Chicks appear to by dying

[eworms]

One of my hens went broody and I allowed her to hatch eggs. On Friday and Saturday (2-3 days ago) nine healthy chicks hatched. Today, two of them are in a bad way and I'm hoping for some info about what might be wrong so I can save them, save the other seven if they're in danger, and generally do a better job of taking care of them.

One is breathing steadily, but largely unresponsive.
The other is gaping like it's trying to breathe, but can't.

What might cause that?

I've got them under a brooder plate right now to isolate them from the others in case it's disease related.

I've also noticed that the mother hen seems exhausted. Her eyes don't stay open well and her comb looks pale.

Any advice would be appreciated.

(To compound all this, my two year old was the one who found them. If they pass, I'll do a necropsy to look for bruising. I thought it was the nine year old who went up since I asked her to go just before. Normally, we don't allow him near the chickens alone.)

I've cross posted this in the raising chicks thread in hopes of a quick response.

 

[eworms]

The one that was gaping died. I attempted a necropsy. I don't see any bruising or broken bones so I no longer suspect my son for that one. All I found in its crop was chick feed.

The liver was a pale yellowy color. That doesn't seem normal to me. Does that suggest some sort of illness to y'all?

 

[MarlaMac]

So sorry. Have you considered they may have a coccodiosis infection? That parasite is in the environment and can overtake a small chick.

The treatment is corid in the water. You will need to have them on non-medicated feed for the duration of the corid treatment.

Dosage for liquid corid is 2 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days. This should be their only source of water. 7 days off and then 2 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days again.

This is what I would do it they were my chicks. You can get corid at tractor supply.

 

[eworms]

I haven't considered coccidiosis. I'll look into the symptoms of that and might have to make a trip to TSC.

 

[MarlaMac]

If you do the corid, make sure it is the only available water source for them. Forgot to mention that.