Hi...My chicks are 8 weeks old and are kept in clean conditions. A chick mysteriously died a week ago. it looked a little slow for a couple of days but did still eat and drink and did not show any blood whatsoever in its poo but one of my Silkie's is acting very very slightly dopey but eats and drinks fine too... All the others are fine. The chick that died last week kept on stumbling when the others brushed near it as if its strength was gone! Then one morning it could not stand up and died a couple of hours later. I know what coccidiocis is but I do not think this is the problem as no others are ill and their home and run is immaculate...I clean it regularly and ensure there is no pooin the food or water! Whatever is the problem??? I thought cocci could only live if the ooysts have enough poo to live on and get in to the chicks?? So, whats wrong with my chick?
It's doubly upsetting to lose a chick, or even a mature chicken for that matter. Not knowing what killed the bird has you losing sleep at night worrying about what you may have done wrong or if others are soon to take sick and die. A few days ago, I noticed one of my sixteen-week olds acting like a zombie. The personality change from active and vocal to sedentary and mute is the first tip-off something is wrong. I'm not an expert in chicken diseases, of which there are too many to even start to study up on, but I have learned that giving an antibiotic at the first sign of "zombie" behavior can mean the difference between life and death regardless of what might be wrong. In my case, the pullet was behaving normally the next morning, and I didn't follow up with the full course of antibiotic treatment, but if she had continued to act sick, I would have. In fact, a few months ago, I lost one pullet and another one took sick one week later, and she required two full rounds of an antibiotic to make her well. I never did know what killed her sister and made her so sick, and like you, my coop and run are immaculate. The one sure fire way of determining what has killed a chicken is to take the corpse to a lab for a necropsy, and if, godforbid, another gets sick and dies, I recommend you do that.
Hi and thanks for the reply..... Their water has added vitamins in it and it has been like this for the last few weeks. Also, would cider apple vinegar also help these chicks? They look as if they are well...zombies and are sleepy but when I go near them, like most chicks, they suddenly 'wake up' and run away extremely fast! What would you recommend...I have mature poultry too and I add some 'booster vitamins' to their food......Would this be good for them in a fairly week dose?
