A baby died today...

[Stephanie739]

I lost my first chicken today due to something other than a predator or dog...

A week old baby became very weak, and died within an hour or two. Sadly, I have another which just began showing weakness. I have tried encouraging them to drink. Both seem frail and on the thin side.

I found what looks like a small amount of blood in the bedding.

Any thoughts? These birds are from eggs that came from my backyard flock. I am not aware of any sick adults. I do have turkey eggs in the incubator that came from another owner's flock.

 

[NovaAman]

cocci?

 

[Stephanie739]

Well that was fast. The other chick just died too. I found him/her lying on his/her back with what looked like food running out of its mouth, like it vomited food. So from obvious weakness to death - about 20/30 minutes.

What I thought was blood might be just discoloration in the pine.

 

[Stephanie739]

cocci?

I just removed all the bedding from the brooder (baby pool) and disinfected it. It is outside drying. I guess if it is cocci, that will take care of it. Hopefully the other chicks will be okay. Thanks for responding.