bad feed now sick/dieing chicks

[natapple]

Yesterday we bought some bad feed and now some of our 2 week old chicks are sick. One will not eat or drink and we tried to feed her some se (made in the microwave and has no oil or butter) and she would not even open her eyes for it, about two hours earlier we gave her some poly-vi-sol. There is bloody poop in the cage but their is 21 of them so we do not know who it came from, but when we were giving the one the poly one bloody poop showed up so we do not think it we her. We had one died this morning and we think now that it was the food that caused it. I found something like a worm in the food, but could not be sure that it was a worm. What can we do for the one who wont eat or for the others who have bloody poop. Will it be alright if we feed them boiled eggs till we can get a new fresh bag of feed. We have been getting them medicated chick starter, and the bag we got was a 5 pound bag that the feed store makes and sells from a normal 50 pound bag, so we don't know if it was old, spoiled, or infected. PLEASE HELP we do not want any more to die

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Please be advised. DO NOT buy feed from the bins that 100's of other customers at the store have bought from. By a 50 pound bag of feed, bit the bullet and when you are done with it feed it to the adult chickens in a mixture, they love it. It may not be the feed, the chicks may have a disease from the hatchery. If you have bloody poop it could be worms or cocci. I feel for you, do what you can and contain these chicks until they have a clean bill of health. You may loose the bunch, hope you do not.

 

[natapple]

Quote:
What would be safe to give a 2-3 week old chick for worms, the feed is medicated for cocci.

 

[natapple]

The feed store bags the food in 5 lb incraments, I don't have enough money to buy a 50 lb bag until friday, I underestemated how fast the babies would go through the 50 lb bag. We have had the first batch of babies for three weeks and the second batch for two, both groups are cochin bantams (11) and cornish bantams (6) standard cochin (2) speckled sussex (2), they have all been healthy until today. Yesterday was the first day of the 5 lb bag of feed. I guess I'll switch them to boiled egg until friday morning. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Ask the store manager about your problem. If the store bags the feed themselves and it is sealed I can not believe that it has been contaminated unless it was mismarked somehow with another kind of feed. Medicated starter is a light brown color. The cconsistancy is like that of poorly ground coffee beans. It also should have green and sometimes yellow speckles in it from the medicated portion. One thing you can do is grind the feed up in a coffee grinder to powder it further. I would be very carful on giving medication to the chicks. This could cause more problems for you. Small amounts of tetracycline (found in the feed store) may help. A small concentration of vitamines and minerals (found at the feed store) may also help. You put both in the waterer for the chicks and it can be done at the same time. You can try some plain yogurt or some hard boiled eggs for feed. The chick may not go for it, but sometimes they do. Whatever you feed, make the size very small. Again, I presume you got these chicks from a hatchery?? Also, you probably need to post some requirements outlined in the forum so others may help you further. Examples are the age, the place you got them, the appearance of the chicks, what the poop looks like, how you have them boarded, etc. Again, good luck. If you think you have worms or cocci you really need to confirm this. Do not blindly medicate your chicks. You can call the hatchery or have the store you bought them from find out if there are any problems with the chicks. People on this forum have bought chicks from hatcheries and they have had problems with cocci and such. Search on this forum for others opinions, it is pretty simple to do and you will find a large amount of information from this. Also, assert you rights as an customer at the store you bought the feed from. Ask questions, be polite and explain your problems, they just may be able to help you.

 

[chickenlady]

I would not give young chicks ANY meds until you know what they have or at least have a better idea.

Where to you keep the chicks?
What bedding do you use for them?
What temp do you keep them at?
Have you gotten food from this feed store before?
Where did you get these chicks from?
What other symptoms do you notice? ie: poop, lethargy, general activity

 

[Melilem]

How are they acting?

 

[greenapple]

This is an update for my DD Natapple
17 of them were hatched on 10/1 and 4 of them hatched on 10/8

1 Where to you keep the chicks?
2 What bedding do you use for them?
3 What temp do you keep them at?
4 Have you gotten food from this feed store before?
5 Where did you get these chicks from?
6 What other symptoms do you notice? ie: poop, lethargy, general activity

1 We keep the chicks inside at night and if it is raining or really windy outside or if we are going to be gone all day and not be back before night. They have their own tractor that was disinfected before they arrived and was moved to a part of the yard that hasn't had a tractor on it yet.
2 We use pine bedding that is changed every day
3 We keep the house around 78, they have a heat lamp on one side of the cage, their cage is near a window that is blocked from the wind so they still get sunlight on days we cannot take them to their tractor.
4 I always get the feed from this store, usually in the 50 lb bag, the 5 lb bag was to tide them over till I had enough money to buy the 50 lb.
5 they were ordered from Ideal through the feed store, so they would be given food and water as soon as they were delivered to the feed store instead of waiting on me at the post office.
6 they have been healthy and thriving until a few days ago. I had a very small sultan that died, I am guessing she got stuck under the pile as it was a bit chilly that night, and she started to have a poopy butt that day. Later that day the others started to have runny poop, then bloody poop. I still have one that is lethargic and won't eat anything, but she will drink.

I did some research and gave them what I had, and eventually got them on a milk flush diet. After I gave them organic milk, the bloody poop started to clear up. I added organic ACV with mother to their water. I was able to get the ingredients for the milk flush chick starter today, and mixed that for them. All but one is doing a lot better. I have one that won't eat, but she will drink. We are giving her some poly-vi-sol, a little milk, and water. We have tried to get her to eat cooked oatmeal, boiled egg, and scrambled egg. They had been eating medicated chick starter, and vitamin/electrolyte water since they arrived at the feed store.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I would not put such young chicks in a tractor on ground that early... certainly not the first two weeks even if the evnvironmental temperature outside is at a temperature to coincide with what is advised for brooders. Damp environment (ground) can quickly chill the chicks .

 

[mypicklebird]

I think you are going to spend more $ home treating these guys than the cost of a bag of chick start!

The symptoms, age and set-up fit with coccidia. Medicated chick start contains amprollium (usually) which keeps the coccidia from reproducing, but it does NOT kill the organism- so you can still see symptoms. If you have them on dirt (tractor) you have probably exposed them to the org. The supportive care previously described can help, and if you want to confirm you have coccidia- get a fecal checked (fecal float). It is easy to see in a fecal, even a non chicken/avian vet can ID it, the organism has dog and cat species- they look the same. Then you need to treat if you have it. The sulmet drug is another stat drug (does not kill it, just messes with the reproductive cycle) like amprollium. If you live overseas- you can look into baycox. If you live in the US, you might be able to find a vet who can give you a suspension of marquis paste- the only coccidia killing drug I know of. WAY off label though, so think about that before using if you can find it.

I also agree, get them out of the tractor. They are too young, they should still be in a brooder, even if it is a big cardboard box with a heat lamp. They do not have a broody keeping them at 90, and are having to work too hard to keep warm. They are also getting more exposure to the coccidia. They need time and help until they get immune.