Chicks suddenly dying

[ValleyFarm]

Hello, recently I started noticing our black white crested polish acting odd. He was staying to himself and wouldn't move around much. He then became so bad that he wasn't afraid of me at all when approaching it and got to the point where he wouldn't open his eyes. Upon bringing him inside and giving him food and water, he pecked at the food a bit. By the next day he was dead. Nothing was wrong with it that I could tell from looking it over. Now two more chicks were exhibiting the same behavior today and the one has died already by tonight, the other still doing okay. This leads me to believe it is a disease passing among the chickens. I'll report tomorrow what the sick chicken that is currently isolated's feces looks like. The chicks that have been gettin sick are about 6 weeks old.

Thanks for your help

 

[DaddyBird]

Might be coccidiosis. By the time you get it figured out they may be dead. Selmet or Corid (available from any farm store) mixed in their water will knock it out. My wife and I dealt with that on our first baby chicks. One started acting sleepy and was dead within 24 hours. We treated the rest of them and almost lost a second to it but my wife literally stayed up all night forcing water and feed mush into it with a dropper. It perked back up a little the next day enough to feed itself and was fine in a few days.

There is plenty of stuff on the Internet about it. It is a parasite in the intestinal track that ends up destroying the lining and killing the birds. If poop is red or has blood in it, I would bet that's what you have. It is spread in their droppings so you can assume the rest are already exposed.

Medicated feed is a preventative for it only if fed early to develop immunity but will not heal them if they are infected. You will need the medicine. We were using a little 1qt waterer and only had to mix 2 ml of Corid (this is made for cattle and pigs but covers more strains than Selmet) to a quart and ran that dose for a week.

Good luck, Act fast and you can probably save the rest.

 

[ten chicks]

Hello, recently I started noticing our black white crested polish acting odd. He was staying to himself and wouldn't move around much. He then became so bad that he wasn't afraid of me at all when approaching it and got to the point where he wouldn't open his eyes. Upon bringing him inside and giving him food and water, he pecked at the food a bit. By the next day he was dead. Nothing was wrong with it that I could tell from looking it over. Now two more chicks were exhibiting the same behavior today and the one has died already by tonight, the other still doing okay. This leads me to believe it is a disease passing among the chickens. I'll report tomorrow what the sick chicken that is currently isolated's feces looks like. The chicks that have been gettin sick are about 6 weeks old.

Thanks for your help

Daddybird is correct, it is Coccidiosis. Cocci is a parasitic infection of the intestinal tract. Most birds have some cocci in their sml intestines,only becomes a problem if they have an overload,then we medicate to bring it back under control. Cocci is spread by droppings,which get into feed/water via droppings. Purchase Corid(amprolium)Corid targets all 9 strains of Cocci,Sulmet only targets 2. Dose for Corid 20% powder is 1/2 tsp per gallon of water,dose for Corid 9.6% liquid is 2 tsp per gallon of water. Treat ALL chicks for 5 days,do not give vitamins during treatment(interferes with medication)give vitamins after treatment is complete. Coccidiosis kills very fast.

 

[ValleyFarm]

So if it isn't cocci, would administering this medication be harmful to the chicks?

 

[DaddyBird]

not at all. but if you hesitate, it will be very harmful.

 

[ValleyFarm]

Already got it and am now treating. Thanks for the help!