Barred Rock Chick, Not growing and Diarrhea. all eating and drinking!

[shelby528]

Hello,
I recently bought some barred rock chicks..unfortunately out of the seven I have four left. Now, out of the four left my one little guy is just not growing! The other three are growing plenty and they are all drinking and eating well..even my littlest guy! I need a reason as to why my three are growing and he is not! My little guy is also having problems with pooping...he is constantly having poop stuck to his butt and I have researched this and have been taking care of it but it has been a week and he still has poop sticking to him
Please help,
I do not want to lose him.

 

[threehorses]

We'll need more information so that we can most accurately help you. I'd hate for people to just guess - that wouldn't be fair.

Could you tell us, please...

What exactly are your little guys eating (example "purina grower crumbles, some scratch and treats).
How old are these birds?
What sort of coop/run are these guys in? A coop with run, a coop without a run, free range with shelter, etc?
How did you lose the others? And at what age? What were all the symptoms?

The one that is not thriving at least has a bacterial imbalance in his system. (What is causing it will hopefully become more clear after you answer the questions above.)

To help in the mean time (this will not treat it however, even if symptoms disappear so please do answer the questions) give them all some plain unflavored yogurt daily. Depending on their age, anything from 1 teaspoon per 6 babies, to 1 tablespoon per adult bird is a good middle-range amount. If they don't take it freely as a treat, then withhold their feed late at night and first thing in the morning give them only a "mash" made from the yogurt, an equal amount of water, and their pellets or crumbles. Mix, stir well, let sit 10 minutes (while you're doing their other chores) and then feed it to them. Make sure all four get some.

Then when they're done or 15 minutes has passed, whichever comes first, take out that bowl and give them their free-choice feed for the rest of the day.

Repeat for a week.

Yogurt has living bacteria in it - mostly Lactobacilli, but other kinds as well. The digestive tract of the bird also has good bacteria in it - ones upon which they depend for firm droppings, good food use, and health. Sometimes their bacteria get out of balance (possibly what caused you to lose the other birds) and don't catch up without help. Until we get more info, this will at least help to get the GOOD bacteria back increased in number so that they can fight against BAD bacteria and yeast, which cause the pasty vent and problems you're seeing with this baby. Likely that includes his failure to thrive.

So daily: yogurt every day - all getting some.

Tomorrow: please answer our questions so we can fix the root cause once and for all for you.

Thank you, and I look forward to your reply. {Please update *this* thread if there are any problems or changes or good news - you'll have at least one subscriber waiting to help you. Me.

}

 

[shelby528]

Well the other three that died all had the same symptoms. It would be like they just sat down, went to sleep and died, they were 2 days old when they died.
As for food, they are getting medicated starter feed.
They are in a cage, since there are only four of them.
The birds are roughly a week and a half old.

I am currently feeding all four of my birds acidopholis because there were signs of diarrhea in the cage. I am still feeding them the acidopholis even though they have no diarrhea, just so that it prevents and helps with their digestive system.
Thanks.

P.S. I heard feeding them yogurt and acidopholis is kind of like counter active? Is this true?

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Hmm, two days..that could be anything. Another questions - were the parents of these birds pullorum tested?

Definitely do the yogurt daily, well the acidophilis.

The acidophilis won't technically prevent diarrhea but it sure helps! Feeding them both isn't counteractive. It's just a waste. Personally I feel acidophilis is usually better for babies. I like yogurt for girls that are coming into laying because of it's vitamin D content - and to use as a healthy weekly feed supplement when they get bigger.

Another alternative I use (sometimes it's more easily budgeted) is Probios dispersible powder. Around here, it's under 10 dollars for a small bottle. Same concept: a blend of live culture bacteria in a slight whey base in a powder. They label to use in the water; I prefer to keep it on the feed.

Are they eating well? What's the temp of your brooder? Do you have all that settled out?

If you have the parents, did you supplement their diet to a breeding diet or use laying pellets? I found in some past lines that feeding laying feed didn't give the babies enough nutrition in the egg to live long. At 2 days, those babies were still relying on egg yolk nutrition inside of them. (You didn't see any signs of navel infection, etc, did you? Any pasty vent? Cheeping? White diarrhea?) But at this age now, they're out of the yolk and depending on the feed. They're alive - that's the first battle. I suspect maybe they just "met" coccidiosis and had a battle with it. By medicated food, I assume you mean amprolium; if I'm wrong, let me know please.

All their brooder is really dry, etc? They're not on ground?

Very curious.

And see, Barred Rocks are my favorite breed of all. I'd love to try to help you figure this out.

 

[shelby528]

Ok, so the remaining four chicks are eating and drinking well. I have older chickens and decided to move my babies inside to my basement. I will for sure buy some yogurt for when they get older. And I'm not sure what their feed is all I know is that it is medicated! lol

I have them in a rabbit cage with their heat lamp hanging above, food and water.

I'm not sure about the parents as I bought these little guys at an auction. My last birds (my older birds who are about 8 weeks old) I bought at the same auction and their all healthy and well.

My first barred rock chick died shortly after arriving home. I believed he died due to tramatic stress from the car ride, but then the other two died days later.

They are definetly eating well! I have a egg carton which I cut down so there is only 4 squares, and every morning and night I am filling it. I am constantly checking on my littlest one "Peewee" because I am so worried about him. His poop is still sticking to him and when I went to check on him tonight he was laying down in the corner of the cage all alone! I really would be upset if I lost him!

I did not see any signs of anything being wrong with the 2 day old chicks, but I believed that it was too hot in the cage for them, so we moved the lamp up higher and that seemed to do the trick!

Their cage is dry all the time (as I clean it everyday) and I disinfect it every 3 days just so no disease lives. I'm a clean freak with my animals! They are not on ground yet!

I love my barred rock chicks they are amazingly cute!