Healthy Chick Dead, Please Help

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Most amproliums can cause a vitamin deficiency. So if you feed your chicks medicated chick starter they'll have slower growth than chicks that are not fed medicated chick starter. I only medicate when I see the symptoms. After you finish treatment, you can give the birds a vitamin supplement. (Poly-vi-sol w/ no iron, for example)

Coccidia can not only be in dirty, crowded warm pens, but also in puddles and anything that will collect water and sit in the sun. As you may notice some chickens love to drink out of nastiness.

 

[my sunwolf]

Most amproliums can cause a vitamin deficiency. So if you feed your chicks medicated chick starter they'll have slower growth than chicks that are not fed medicated chick starter. I only medicate when I see the symptoms. After you finish treatment, you can give the birds a vitamin supplement. (Poly-vi-sol w/ no iron, for example)

Coccidia can not only be in dirty, crowded warm pens, but also in puddles and anything that will collect water and sit in the sun. As you may notice some chickens love to drink out of nastiness.

I haven't seen any symptoms, per se. None of the chicks have ever spent all day fluffed in a corner, nor has there been any bloody poop (I keep checking the cecal but it's always a light brown, no red). They are eating, drinking, FLYING, and generally healthy. So I've decided not to medicate, except with ACV, and wait and see.

And they've been in the coop 24/7 since day 1, they've never even touched the outside ground yet (since my cats will eat them), so they definitely didn't pick it up from dirty water.

They do love to go around eating each others' poop, though. No idea how to stop this one.

 

[loanwizard]

Funny thing.... my cats never bother the chickens and I have somewhere in the teens number of "barn" cats.... that I feed every day grrrr..... 36lbs aprox every 2 weeks... well.... dogs like it too.

Not chicks, but about 5 weeks and up. They watch, but never seem to touch. I know this because at that age the still get out of the electronetting.....

 

[my sunwolf]

Funny thing.... my cats never bother the chickens and I have somewhere in the teens number of "barn" cats.... that I feed every day grrrr..... 36lbs aprox every 2 weeks... well.... dogs like it too.

Not chicks, but about 5 weeks and up. They watch, but never seem to touch. I know this because at that age the still get out of the electronetting.....

Huh, jealous. I've got a cat bird (so many feathered creatures exploded all over the yard), and we're still in the process of training her not to go near the babies. Our male barn cat is FAT and doesn't hunt, just eats. Our female barn cat does all the killing and doesn't really eat much cat food, she prefers to crunch bones, it really worries me. Ah well.

By the time they're 8 weeks I think they'll be safe from the cat, it's just the fluffiness and the high-pitched cheeping that seem to be irresistible.

Also, there have been no more deaths! I still really hope that it was just a freak death.

Is it true that some brands of feed can cause smellier poo than other brands?
I've heard that with FF the poos get less smelly, but not sure about the differences between dry commercial feeds.

 

[loanwizard]

Not a clue on that. Not working hard enough to FF. I feed 16% hog feed to my chickens and whine about how much of THAT they eat in the winter time. In summer they get a couple of scoops, but free range.

I can't say as I have ever gotten down to eye level and sniffed their poop, let alone tried to smell a difference.

I can see the commercial now.... cup number one is Layena poop, the other Dumore.... which smells worse?

 

[aoxa]

Not a clue on that. Not working hard enough to FF. I feed 16% hog feed to my chickens and whine about how much of THAT they eat in the winter time. In summer they get a couple of scoops, but free range.

I can't say as I have ever gotten down to eye level and sniffed their poop, let alone tried to smell a difference.

I can see the commercial now.... cup number one is Layena poop, the other Dumore.... which smells worse?

 

[my sunwolf]

Not a clue on that. Not working hard enough to FF. I feed 16% hog feed to my chickens and whine about how much of THAT they eat in the winter time. In summer they get a couple of scoops, but free range.

I can't say as I have ever gotten down to eye level and sniffed their poop, let alone tried to smell a difference.

I can see the commercial now.... cup number one is Layena poop, the other Dumore.... which smells worse?

I am WAITING for that commercial!!!

 

[off-grid hen]

When I switched from dumor unmedicated to blue seal (unmedicated) chick starter, I noticed a difference in poo smell right away. Everyone is all grown up now. Last time I bought feed, bought layena mega 3 because blue seal is so much farther away that's tractor supply. Have to switch back to blue seal mash (fed wet with ACV water but not fermented) or poulin when this 100 lbs is gone, their poo smells horrible again. I use ACV in the water too.

I had a welsummer chick up and die at 3 weeks. It happens, don't panic.