IMMEDIATE ADVICE NEEDED

[flockmaster]

OK, first of all this is my first batch of chickens, i am a sheep farmer lol.

I was out doing chores today and I had a dead chick, one first one out of 30 cornish broilers. i didn't think too much of it since some natural deaths are common. however, upon closer examination i found several of the chicks have feathers missing and the beginnings of wounds on the lower neck/side area. i have no idea what this could be.

i went over to the where the layers are being brooded and found a similar case, only the wound is open and larger.

basic info: i have had the chicks for 6 days, and have had zero problems until now.

they are getting blue seal medicated chicks starter.

both sets of chicks (30 broilers and 15 layers) are in seperate 8x8 pens. one is in the chicken coop we made the other is in one of my barns. they are on pine shaving litter.

i am changing the water every day and the broilers are getting water soluble vitamins in their water.

does anyone have any idea what this could be? i don't know why they would be cannablizing one another, they have plenty of food/water/room. also, is there anything i can put on the wounds that would help? blue kote, i assume. I thought i would ask about idoine too since i have a boatload of it.

please help!!!

 

[tricia]

Is it possible to post a picture?

 

[ncgnance]

Is there a chance that a weasel could be getting in? That's what it sounds like. Weasels cut the throat and drain the blood. That's all I can think of. I certainly do not think they would be attacking each other like that.

 

[tricia]

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/diagext.htm

This will take you to a list of symptoms

 

[flockmaster]

wow that was fast, thanks for the quick advice!

i tried to take a picture with the camera phone, but it comes out as a large yellow blur.

OK, apparently i was panicking a little bit because my husbad went out and said he could only find one of the cornish with the wierd "thing" on it. the best way i can describe it is an unpopped blister. i saw a bunch of thin-feathered wing-pits and thought it was the same blister thing, but now it looks like only the one has it. the first thing that came to my mind was some sort of paraiste i have no knowledge of.

there was a cat that got in the layer coop the first night we had the chicks....it snuck in there before i got the door on and took 3 of them. i didn't count it as a problem because it was more of a weird accident of bad timing. at the time the others seemed unharmed so i thought the three were the only casualties. but my neighbor was over and suggested that maybe it was a wound from the cat that got infected, and wounds on the two chicks are unrelated.

there is no way for any sort of predator to get in to the chicken coop. it is theoretically possible for one to get in to the horse barn, but the windows are a good 7 feet off the ground with nothing near any of them to climb up. but it seems like if it was a predator it would have done significantly more damage.

thanks very much for the symptoms list!

 

[rooster-red]

Sounds like the mark of rats to me.

 

[tricia]

but it seems like if it was a predator it would have done significantly more damage.

Thats kind of what I was thinking. I hope the syptoms list help. Let us know if you have more questions!

Welcome to chickens!! I really want sheep!!

 

[firem3]

chicks will peck each other around the head and neck. if they get the taste of blood they will peck the bleeding chick to death. i would isolate them some how and see if they will heal.

 

[flockmaster]

i iodined the RIR's would. it's actually not bloody...there is a scabby part and it looks a little pussy. the other chicks don't seem interested in it...at leat not with me lurking around on all fours with a flashlight lol. the blister thing on the cornish is very bizarre. has anyone ever had/seen insect bites on a chick/chicken?

i didn't find anything on the symptoms list that looks familiar. not sure if that is good or bad heh.

we've actually never seen any rats around here. in the past there were quite a few mice but not since we started keeping the barns baited all year around.

thanks again for all the suggestions and the warm welcome...i guess there isn't a lot i can do right now except watch them all very closely. if it sounds like i am overreacting i apologize in adavance, i have a total lack of hands on experience with chickens and everything i know so far has come from books.

oh by the way, sheep and chickens go good together. they are of about the same intelligence. actually i think the chickens may be smarter

(i'm not even joking).

 

[lovemychicks9]

that kinda sounds like rats to me also. could you post a picture perhaps so that we may have more of an idea what the wounds look like?