7 week old Barred rock died why?

[olifactory]

I had a 7 week old chick die on me pretty suddenly and I need to know why. She was in with the other chicks until the day before she died so I'm pretty worried the others are gonna get it. I already have a chick that's just recovering from a respiratory thing with vetrx so I don't want her to get a whole different thing. I was ok enough to do an external post mortem inspection of the bird but I'm not quite brave enough to do a necropsy? I'm a chicken first timer doing the best I can and this is really frustrating.

The chick's symptoms were lethargy and fluffing up to sleep at weird times of day when the other birds were awake, and then she lost weight quick over a few days, lastly she was super tired when the girls were all out eating in the grass and slept most of the time and I gave them some scrambled eggs that day for the first time. She was eating the eggs and I had seen her poop the day before so I wasnt super worried until when I went to put them all back in for the night and saw her butt was nasty and she had some diarrhea and regular poo on there. I tried cleaning it off and ended up having to wash her butt with warm water and got her cleaned up, but she was extremely lathargic and didn't really resist all the turning around and bath like she should of. By the end of the bath I knew she wasn't going to make it and so I set her up in a separate cage next to the girls (since I figured the others had already been exposed), gave her some food and water (which she was uninterested in), and had to go since I hurt my back very badly that same day and had school. I had my dad checking on her periodically and she died the next day and hadn't really moved from where I sat her after her bath.

The only thing I can think of that she could have is maybe cocci? The birds haven't been on medicated feed, and I stupidly had them on Purina from day one until the recall 2 weeks ago and then I switched them over to an organic feed. I have had them on sav-a-chick electrolytes and probiotics off and on since I got them at 9 days old.

Feel free to ask me questions if you need more information. I just really don't want my other 3 babies to get sick.

Sorry for the long post, and thank you for responding.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sounds just like coccidiosis to me.

I insist on feeding organic and have Corid on hand at all times since we have very wet soil a lot of the year.

I am sorry for your loss!!

 

[cafarmgirl]

X2, sounds like coccidiosis. Get some Corid and keep it on hand so you can start treatment immediately if you see any more birds start showing signs. And by that I mean the minute you see a slow chick....just go ahead and start it. It never hurts to treat for it.

 

[olifactory]

Thank you! Now I don't know what to do. Do I start treating them with Corid or start them on medicated feed? I got them from a farm store that got them from a hatchery in I think New Mexico so I don't know if they were vaccinated. I'm guessing not. None of them are showing signs of sickness aside from the one that still sneezes occasionally from the respiratory thing, but they also have been in all the same places as the one that got sick.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Thank you! Now I don't know what to do. Do I start treating them with Corid or start them on medicated feed? I got them from a farm store that got them from a hatchery in I think New Mexico so I don't know if they were vaccinated. I'm guessing not. None of them are showing signs of sickness aside from the one that still sneezes occasionally from the respiratory thing, but they also have been in all the same places as the one that got sick.

They are most likely not vaccinated. Feeds stores generally do not pay the extra amount to purchase vaccinated chicks. You can go either way. Medicated feed is fine but they can still develop a case of coccidiosis while on medicated feed, it helps but it is no guarantee. If you do that you just need to watch them carefully for early signs of coccidiosis and treat if needed. It's easily controlled when treated early. Or you can also just run a course of Corid, it certianly does no harm and will give you peace of mind. That is what I do if I have one come down with it, I just treat them all. It just keeps things under control while they have a chance to develop some immunity.

 

[olifactory]

I put them all on chick boost and a round of corid because I know they've already been exposed and will keep getting exposed while they go out each day. Better safe than sorrier in this case. Thanks for your advice.