⠀ 6-8 week old chicks outside eating

[CMCDixon]

Hi all, so this is an exactly purely a nutrition question. Have some 6-8 week old bantams who we brought outside yestetday to spend a little time. Now, the odor from the brooder is beyond being tolerable. It seems to have spread throughout my whole house where previously, you had that "chickeny " aroma but now it is positively noxious. They also seem to be having a bit looser of stools , but also still having normal ones. So I wouldn't classify it as diarrhea. Is this change simply due to them being outside and having access to grass and bugs and what not? as I said, the smell is overpowering we clean out the router twice a day and have not had anything even close to this in 8 weeks. Any info or feedback is greatly appreciated. I will add that they were vaccinated for Mareks but not coccidiosis and were not given medicated feed as per the guidance of our chicken vet. They have had dirt for dust bathing in their router for a couple weeks now

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi there,
So first question - do you have other chickens, has the land ever been used for chickens in recent years? If the answer to either of these is yes, you may consider using Corid. Coccidiosis can live in the ground for a long time.
Having said that, it may just be dietary change. Make sure they have grit available to them to aid digestion. If the diarrhea remains noxious, try making a wet mash with their crumbles and add a little plain yoghurt (with culture), it will help to reset the gut.
Hopefully you won't have to buy a gasmask.......

 

[CMCDixon]

Hi, thanks for the response- I appreciate it. I wet down their crumbles a bit and increased the probiotic they take to help reset. Corid is by need of prescription here- (got the prescription and went to TSC and it was a two week wait for them to order it in!) but was able to overnight some on Amazon. Sunday night, before bed checked on my six girls and my 5 wk old wyandotte was sitting all puffed up, one foamy yellow bowel movement, and relatively no leg muscle tone We placed her in isolation and removed EVERYTHING from the brooder and bleached it to death and then rinsed it all out before returning the five girls back there. Kept trying to drip feed her water mix (vitamins/electrolytes/probiotics) but she had no interest. By morning she was gone... Debated all night calling the emergency vet but "knew" large animal vet emergency does not exactly mean a chicken that is looking "puffy" and "lethargic". Got her into the vet at 8am yesterday morning, having them do a necropsy to see exactly what the cause of death was and got two day supply of Corid until mine comes in today. I am just praying that my two Japanese babies and my Sebright pull through this. The Sebright seems to have "mucousy" or loosish stools but not regularly at this point. Don't you just love how we can sit and watch chickens for hour to see who is pooping!

Thanks again for your quick responce.

Chris

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi, thanks for the response- I appreciate it. I wet down their crumbles a bit and increased the probiotic they take to help reset. Corid is by need of prescription here- (got the prescription and went to TSC and it was a two week wait for them to order it in!) but was able to overnight some on Amazon. Sunday night, before bed checked on my six girls and my 5 wk old wyandotte was sitting all puffed up, one foamy yellow bowel movement, and relatively no leg muscle tone We placed her in isolation and removed EVERYTHING from the brooder and bleached it to death and then rinsed it all out before returning the five girls back there. Kept trying to drip feed her water mix (vitamins/electrolytes/probiotics) but she had no interest. By morning she was gone... Debated all night calling the emergency vet but "knew" large animal vet emergency does not exactly mean a chicken that is looking "puffy" and "lethargic". Got her into the vet at 8am yesterday morning, having them do a necropsy to see exactly what the cause of death was and got two day supply of Corid until mine comes in today. I am just praying that my two Japanese babies and my Sebright pull through this. The Sebright seems to have "mucousy" or loosish stools but not regularly at this point. Don't you just love how we can sit and watch chickens for hour to see who is pooping!

Thanks again for your quick responce.

Chris

Sorry you lost one - let us know what the necropsy showed please - if you don't mind

 

[CMCDixon]

I definitely will let you guys know. I appreciate the support! Should have results by Friday

 

[DrPatrickBiggs]

Great question!

You are correct that most of those changes are from the new diet that they are getting. The bacterial population in your birds’ guts is changing, which is contributing to the change in aroma and the loose stool. Keep an eye on them to make sure that they do not show any other signs of illness. Loose stool can also be a sign of illness.

If you don’t notice any other signs, then this is likely due to the new feedstuffs. If you see signs of illness – watery eyes, discharge from the nasal cavity, lethargy, unkempt feathers or the feathers are fluffed out – then you may want to have the birds checked by a vet to make sure there isn’t something else going on inside the animal.

I also want to respond to that last statement about medicated feed. If you are choosing to feed a conventional feed (not organic) and medication is an option. I would recommend that you choose it to protect your birds against coccidiosis. Purina feed is medicated with amprolium which is not an antibiotic; it is a coccidiostat that is designed to protect your birds against coccidiosis. Since your birds are wandering outside, it is likely that your birds are going to be exposed to coccidiosis. The medicated feed is designed to prevent an outbreak not to treat one, so if your birds have an issue with this (I’m not saying you do!) then you will need to work with your vet to put together a treatment plan. This usually involves incorporating a coccidiostat into the water to treat. If there is an outbreak and you have treated them, then the birds should be resistant to most outbreaks from then on.

 

[CMCDixon]

Sorry you lost one - let us know what the necropsy showed please - if you don't mind

So it only took a month for the vet to get me the results! But it turned out she has an "infection due to deformed yolk sac most likely due to conditions of hatch". Yeah so not all that much information. Had a face to face with the manager of the practice to discuss the delay especially after weekly phone calls.