Epiphany
In the Brooder
Hello all,
I saw this posted about several times on here but all of the other posts seemed slightly different than mine. Apologies in advance if this has already been asked.
So, I recently got three new Ayam Cemani chicks, one male and two females. When I first bought them, one was 4 weeks old and the other two (hen and roo) were 5 weeks.
After letting them spend one and a half more weeks at my house in a brooder (it was really cold where I was and they still had few feathers), they were clearly healthy so I brought them outside and introduced them to my original flock of two hens and a rooster. The integration went well and they all seem to get along relatively well now other than the occasional loud squawk as one gets chased somewhere. The newcomers seem very healthy other than that they don't extend their necks much, like they just sit around with their heads drawn into their bodies. This has been going on for about a week now, but they are still drinking and eating normally. They have a mix of cecal-looking poops and looser but normal-looking stools. There does seem to be a higher cecal count than usual, but no blood or excessive diarrhea. This has only been a problem in these new chicks, and my older birds seem completely normal.
I can't find any injuries or picked out areas on or around their necks, so I ruled out any picking. The birds all sleep together inside a coop at night. My three mature birds sleep up on the roost, and although the littles know how to (they jump up there sometimes during the day) they sleep huddled together in a nest box in the straw.
I apologize for the long post, but I really love both my new chicks and my original flock and couldn't stand to have anything happen to them, so if there does seem to be a potential problem I'd like to get outside advice.
(I don't have a picture right now but I could post one later.)
Thanks!
I saw this posted about several times on here but all of the other posts seemed slightly different than mine. Apologies in advance if this has already been asked.
So, I recently got three new Ayam Cemani chicks, one male and two females. When I first bought them, one was 4 weeks old and the other two (hen and roo) were 5 weeks.
After letting them spend one and a half more weeks at my house in a brooder (it was really cold where I was and they still had few feathers), they were clearly healthy so I brought them outside and introduced them to my original flock of two hens and a rooster. The integration went well and they all seem to get along relatively well now other than the occasional loud squawk as one gets chased somewhere. The newcomers seem very healthy other than that they don't extend their necks much, like they just sit around with their heads drawn into their bodies. This has been going on for about a week now, but they are still drinking and eating normally. They have a mix of cecal-looking poops and looser but normal-looking stools. There does seem to be a higher cecal count than usual, but no blood or excessive diarrhea. This has only been a problem in these new chicks, and my older birds seem completely normal.
I can't find any injuries or picked out areas on or around their necks, so I ruled out any picking. The birds all sleep together inside a coop at night. My three mature birds sleep up on the roost, and although the littles know how to (they jump up there sometimes during the day) they sleep huddled together in a nest box in the straw.
I apologize for the long post, but I really love both my new chicks and my original flock and couldn't stand to have anything happen to them, so if there does seem to be a potential problem I'd like to get outside advice.
(I don't have a picture right now but I could post one later.)
Thanks!
