MaryOos
Chirping
- Jun 1, 2015
- 50
- 27
- 81
So here we go again. I've got my first chicks ever, hatched May18 and arrived May 20. 6 Dominiques, 5 Salmon Fav's, and 5 Columbian Wyandottes. 3 days later I added 2 silkies and 2 polish that I bought locally. The brooder is made from 2 huge Costco potato crates, ends cut off and joined together. And there is a large sheet of cardboard cut to fit the bottom. Always 2 feeders and 2 waterers available. Bedding was wood chips with paper towel over to prevent sprattle leg and it was easy to examine poo. I cleaned twice a day by removing the towel, stirring up the wood chips a bit, and laying down fresh towels. Water changed twice a day and dispensers washed daily. Food dispensers were washed weekly. They have natural branch perch's which they started using immediately but only by day to sit back and watch the others. At night they liked to sprawl out in small cuddle groups on the floor.
At 1 1/2 weeks they were getting bored and fighting and there was some feather pulling of the older Frizzle Polish. I looked up how to entertain chicks on pinterest and then pulled the towel from a section and set in a cut down box with some sandy garden soil for dust baths and gave them some clumps of clover (roots, dirt and all). The plucking and fighting stopped. They loved the dirt and clover and dandy greens. They did not love their food however. Husband came home with 2 5lb bags of Manna Pro chick crumbles which I started them on and they adored. But it was only available in 5lb bags for $8 a bag. That's $80 for 50lbs!!!!! I found Graham's organic chick food for $38 and started mixing their food to change over. So three things happening here - #1 - 4 new chicks introduced, #2 dirt and greens introduced, and #3 new feed introduced.
First warning was I saw a drop of blood. I thought one of the naughty dominiques was at the polish again. I didn't find wounds on anyone. I continued to watch the areas with paper towel but I had been increasing the wood chip area as they seemed to prefer it, especially for sleeping during a cold snap we had. Everything looked fine for a couple more days. And then............a poo with laced with bloody mucus and then reddish brown diarrhea. I ran to the farm co-op and got the Corid after reading what to use on BYC after I put down more paper towel to keep watch. In a couple hours there were more bloody than not bloody stools. This morning I was afraid to look in the brooder to see how many I lost during the night. Just 18 hrs after giving Corid (emergency dosing). the stools look so much better. Still a couple bad ones but more normal (dark greenish with white) than bad.
No one ever lost their appetite. A couple of the Salmon Faverolles were looking a little fluffed but then they have all been looking fluffier than the others the way their feathers are coming in and the chick fluff is puffing out before it falls out. So it is hard to say there. I fed the flock some mash mash with fried egg ran through the food processor and mixed with some of their feed, some old fashioned oats (also run through the processor) and then all soaked in corid water. Their feed blended with eggs and water is a treat they never turn down and that way I knew everyone got a good dose of corid this morning. While they ate on one end of the brooder I sectioned off half and gave it the best cleaning ever (cleaned out, shop vac'd, and new bedding). Then moved their feed to the other end and did the same.
So after yesterdays blood bath here is what we have returned to today -
only one looking like this mess
Much better one but still has a little blood at the bottom edge that looks more yellow in picture
No sign of blood but an awful lot of moisture. They were just eating the watered mash though.
And finally, what I would consider as a newbie, to be the perfect poop. There are far more of these and the wet ones this morning, just 3 laced with blood, and only the one really nasty one.
And then they started picking at the poops which are so obvious to them on white towel so I scattered a very light layer of wood shavings to disguise.
And here is the chicks feeding station. The plastic covered container is filled with tap water to weight it and set in the center of the pie plate to keep them from all standing in the dish (live and learn) to eat their corid mash. There were 2 pie plates full to start. I combined the remaining bits into one dish and added more water. They will have that plate licked clean after they sleep off the initial feeding, LOL. As you can see, scattered wood shavings on towel to hopefully prevent poo eating.
And this is the brooder. It has 2 heat lamps. During the cold spell I sectioned off one end to hold more heat and placed flattened boxes over top to help insulate. The Costco potato cartons are awesome for brooders as they do not have any square corners.
I'd like to hope I acted quickly enough and am out of the woods. But the first poop pic tells me someone is still very much in danger. Hard to say who with 20 of them. I was going to list some of them on CraigsList this weekend. I am only allowed 6 (will likely keep 8) but had to order a minimum of 15. Now I am going to have to keep them all quite a bit longer than planned until I know they are all well.
How long do I need to keep them to be certain they don't bring cocci to a new home?
So how did I handle my big emergency as a newbie? Should I have acted on the first spot of blood with a preventative dose? They were on pro-biotics and electrolytes when this happened. Should I get new boxes for the brooder asap? Or maybe wait until I no longer see blood in stools. The bottom is kept lined heavily in news paper (which has been changed) with paper towel over and light shavings on that. I don't see any stool on the walls of the brooder. Do you think the dirt introduced was the most likely culprit?
At 1 1/2 weeks they were getting bored and fighting and there was some feather pulling of the older Frizzle Polish. I looked up how to entertain chicks on pinterest and then pulled the towel from a section and set in a cut down box with some sandy garden soil for dust baths and gave them some clumps of clover (roots, dirt and all). The plucking and fighting stopped. They loved the dirt and clover and dandy greens. They did not love their food however. Husband came home with 2 5lb bags of Manna Pro chick crumbles which I started them on and they adored. But it was only available in 5lb bags for $8 a bag. That's $80 for 50lbs!!!!! I found Graham's organic chick food for $38 and started mixing their food to change over. So three things happening here - #1 - 4 new chicks introduced, #2 dirt and greens introduced, and #3 new feed introduced.
First warning was I saw a drop of blood. I thought one of the naughty dominiques was at the polish again. I didn't find wounds on anyone. I continued to watch the areas with paper towel but I had been increasing the wood chip area as they seemed to prefer it, especially for sleeping during a cold snap we had. Everything looked fine for a couple more days. And then............a poo with laced with bloody mucus and then reddish brown diarrhea. I ran to the farm co-op and got the Corid after reading what to use on BYC after I put down more paper towel to keep watch. In a couple hours there were more bloody than not bloody stools. This morning I was afraid to look in the brooder to see how many I lost during the night. Just 18 hrs after giving Corid (emergency dosing). the stools look so much better. Still a couple bad ones but more normal (dark greenish with white) than bad.
No one ever lost their appetite. A couple of the Salmon Faverolles were looking a little fluffed but then they have all been looking fluffier than the others the way their feathers are coming in and the chick fluff is puffing out before it falls out. So it is hard to say there. I fed the flock some mash mash with fried egg ran through the food processor and mixed with some of their feed, some old fashioned oats (also run through the processor) and then all soaked in corid water. Their feed blended with eggs and water is a treat they never turn down and that way I knew everyone got a good dose of corid this morning. While they ate on one end of the brooder I sectioned off half and gave it the best cleaning ever (cleaned out, shop vac'd, and new bedding). Then moved their feed to the other end and did the same.
So after yesterdays blood bath here is what we have returned to today -
only one looking like this mess
Much better one but still has a little blood at the bottom edge that looks more yellow in picture
No sign of blood but an awful lot of moisture. They were just eating the watered mash though.
And finally, what I would consider as a newbie, to be the perfect poop. There are far more of these and the wet ones this morning, just 3 laced with blood, and only the one really nasty one.
And then they started picking at the poops which are so obvious to them on white towel so I scattered a very light layer of wood shavings to disguise.
And here is the chicks feeding station. The plastic covered container is filled with tap water to weight it and set in the center of the pie plate to keep them from all standing in the dish (live and learn) to eat their corid mash. There were 2 pie plates full to start. I combined the remaining bits into one dish and added more water. They will have that plate licked clean after they sleep off the initial feeding, LOL. As you can see, scattered wood shavings on towel to hopefully prevent poo eating.
And this is the brooder. It has 2 heat lamps. During the cold spell I sectioned off one end to hold more heat and placed flattened boxes over top to help insulate. The Costco potato cartons are awesome for brooders as they do not have any square corners.
I'd like to hope I acted quickly enough and am out of the woods. But the first poop pic tells me someone is still very much in danger. Hard to say who with 20 of them. I was going to list some of them on CraigsList this weekend. I am only allowed 6 (will likely keep 8) but had to order a minimum of 15. Now I am going to have to keep them all quite a bit longer than planned until I know they are all well.
How long do I need to keep them to be certain they don't bring cocci to a new home?So how did I handle my big emergency as a newbie? Should I have acted on the first spot of blood with a preventative dose? They were on pro-biotics and electrolytes when this happened. Should I get new boxes for the brooder asap? Or maybe wait until I no longer see blood in stools. The bottom is kept lined heavily in news paper (which has been changed) with paper towel over and light shavings on that. I don't see any stool on the walls of the brooder. Do you think the dirt introduced was the most likely culprit?
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