Wow it sounds like whatever it is might be contagious, its good that you isolated them. Still not sure what it could be, there are so many things that chicks can end up with. I would try some antibiotics, most articles I have read and my avian vet said antibiotics dont work well for viruses, but its a good idea anyway to fight off secondary infections. My vet sent me home with some so Im sure its going to be helpful to some degree. It sounds like they have something going on that might antibiotics might be of benefit anyway, I dont think it could hurt, if its not infectious bronchitis, the antibiotics may work very well depending on what else it may be. You can buy powdered antibiotics for poultry at places like the Tractor Store. Im using the Sav a Chick too. Ive been giving mine watermelon as well, the one that is sick has really been chowing down on it, which is good because it keeps her hydrated. Ive been infusing it with some of the electrolytes too by poking holes in it and pouring some of the mixture into the holes. Ive been feeding them dried mealworms as well as real live little ones I got from
Petco, as they have a lot of protein and the one that is really sick isnt very interested in eating any chick crumble. If you do that tho, you have to make sure they get some grit as well so they can digest it properly. Ive been cutting the live ones in half for the smaller chicks. How old are your little ones?
Keeping them nice and warm is important too, the avian vet said to turn up the heat 5 degrees or so, but the good thing about my brooder is, its pretty large so the chicks can move in or out on their own depending on what they want. It seems the chicks are pretty good at self regulating temperature wise if they have the option to move in or out of the heat source. I did notice that the chicks that ended up with IB were definitely hanging out under the heat lamp more than the other ones. Hopefully someone else with more wisdom than me will chime in and give you some more advice, I am by no means an expert, Ive just learned all of this stuff in the last couple of weeks, so I am more than happy to try and share what I have learned with someone else who has sick chickens. Keep me posted, I will pray for your little ones as well as mine! I like your mention of God in your signature, its very cool and very true, I copied and pasted it onto my computer. Ive been having a really rough time losing these guys, today was chick #7 and I recently lost by big buff orp that you see in my avatar. I found her dead a couple of days ago in the chicken run after work. Im not sure what happened, Im waiting for results from a necropsy, I suspect it may be a screw that she ate. Anyway hope this helps!
