerals are well.. loud and my older one throws a verbal tantrum if I pick him up but I do it every day (I desensitize so come time for me to make a meal he is just inconvenienced at being picked up). Different strokes for different folks. The terramycin could work like cassie suggested it's what's in medicated chick starter that a lot of people use.