chicks dying , help....coccidiosis???? any thoughts....

[esther5]

i am confused about my chickens. i have tried to read up about coccidiosis and think i might have an outbreak but some of the symptoms seem different to those i read about.

i bought some 5 week old chicks at auction. i kept them in quarantine for 3 weeks and during that time, lost one to sour crop. the rest seemed fine and were introduced to the rest of the flock at 8 weeks.

after a few days, another of the chicks died. it went downhill fast with the drooping feathers and lethargic behaviour. i was unsure why at that time but everyone else looked well. a week later one went down with a respiratory disease. i isolated her and she improved and was back to her normal self before the symptoms reemerged after a week of apparent health. she also died. a week later i found a cockerel dead. the only symptoms he had were stunted growth.by now the chicks are about 12 weeks old. the rest of my flock appears healthy.

a week later, 5 days ago, i have another sick looking chick. he is sleeping and has lost weight and has the drooping wings huddled look about him. i ordered corid to treat the flock and they started with corid in the water on thursday afternoon. the chick is barely eating but drinking some and i am giving it around 60 ml of treated water throughout the day by syringe.

what i find hard to understand is
.....that they have all taken so long to go down with the disease with weeks in between.
.....that it has been a variety of things killing them off.
.....there is no blood in the droppings (i read there isn't always blood)
.....it is only so far the chicks i got at auction that have dies though i am concerned about the rest of the flock.


today i have another of the pullets from the auction looking droopy. she was fine this morning but this afternoon is sleepy. is it likely to be coccidiosis after 3 1/2 days of corid?

we have has a very wet spring. the birds are housed on woodshavings with a fair amount of straw on top of that. their water is changed daily. they do poop in the water even so.

i have wormer lined up once they have had the corid but i haven't seen any signs of worms. i looked for signs of lice but can see none.

ant thoughts would be appreciated. especially about the chances for the pullet that got sick today. i hope she makes it. i have my doubts about the cockerel.

also. if you are hand feeding or giving water in a syringe. how often and how much should you be aiming at giving the chicken? the ones that are dying are now 14-15 weeks old. i have younger ones with a broody who seem well and some 20 week old pullets as well as my 2 year old hens.

thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex4616 This is a page I came across dated 2001, but still informative. Since one of your chickens had a respiratory disease, you could be dealing with something else or a combination. Newcastles Disease can cause respiratory symptoms as well as blood in stools, but it is not common. If you lose another bird, I would try to get it necropsied by my state poultry lab to find out what I was dealing with for sure.

 

[esther5]

thank you for the link. i will also look up newcastles disease.

does anyone know how much water i should aim to give the sick chick who is not eating. i am giving it mashed boiled egg in water treated with corid.

the other one who seemed off today just ate 2 scrambled eggs mixed with chick crumbs and peas. she is just seeming sleepy and a bit droopy..

 

[Eggcessive]

Good luck on figuring out how much water--every site I find they tell you how many liters to feed 100 chickens. One site I think said 100-200 ml. for a pullet(but a chick would be much lower) depending on the temperature they are in. 60 ml. a day sounds like plenty.

 

[ten chicks]

i am confused about my chickens. i have tried to read up about coccidiosis and think i might have an outbreak but some of the symptoms seem different to those i read about.

i bought some 5 week old chicks at auction. i kept them in quarantine for 3 weeks and during that time, lost one to sour crop. the rest seemed fine and were introduced to the rest of the flock at 8 weeks.

after a few days, another of the chicks died. it went downhill fast with the drooping feathers and lethargic behaviour. i was unsure why at that time but everyone else looked well. a week later one went down with a respiratory disease. i isolated her and she improved and was back to her normal self before the symptoms reemerged after a week of apparent health. she also died. a week later i found a cockerel dead. the only symptoms he had were stunted growth.by now the chicks are about 12 weeks old. the rest of my flock appears healthy.

a week later, 5 days ago, i have another sick looking chick. he is sleeping and has lost weight and has the drooping wings huddled look about him. i ordered corid to treat the flock and they started with corid in the water on thursday afternoon. the chick is barely eating but drinking some and i am giving it around 60 ml of treated water throughout the day by syringe.

what i find hard to understand is
.....that they have all taken so long to go down with the disease with weeks in between.
.....that it has been a variety of things killing them off.
.....there is no blood in the droppings (i read there isn't always blood)
.....it is only so far the chicks i got at auction that have dies though i am concerned about the rest of the flock.


today i have another of the pullets from the auction looking droopy. she was fine this morning but this afternoon is sleepy. is it likely to be coccidiosis after 3 1/2 days of corid?

we have has a very wet spring. the birds are housed on woodshavings with a fair amount of straw on top of that. their water is changed daily. they do poop in the water even so.

i have wormer lined up once they have had the corid but i haven't seen any signs of worms. i looked for signs of lice but can see none.

ant thoughts would be appreciated. especially about the chances for the pullet that got sick today. i hope she makes it. i have my doubts about the cockerel.

also. if you are hand feeding or giving water in a syringe. how often and how much should you be aiming at giving the chicken? the ones that are dying are now 14-15 weeks old. i have younger ones with a broody who seem well and some 20 week old pullets as well as my 2 year old hens.

thank you

Yes, it is possible for there to be days between chicks showing symptoms. May i inquire what dose they are on? Are they drinking medicated water? Make sure no vitamins are given during treatment,

 

[esther5]

the corid is in liquid form and the bottle says 28ml per 4.5 litre (1 gallon)
i do it fresh each morning. no, i'm not giving vitamins and they only have access to the medicated water.

in future when raising chicks, i will look into medicated chick feed as the store i buy from doesn't stock it.

if it is coccidiosis i'm hoping the rest will be ok. i think the cockerel was too far gone when i started the treatment though.

 

[ESofVA]

Try checking out infectious bronchitis

 

[ten chicks]

the corid is in liquid form and the bottle says 28ml per 4.5 litre (1 gallon)
i do it fresh each morning. no, i'm not giving vitamins and they only have access to the medicated water.

in future when raising chicks, i will look into medicated chick feed as the store i buy from doesn't stock it.

if it is coccidiosis i'm hoping the rest will be ok. i think the cockerel was too far gone when i started the treatment though.

Dosage for Corid liquid is 9.5cc or 2 tsp is close enough(actual is 1.93 tsp) per gallon of water. This is the dosage for poultry. I believe you are using approx.
2 Tablespoon,28 ml = 28 cc.
1 tsp = 5 ml.
1 Tbsp = 15 ml

 

[Eggcessive]

the corid is in liquid form and the bottle says 28ml per 4.5 litre (1 gallon)
i do it fresh each morning. no, i'm not giving vitamins and they only have access to the medicated water.

in future when raising chicks, i will look into medicated chick feed as the store i buy from doesn't stock it.

if it is coccidiosis i'm hoping the rest will be ok. i think the cockerel was too far gone when i started the treatment though.

I have used medicated feed when I first had chickens, but choose not to use it now. Instead I let the chicks build up a natural immunity slowly by putting some sod (dirt and grass) from the chicken yard into their brooder on the second day. This exposes them early to coccidia just like a broody hen in the coop yard does, and they seem to build up resistance gradually.

 

[LibertyChick]

thank you for the link. i will also look up newcastles disease.

does anyone know how much water i should aim to give the sick chick who is not eating. i am giving it mashed boiled egg in water treated with corid.

the other one who seemed off today just ate 2 scrambled eggs mixed with chick crumbs and peas. she is just seeming sleepy and a bit droopy..

I spoke to a local organic chicken farmer today about my chicken problems, possible cocci, and she said that cocci is spread thru the water. She said to change the water a few times a day to make sure it's clean and put a little bit of raw apple cider vinegar in the water. That is it to treat the cocci. She also talked with me about protein and how my rooster is so pale. She said that it usually a sign of protein deficiency and to give them eggs. I told her I gave 6 eggs to my six chickens and she said that was too much protein. Too much protein can cause the same symptoms as a protein deficiency and too much protein can kill them. You might want reduce the amount of protein. I'm going to pay close attention to the protein consumption now.

LibertyChick