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

[esther5]

hi
her poop is often normal looking. i took 3 into the vet's and she agreed they were all normal. sometimes though she has had diarrhoea or had the odd liquid watery poops with a small amount of brown matter in it. her first one today was loose with white urea in it. there has never been blood so far i haven't looked since..been finishing off the run.

i guess this is why i feel confused. it isn't consistent. the vet thinks virus but to be honest she was clueless. i doubt anything will save her but i will continue to crop feed her. 2 days ago she was still walking around. she stays pretty much in the same place now with her head down and eyes closed. yesterday even mealworms didn't interest her. i haven't tried today.

 

[esther5]

well dd and i both agree she is heavier. some of that will be down to re-hydration but she feels slightly fleshier too if you can say that about an emaciated chicken.
i don't take this as a sign of health improvement because it is simply because of the calories being put into her through crop feeding but at least it won 't be starvation that kills her....

 

[LibertyChick]

Hi Esther,

What exactly are you giving your chicks? If you got the kefir grains yesterday, then you couldn't possibly be giving them kefir yet as it wasn't enough time to culture dehydrated grains yet. Are you giving them the grains themselves?

I hope you have enough grains to culture in some milk, preferrably raw milk. After it cultures, then you give the chickens the fermented milk, not the grains. Further down the road you can give the chicks extra grains, but not now or you will not have any left to culture your milk.

I have included a video of how to make kefir from the grains

LibertyChick

 

[LibertyChick]

hi
her poop is often normal looking. i took 3 into the vet's and she agreed they were all normal. sometimes though she has had diarrhoea or had the odd  liquid watery poops with a small amount of brown matter  in it. her first one today was loose with white urea in it. there has never been blood so far i haven't looked since..been finishing off the run.

i guess this is why i feel confused. it isn't consistent. the vet thinks virus but to be honest she was clueless. i doubt anything will save her but i will continue to crop feed her. 2 days ago she was still walking around. she stays pretty much in the same place now with her head down and eyes closed. yesterday even mealworms didn't interest her. i haven't tried today.

This crop feeder interests me. How exactly do you use this? Is there a video somewhere showing what it look like and how to use it?

LibertyChick

 

[esther5]

here is the one i am using. i did watch a you tube video but it's easier to just get on with it. my chicken is nearly full sized and she can take about 50 mls on an empty crop.

you can get metal crop feeders but i am more relaxed about plastic. also my tube is too large for the windpipe.

this is the one i bought in the link below


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181160455267?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 

[esther5]

i got the grains in the post on sat. there was quite a lot so i fed some of those and overnight there were plenty more but i strained these off and used the liquid.
thanks for the link

 

[casportpony]

This is what I use

These catheter tubes come in many sizes.

French
Gauge Diameter
(mm) Diameter
(inches)
3 1 0.039
4 1.33 0.053
5 1.67 0.066
6 2 0.079
7 2.3 0.092
8 2.7 0.105
9 3 0.118
10 3.3 0.131
11 3.7 0.144
12 4 0.158
13 4.3 0.170
14 4.7 0.184
15 5 0.197
16 5.3 0.210
17 5.7 0.223
18 6 0.236
19 6.3 0.249
20 6.7 0.263
22 7.3 0.288
24 8 0.315
26 8.7 0.341
28 9.3 0.367
30 10 0.393
32 10.7 0.419
34 11.3 0.445​

When I am going to give less than 60cc's, I use a 35cc catheter tip syringe like this one.



I use Kaytee Baby Bird Food, you can get it at Petsmart or Petco. If my bird is really sick, I mix it with lactated ringers solution or Pedialyte instead of water.


-Kathy

 

[esther5]

she was preening herself today...i haven't seen that in a few days. not really eating much of her own accord though.

 

[casportpony]

Preening is always a good sign!

-Kathy

 

[LibertyChick]

Might that food be of questionable quality? After all, it was meant as food for birds that we do not consume the meat of or their eggs.

LibertyChick