my 9 week old chicks just moved out to their chicken tractor today after the overnight death of my favorite chicken in the brooder box. I hatched them out here on October 13th and was unprepared for how fast they would outgrow their brooder. If I had electricity or it was summer it wouldn’t have been such a struggle to house them until fully feathered.
I have never seen blood in their stools until (I think) today. I got a text at 8 am saying that one had died overnight. It was a friendly one (my favorite) and we had cuddled her at 4-5 pm that night. When I told my husband that she died, he said when she was sitting on his arm and shoulder she was panting and sticking her tongue out. I told him if he ever sees anything strange or like that again to tell me right away.
We finished the tractor and chores at our end of the farm and got down at 2pm to collect my chickens for transport to their new home. I saw what appeared to be bloody stool on the roosting bars I gave them, and a large patch of what looked like bloody droppings in the brooder. My mother isn’t sure if she just didn’t see it earlier or if it was new.
The brooder had gotten foul with droppings, I’ve been trying to get them out for almost two weeks now, I’m not sure how badly she was letting them foul the water before changing it. Somehow she fed them a full bag of feed, 50lbs, in three days, not closing the trough lids and I think they were just billing it all out.
I have another 13 chicks, two or three weeks old, I just moved into the brooder after cleaning it out completely. They have had occasional blood in their droppings since I got them at 8-10 days old, but I can’t pinpoint which one, it’s minimal and they all look and act fine. Both groups were in separate brooders in the same room.
Everyone has looked pretty healthy until today, and when I was holding the now dead chicken after lunch yesterday she seemed fine (no panting) I didn’t see any damage to her before I buried her, her legs were straight down/out, head tucked down with her beak towards her breast. No sign of bloody droppings at the vent.
She had not been pecked.
I’m worried about the rest of my flock now, especially since the changes to our laws (Canada) regarding veterinary medications for farm use which went into effect at the beginning of December. All antibiotic type medications and most deworming medications are now only available through a Vet. And there aren’t any vets that handle poultry in my area.
Does this sound like coccidiosis? What should I be looking out for? Are there any treatments which I might be able to use that wouldn’t require a prescription from a vet? Any help is and information is appreciated. I don’t have any pictures, I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, just concentrating on getting the chickens out of there and the littler chicks into larger quarters.
I have never seen blood in their stools until (I think) today. I got a text at 8 am saying that one had died overnight. It was a friendly one (my favorite) and we had cuddled her at 4-5 pm that night. When I told my husband that she died, he said when she was sitting on his arm and shoulder she was panting and sticking her tongue out. I told him if he ever sees anything strange or like that again to tell me right away.
We finished the tractor and chores at our end of the farm and got down at 2pm to collect my chickens for transport to their new home. I saw what appeared to be bloody stool on the roosting bars I gave them, and a large patch of what looked like bloody droppings in the brooder. My mother isn’t sure if she just didn’t see it earlier or if it was new.
The brooder had gotten foul with droppings, I’ve been trying to get them out for almost two weeks now, I’m not sure how badly she was letting them foul the water before changing it. Somehow she fed them a full bag of feed, 50lbs, in three days, not closing the trough lids and I think they were just billing it all out.
I have another 13 chicks, two or three weeks old, I just moved into the brooder after cleaning it out completely. They have had occasional blood in their droppings since I got them at 8-10 days old, but I can’t pinpoint which one, it’s minimal and they all look and act fine. Both groups were in separate brooders in the same room.
Everyone has looked pretty healthy until today, and when I was holding the now dead chicken after lunch yesterday she seemed fine (no panting) I didn’t see any damage to her before I buried her, her legs were straight down/out, head tucked down with her beak towards her breast. No sign of bloody droppings at the vent.
She had not been pecked.
I’m worried about the rest of my flock now, especially since the changes to our laws (Canada) regarding veterinary medications for farm use which went into effect at the beginning of December. All antibiotic type medications and most deworming medications are now only available through a Vet. And there aren’t any vets that handle poultry in my area.
Does this sound like coccidiosis? What should I be looking out for? Are there any treatments which I might be able to use that wouldn’t require a prescription from a vet? Any help is and information is appreciated. I don’t have any pictures, I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, just concentrating on getting the chickens out of there and the littler chicks into larger quarters.
