Blood in stool, 5 week old chicks

[yeye5]

Thanks again! This is all great advice!
My standard size adults are in their own double pen, meaning the day time play and hunt area is a large fenced in area without a roof.That is directly on the dirt. Within that area is a night time fenced enclosure, including a roof.
The other chickens are a silkie couple with their 4 chicks they hatched together approx 4 weeks ago plus the 3 standard chicks that I got from a friend.
When I got the 3 standard size chicks, I knew they were much too young to be with the adult standards. So I have them in the silkie house but separated in their own place.
The floor of the silkie house is dirt (wire is built out underground to protect them). The 3 that are taking the medicine don't have access yet to the ground, but the silkie chicks do.
Great news is that after just one day on the meds I saw no more blood or strange stools. This day day #3 which I believe is the final dose.

I've been waiting for that issue to clear up before I let them play with the silkie chicks. I'm also getting one more chick who is the nest-sibling of the 3 I have now. I say "nest sibling" because a few different hens share one nest and one of them sat on the eggs at my friend's house.

What age would you introduce the chicks to the adults?
I plan to keep silkies with silkies...looks like I'll be getting more of them before spring since I don't want the siblings to breed together.
I'm presently curious what the results would be pairing a silkie hen with a polish roo...

 

[Shezadandy]

Thanks again! This is all great advice!
My standard size adults are in their own double pen, meaning the day time play and hunt area is a large fenced in area without a roof.That is directly on the dirt. Within that area is a night time fenced enclosure, including a roof.
The other chickens are a silkie couple with their 4 chicks they hatched together approx 4 weeks ago plus the 3 standard chicks that I got from a friend.
When I got the 3 standard size chicks, I knew they were much too young to be with the adult standards. So I have them in the silkie house but separated in their own place.
The floor of the silkie house is dirt (wire is built out underground to protect them). The 3 that are taking the medicine don't have access yet to the ground, but the silkie chicks do.
Great news is that after just one day on the meds I saw no more blood or strange stools. This day day #3 which I believe is the final dose.

I've been waiting for that issue to clear up before I let them play with the silkie chicks. I'm also getting one more chick who is the nest-sibling of the 3 I have now. I say "nest sibling" because a few different hens share one nest and one of them sat on the eggs at my friend's house.

What age would you introduce the chicks to the adults?
I plan to keep silkies with silkies...looks like I'll be getting more of them before spring since I don't want the siblings to breed together.
I'm presently curious what the results would be pairing a silkie hen with a polish roo...

I'm so glad you're seeing improvement with your chicks!

As far as when to integrate with adults, there's a really good active thread going on:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-pullets-with-mature-hens-whats-the-best-age

My hen-raised chicks have been with the flock since the beginning. I did have a hardware cloth enclosure to keep them safe while meeting through the fence for the first couple days when the hen was hatching and there were chicks starting to wander around. I provided a distraction in the form of a flock block right before opening their pen to let mom and babies out, and everything went just fine from there with the broody as protection and something else for the flock to do other than terrorize the newbies.

The brooder raised teenagers are in their own pen that is see/don't touch. The gruesome twosome Speckled Sussex stalked the teenager pullets- you could almost see them saying something like "ohh, I love your feathers, they're so shiny"- then one jumps on the back, the other goes for the head and neck and they both start ripping. Now, I was right there to stop it so aside from some minor bleeding from where the feathers got chunked out they were OK. None of my other hens do this- they were either disinterested or did the pecking order charge, which is acceptable. Even the hen-raised babies avoid the Speckleds like the plague.

Finally at 14 weeks I put the cockerels in for another try for about an hour now that they're so much larger and are the same size as most of the hens and things went a lot better. They got chased around, but unlike my previous attempts, the meanies couldn't catch the cockerels to beat on them. The pullets are still pretty small so I'm leery about putting them in that pen just yet. It will all come down to how your own birds do and their personalities. Mine are too big to do the escape door you'll read about in the other thread for integrating smaller chicks. Everyone seems to have their own way, but close observation and immediate supervision are vital to success. As is watching any trouble spots (certain corners) and modifying it to make escape easier or provide better cover.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks again! This is all great advice!
My standard size adults are in their own double pen, meaning the day time play and hunt area is a large fenced in area without a roof.That is directly on the dirt. Within that area is a night time fenced enclosure, including a roof.
The other chickens are a silkie couple with their 4 chicks they hatched together approx 4 weeks ago plus the 3 standard chicks that I got from a friend.
When I got the 3 standard size chicks, I knew they were much too young to be with the adult standards. So I have them in the silkie house but separated in their own place.
The floor of the silkie house is dirt (wire is built out underground to protect them). The 3 that are taking the medicine don't have access yet to the ground, but the silkie chicks do.
Great news is that after just one day on the meds I saw no more blood or strange stools. This day day #3 which I believe is the final dose.

I've been waiting for that issue to clear up before I let them play with the silkie chicks. I'm also getting one more chick who is the nest-sibling of the 3 I have now. I say "nest sibling" because a few different hens share one nest and one of them sat on the eggs at my friend's house.

What age would you introduce the chicks to the adults?
I plan to keep silkies with silkies...looks like I'll be getting more of them before spring since I don't want the siblings to breed together.
I'm presently curious what the results would be pairing a silkie hen with a polish roo...

Glad they are better, but if you're using Amprolium (Corid) I think the FDA and mfg recommend 3-5 days at one dose, then 7-14 days at a reduced dose, so you might want to look into that.

-Kathy

 

[yeye5]

Thanks to both of you! I will look at the thread posted.
Re: the meds...I was standing there when my friend got some chicks from a local couple. The meds he gave my friend were exactly for this. Unfortunately he omitted the name. I was reluctant to butt in. If it had been me buying the chicks I'd have asked for and written the name so I could research it.
Do you think I should continue the meds in water for 7 more days? I am willing. I just didn't know how to get that info.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks to both of you! I will look at the thread posted.
Re: the meds...I was standing there when my friend got some chicks from a local couple. The meds he gave my friend were exactly for this. Unfortunately he omitted the name. I was reluctant to butt in. If it had been me buying the chicks I'd have asked for and written the name so I could research it.
Do you think I should continue the meds in water for 7 more days? I am willing. I just didn't know how to get that info.

Is it Corid or Sulmet?

-Kathy

 

[yeye5]

Unfortunately I don't have the name. The breeder that gave it to us said to give it to them once or twice. I wish I'd just gone to the feed store now.

 

[casportpony]

Unfortunately I don't have the name. The breeder that gave it to us said to give it to them once or twice. I wish I'd just gone to the feed store now.

One is a sulfa antibiotic, so the dosing will not be the same.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Did they give you powder or liquid?

-Kathy

 

[yeye5]

It's a liquid.
I feel best to err on the side of caution. I wouldn't want to over dose them! I am going to call it "done" and pray I see no symptoms.
And...if I ever need meds again I will certainly do it the normal way! This was very silly of me!

 

[casportpony]

It's a liquid.
I feel best to err on the side of caution. I wouldn't want to over dose them! I am going to call it "done" and pray I see no symptoms.
And...if I ever need meds again I will certainly do it the normal way! This was very silly of me!

How much liquid did they say to use per gallon?

-Kathy