JJ, glad you haven't lost any more of them. LH encountered a rare strain of mutated cocci that the vet said came through the egg, of all things! That was so bizarre. Happened with a batch of Columbian Rocks that my friend Scott had, too. The necropsy showed it was cocci right in the brooder, a rare form we don't even have here in GA, came with the chicks right in their eggs.
Cocci sometimes isn't as simple as we think with new mutant unnamed forms showing up in chicks in the brooder on occasion-we know this from necropsies done. With those, they must have a double dose of Corid, not the usual. I've never had that type here, thank goodness, and really haven't had to treat for cocci in quite some time. I thought one batch had it recently, but what I found was obviously only intestinal lining.
I've found the best thing to do is put a pan of dirt from your soil right in the brooder within days of their hatch--my chicks with broodies who get out within a few days on soil never get cocci. Before I started doing that, I had to treat every single batch who hit the ground at a few weeks of age.
LH, as far as Maxwell, I do think some are really too stupid to live, LOL. I had that BR cockerel, Gabriel, who was a complete spazz right from the get-go, highly unusual in a BR chick, never had one like him before or since. He did, as you know, end up becoming extremely aggressive and lost his head, literally, about a year later. He was certainly the exception to the rule for my friendly BR stock.
