EXTREMELY SICK PEACHICK

[HatchHatch]

I have two peachicks about 8 days old who hasn't been eating anything lately. I noticed foamy yellow poop and started them on a 5 day corid treatment. They drink the water but still does not eat the food. They're constanly sleepy, drooped wings, and visibly underweight compared to the other chicks. Today I noticed there was poop stuck near her anal hole and MANY little bugs/something of some sort moving around within the poop. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. What do i do? I only have duryamicin and Corid on hand. What medication can save my little babies?

 

[BYC-user-174785]

I am sure some of the more knowledgeable peafowl people will help you soon, and I hope your peachicks will be ok. Are the peachicks by themselves or with the other peachicks? Are they being fed Medicated Chick Starter? It so then that should have medicine in it to prevent coccidiosis, which is what Corid also treats I believe. Since you mentioned little thing in the poop, maybe that could mean worms??? Are they off the ground and are they with chickens? When my peachicks died from blackhead they did have similar symptoms but I did not notice anything in there poop... If it was blackheads they you would need metronidazole (commercial name is Fish Zole). I do use Safeguard Liquid Goat Wormer in the water when treating for worms. Good luck!

 

[AugeredIn]

The foamy looking yellow poop is not necessarily unusual with some crumbled food. The other signs of sickness are not normal. The bugs you are seeing could be from many sources. If they have been on the ground or in poor litter conditions in a brooder I would suspect cocci and possibly worms. Add safeguard to the water and treat for worms after the corid treatment or you may wish to mix them. I have mixed them before but I have not seen a recommendation either way.

 

[mbbrinegar]

Yeah worm them with safeguard after the corid treatment. I thought the corid treatment was for only 3 days. Maybe I'm confusing it with the safeguard worming.

 

[mbbrinegar]

I boiled eggs and mixed some of the corid water with it, and smashed it together to make sure the chicks were getting enough, but yours aren't eating. You can tell a difference in a couple of days.

 

[HatchHatch]

Thank you everyone for your replies. It is currently 2:40am here, so I'm just waiting for morning to come to go buy the Safeguard. I just hope the little ones make it through the night.

 

[AugeredIn]

I hope they made it through the night. If they did, I would suggest that if they are drinking you still have time.

One thing that always pops up in this section is chicks not eating. You might not see the chicks eat at all. I am not saying that you do not have a problem but I believe there are many cases in which birds are stressed to death by unneeded treatments or continuous feeding attempts. Although I recommended the worming treatment, I seriously doubt that either cecal or capillary worms have had time to cause significant stress in eight days.

I did not see you mention whether or not these birds have been on the ground or with older birds. If you can give us some more information or a group picture it might help.

One other consideration is size. Not all chicks are hatched the same size or grow uniformly. The chicks that we hatch from two year old birds and a few of the older birds are much smaller than others. When we first started hatching peafowl, we were continually concerned about droopy, sleepy chicks. Not so much anymore. You will find that some chicks have different sleep cycles and appear out of it when other are running around.

Keep us updated.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: The little bugs moving around are most likely maggots as I think they are too young for worms, but if they are worms, probably cecal worms. If they hatched outside I would be highly suspicious of blackhead, but if they've never been on the ground, it's more likely coccidiosis. Either way, they need to be treated.

The Corid powder dose is no less than 3/4 teaspoon per gallon. It is *not* 1/2 teaspoon like many people think. Trust me.
The Corid liquid dose is no less than 1 teaspoon per gallon, I use 2, which is recommended by the FDA for severe outbreaks.

If they have blackhead you need to find some metronidazole liquid suspension. Unfortunately, they probably don't have much time left, so you should think about a trip to the vet to get some. The dose is no less than 30mg/kg by mouth once a day for 5 days.

If they aren't eating, you should also think about learning to tube feed. A vet could show you how to.

-Kathy
Edited to fix typo. Metronidazole dose is 30mg/kg, not 50mg/kg.

 

[casportpony]

Just thought I should add that they are not too young to get blackhead as they can get blackhead from "cloacal drinking"... That's how I lost two of mine last year.

-Kathy

 

[AugeredIn]

If their yellow poop is really bright yellow poop, Kathy could be correct. Unfortunately, the success rate for blackhead treatment in chicks that young is not good.