calling any one from missouri

[carolsmith7878]

I started them on Corid 9.6% liquid: 2 tsp per gallon of water. I'm treating them & the rest of the flock that is outside. They haven't been together, but I figure I might as well do everyone at once!

I hope the Corid works for you. Keep us posted! Good luck!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I need help & advice. I hatched 4 Penedesenca eggs on Feb27 - March 1st. The last one had gotten shrink wrapped & needed help. She came out with some pretty severe leg problems & eventually died. The other 3 ( 2 pullets/1 cockerel) were doing great. I hatched out 21 more eggs in the Easter HAL. 1 had not absorbed all of its yolk & died at 2 days old. A few days ago I put all the chicks together in the brooder & watched to make sure everything was ok. I have 3 feeders & 2 waters in the brooder as well as a heatlamp. I've taken the older chicks outside for some supervised time in the grass & sun (on the warm days). I think they have been outside a total of 3 times in the past 2 weeks. I take water out with them. They only stayed outside for an hour or 2. Last night I went to check the feeders & waters in the brooder because they tend to kick a lot of shavings around, so I clean it out about 3 times a day. Everybody looked great & was up walking, eating & drinking. I went back in about an hour or 2 later to check on them before I went to bed and 1 of the older Penedesenca pullets was laying on the brooder floor very much dead. I have been feeding them chick starter & occasionally some meal worms. She did not seem to have much in her crop.
I was very puzzled as to what had happened.
Today was much like yesterday, I checked often to make sure the food dishes weren't covered by pine shavings & were full of food. Also, made sure the waters were clean & full. Took the 2 older chicks & 11 of the younger chicks out for a short time in the grass (about an hour). When I went to bring them back inside, the older pullet chick was laying on its side, 1 leg trembling a bit & the other chicks were walking on top of her. Earlier, she had been great. I separated her & put vitamins in her water & made sure she took a drink. She was able to stand on her feet after that.
My DH thought maybe she needed grit (which I have never provided, I believe they get grit when they are outside because our yard is full of rocks of all sizes. Any chicken I have ever butchered has had plenty of grit in the gizzard.) Anyway, I went out to the gravel driveway & brought in a container of very small grit. I put some in with her & some in with the other chicks. I also sprinkled chick starter on top of the paper towels I put her on. I checked on her a little while ago & she doesn't look like she is going to make it.
I also keep a small space heater in the room to help keep the temps up in that room. I pay attention to where the chicks hang out in the brooder to see if they seem too hot or too cold & they usually have been spread out in the brooder equally, some by the light & some in the middle & some at the other end. I haven't seem any pecking or fighting.
Any ideas? I don't want to lose any more, especially if it is because I am doing something wrong!

Sorry to hear it. So it's the older ones that are dying?
Has there been any fertilizing or pesticide use in the grass where you've let them out?
Is the feed fresh and no sign of mold?

I put feeders and water up on bricks to limit how much shavings can get scratched in.
For babies, I just use paper towels for a few days and put food on them gradually trending to the chick feeders.

Grit is pretty cheap and I sprinkle #1 grit on top of the feed the first few days to a week and then put some in a round chick feeder or on one end of a trough feeder till they're 4 weeks. From 4 to 7 weeks I go with #2 grit and 8 weeks on they get adult grit.
Usually if they're only getting chick starter they don't absolutely have to have grit but it does help develop the gizzard and in the past, the first time I offered grit to chicks in a separate container when I had fed nothing but starter, they gobbled it up like it was ice cream. I've used it since. I also usually feed a coarsely ground grower feed with some whole seeds in it that I ferment so they need it now.

I started them on Corid 9.6% liquid: 2 tsp per gallon of water. I'm treating them & the rest of the flock that is outside. They haven't been together, but I figure I might as well do everyone at once!

Probably can't hurt but they're unlikely to get coccidiosis from 2 hours outside in an area without chickens. If they pick up any coccidia it would be a very small dose and keeping bedding bone dry prevents the protozoa from completing their life cycle.

 

[karenerwin]

Sorry to hear it. So it's the older ones that are dying?
Has there been any fertilizing or pesticide use in the grass where you've let them out?
Is the feed fresh and no sign of mold?

I put feeders and water up on bricks to limit how much shavings can get scratched in.
For babies, I just use paper towels for a few days and put food on them gradually trending to the chick feeders.

Grit is pretty cheap and I sprinkle #1 grit on top of the feed the first few days to a week and then put some in a round chick feeder or on one end of a trough feeder till they're 4 weeks. From 4 to 7 weeks I go with #2 grit and 8 weeks on they get adult grit.
Usually if they're only getting chick starter they don't absolutely have to have grit but it does help develop the gizzard and in the past, the first time I offered grit to chicks in a separate container when I had fed nothing but starter, they gobbled it up like it was ice cream. I've used it since. I also usually feed a coarsely ground grower feed with some whole seeds in it that I ferment so they need it now.

Probably can't hurt but they're unlikely to get coccidiosis from 2 hours outside in an area without chickens. If they pick up any coccidia it would be a very small dose and keeping bedding bone dry prevents the protozoa from completing their life cycle.

Yes, it was the 2 older pullets. So far the cockerel seems to be doing ok. I see him eat, he just never looks like he has a real full crop. He also seem like he has a really long neck, not that that has anything to do with anything! I've brought in about a half cup of grit and they gobbled it up.

I autopsied the 2nd pullet that died and everything looked real good to me. I'm by no means an expert, but I couldn't see anything that made me say "oh!"
Hopefully, between the grit & the Corid, I won't have any more problems. I'd be more comfortable if the cockerel would eat enough to get a nice puffy looking crop.

How did your hatch turn out?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have 19 chicks. 3 had shrink wrapped that I had to help on day 22. Most of the rest were out on day 21 or a tad early. One of the wrapped ones has problem feet I'll try to fix today and if it doesn't go well, I'll cull. The color of all of them is really good. Two of them (including one of the wrapped ones) are pene/ameraucana cross, so should be an olive egger if I get a pullet or two. The mom is a 6 year old that is laying every day and such a nice bird. I figured she needed some friends that look more like her.
I have about 50+ eggs in the incubator that looked better candling. Out of the 30 due on the 26th, only 2 clears.
I have new controllers to install in the hatcher so hopefully I won't fry any in there this time.


Was there any chance of fertilizer or other chemical in the lawn where they were?
One thought was sudden death syndrome but usually only broilers. That would be an empty gall bladder and bloated, bright red lungs on necropsy. Sometime pools of fluid between ribs and lings.
I can't think of anything else without other symptoms.

 

[karenerwin]

I have 19 chicks. 3 had shrink wrapped that I had to help on day 22. Most of the rest were out on day 21 or a tad early. One of the wrapped ones has problem feet I'll try to fix today and if it doesn't go well, I'll cull. The color of all of them is really good. Two of them (including one of the wrapped ones) are pene/ameraucana cross, so should be an olive egger if I get a pullet or two. The mom is a 6 year old that is laying every day and such a nice bird. I figured she needed some friends that look more like her.
I have about 50+ eggs in the incubator that looked better candling. Out of the 30 due on the 26th, only 2 clears.
I have new controllers to install in the hatcher so hopefully I won't fry any in there this time.


Was there any chance of fertilizer or other chemical in the lawn where they were?
One thought was sudden death syndrome but usually only broilers. That would be an empty gall bladder and bloated, bright red lungs on necropsy. Sometime pools of fluid between ribs and lings.
I can't think of anything else without other symptoms.

The only chemical that has any possibility of having gotten on lawn as "overspray" or "windblown" is wasp spray. My Hubby sprayed some wasps a couple of days before that (gutters on the house near that part of e lawn). I could totally see that being able to kill a chick. I haven't taken them back to that part of the yard. When I autopsied, I didn't open the gall bladder, but it was not bloated, the lungs looked fine & there wasn't any fluid pooled inside.
I haven't lost any more since then.
19 chicks sounds good! Didn't you take around 26 to lockdown? Sounds like you are going to be overrun with chicks by May! Good luck with the feet on the one little chick. I'm glad all of the colors look good. Sounds like you will have a lot of good candidates to choose from for your breeding program.

 

[microchick]

This weather sux!

It was 29 degrees for three hours here this morning. I lost a dozen garden plants that were covered and I've had to keep a heat lamp on our 6 wk old flock at night. We had wrapped our blooming semi dwarf orchard trees in anything we could find, including blankets and I'm hoping they survived. I saw bees working the blossoms this afterrnoon.

Still the Brooder Bunch was able to get out this afternoon for some serious scratchin and peckin so hopefully things will settle down and we can get back to spring.

How were the temps elsewhere in MO?

 

[mrballance]

This weather sux!

It was 29 degrees for three hours here this morning. I lost a dozen garden plants that were covered and I've had to keep a heat lamp on our 6 wk old flock at night. We had wrapped our blooming semi dwarf orchard trees in anything we could find, including blankets and I'm hoping they survived. I saw bees working the blossoms this afterrnoon.

Still the Brooder Bunch was able to get out this afternoon for some serious scratchin and peckin so hopefully things will settle down and we can get back to spring.

How were the temps elsewhere in MO?

No problem in KC Area

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We escaped the frost with no fruit damage. It got down to about 34 at my house.

 

[elorraine52]

cool here, upper thirties the past 3 nights or so I think, but no frost, been bringing my pepper and tomato plants in at night, don't have them planted out as yet, but the lettuce and onions doing fine. South central MO here....got my eggs in lockdown, added water to all the channels, humidity only 38%....praying things go well....Marans eggs so not able to candle very well...but no smell....

 

[ozark hen]

elorraine52your avatar is stunning!! Is it your horse??