I believe what happened to my 4 mo. old SGs was a cockerel that had turned breeding age. I caught him chasing some of the others and was a bit rough with them...so...he is in his new home with a buddy and so far so good. The chicks I still am not quite certain. I have 2 that are still not acting like they feel good and I really think with the humidity it is cocci which I have had a problem with in the past. When I cleaned the cage the last chick I had that died I did fine bloody stool and it was not until the last day it was like that. I checked one of the two this evening and it's craw was at least half full which is wonderful! It has not had much of anything in it for 2 days. So..hopefully on the medicine it will be OK...still not sure on the other chick.Terry, I too have been in a battle with some infection. It started about 3 weeks ago. Coughing, sneezing, running nose, fowl smelling stuff, raspy breath, Almost black runny poop, then a swollen eye that shuts. I put 3 down that didn't respond to anti-botics. I had 2 with swollen eyes but they bounced back. No one has the running nose anymore. But I still hear a sneeze every so often. Then I think here we go again. It didn't bother the older birds, just the 8-10 month olds. The lay rate hasn't slowed down. I have a hen broody atm and my Buffy hatched out 14 out of 15 eggs last week. Better than an incubator lol. The only one I still hear sneezing every so often is the 10 month old rooster. I held him down and his nose is clear no swelling of the face. I am puzzled over this. I did notice the coop was pretty dusty the week every one started getting sick. I cleaned it out and took the pressure washer to it. I did find a bunch of little red mites hiding under the edge of the perches. I haven't been removing them when cleaning. I do now. I also put seven dust under the hay. That, I think fixed their little red wagon! No one in the other grow out pen got sick. I lost 3 black copper maran pullets from what ever it was. In hind sight they may of bounced back if I gave them more time. I gave them 1 week in the hospital pen. They started eating and drinking again but their eyes where not opening. I made the judgement call.
By the way, I found out a blue copper maran over EE's produces all colors. The blue must not be dominate like splash. Everyone of the chicks are diffrent.
Yes the grass/weeds are a bit tall under the porch. But it is nice and shaded and cool under there. The chicken tractor fits well under there and when it is 100+ the chickens hang out under there and eat the grass/weeds.
Have your tried Oxine?? You would really like it and it is a good product to use when you are fighting things like what you have described. Go to Bario's page and click on his webpage link. He has all the info on it.
The coming week is going to be really humid....just adds to the problem.
