HELP PLEASE! 2 sick chicks!!

[Michael Apple]

If you are feeding medicated chick starter, it might have too much amprolium in it. Amprolium in larger quantities can cause a thiamine deficiency leading to wry neck. I spoke with the vet at UCDavis School of Veterinary Medicine and she told me about some feed having too much Amprolium in it. I had a cheap brand of feed and out of seven chicks, four had wry neck within a few days. I tossed the cheap feed, bought unmedicated feed to use to use until they were well again, then restarted them on Purina Medicated.

That's the reason I stopped using medicated feed years ago and went for organic feeds. The last bag I remember buying smelled odd, and there was no way I was going to feed it to my chicks. I can control the Amprolium dosage myself by using it in water. Never had a problem doing it that way.

 

[ten chicks]

My chicks are on starter feed that we purchase from a reputable feed store... their feed containers are changed daily so I don't think it's an issue with their food... the water is in the plastic chick feeders and is also changed regularly (sometimes twice a day if they get a lot of bedding in it) ... recently I've added the save a chick stuff to hopefully prevent them from coming down with whatever this is...

The pen itself is home made... wood bottom when they're younger with a wood surround frame with newspapers covering the base and covered with a tarp to keep the heat from the heat lights in. This is changed daily as well. When they're older they are moved to a larger wood surround with a concrete floor and pine shavings. The pine is changed every 3 days and the floor is scrubbed clean.

I try very hard to take care of my birds so I really don't understand what is going on... Ugh! It's so frustrating.

On the plus side, all the smaller birds seem to be getting much better... the one older bird still seems to have the neck issue with the head shaking... I'm hoping that it might just take an extra day or two because she's older and larger...

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I really am puzzled and you've helped me a lot.

One more thing you could try is removing shavings. I had a chick that was sneezing,(i knew she did not have any respiratory issues)i removed pine shavings,and put in sand,no problems after that. You have to rule out all probable causes. Also what about removing tarp,maybe not enough light? No mold on wood under shavings or in corners? Wood treated with anything?

 

[StaciaLynne]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up buying everything that was advised. I've been using the nutri drench and it's working wonderfully!! You can hardly tell there was an issue with them to begin with! I've also started putting the save-a-chick in all the water containers and I don't seem to have the issue with any new birds.

Thank you again for everything

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up buying everything that was advised. I've been using the nutri drench and it's working wonderfully!! You can hardly tell there was an issue with them to begin with! I've also started putting the save-a-chick in all the water containers and I don't seem to have the issue with any new birds.

Thank you again for everything  

So nice to hear a happy outcome! So happy for you and your babies.

 

[loveourbirds]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up buying everything that was advised. I've been using the nutri drench and it's working wonderfully!! You can hardly tell there was an issue with them to begin with! I've also started putting the save-a-chick in all the water containers and I don't seem to have the issue with any new birds.

Thank you again for everything

glad to hear you solved the problem. did you stay with medicated starter, or go to unmedicated? im just asking so I know what angles to go with if someone else has the problem.

 

[StaciaLynne]

Un medicated - sorry I didn't see this pop up in my thread