Chicks Dying from Starvation?

[Poyo'sMama]

I've had a problem with some of my chicks...they eat some but mostly just don't and actually starve to death...what is this? It happened with some hatchery chicks I got from Meyers and now it happens with various chicks, older and younger...not all just a few. Please help, I'm so tired of losing chicks!

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

What are you feeding them? Er... well, tying to feed them?

 

[Poyo'sMama]

Medicated Chick starter and I try to get them to drink with a medicine dropper.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

I doubt they are actually starving to death, possibly it is an illness causing lack of appetite? How are they acting? How old? What does the poo look like?

 

[dlhunicorn]

rehydration after shipping can be crucial... put electrolytes in their water and hopefully this will resolve the problem .

 

[Poyo'sMama]

They act fine, eat and poo just like normal, the poo is the normal color...but I have seen occasional blood in some. Then they stop eating, all ages from some of my older ones outside to some of my younger ones in the brooder. Then they seem to fade...not eating, wings dropping and just lethargic.
What disease could it be and what should I treat them with?

 

[lockedhearts]

I had some I have hatched do that, took them to the State Vet for Necropsy. We have a lot of hatcheries here for meat birds , the State Vet calls them "Starve Outs" , what it is and I hope this does not start a flame fest, Hatcheries of course make money by the amount of chicks they sell, so they hatch every egg. In nature not all eggs hatch, but when you artificially incubate eggs that would not have hatched will hatch. So in essence the chicks that are not thriving likely should not have been hatched.
I have nursed some and gotten up the be several months old only to still have them die.
Oh and before anyone questions our State Vet here, he has been a vet for almost 50 years, I trust him.

IF you think about it, how many times in the hatching thread do people say , not to help with hatching. I have done it, and a lot of times those chicks I helped ended up dying a few days or weeks later as starve outs. When you necropsy these chicks they will probably have no food in their intestines, maybe a little bedding but no food.

 

[b.hromada]

Thats sound logical to me. Come to think of it, even one or two of mine in the past may even of had that. Thanks so much for that info.

 

[Poyo'sMama]

Thank you that helps alot!

 

[Judy]

Lockedhearts, what you are saying makes a lot of sense to me. My question is, how do you differentiate between a "starve out" and a cocci infestation, at least while they are still alive? Don't chicks with a heavy load of cocci also stop eating? When I read the OP's post, I wondered about cocci.