My hubby ordered chicks from a hatchery last Wed. They arrived Friday. They have been fine, til yesterday- Monday afternoon. ( Was 5 now 4 Silver/Grey Chanteclers, 2 Buff Chanteclers and 2 Silver/Grey Dorkings). So they're 6 days old today. Again all this started yesterday afternoon.
One of them had a crooked/crossed beak and seemed to be lethargic- she would move around at times- but for the most part was being trampled by the others, very rapid breathing. What we first noticed was she kept opening & closing her beak. Hubby pointed out her wings hadn't started feathering nearly as much as the other chicks, so slower growth. Her beak wasn't nearly as bad as some of the pictures I saw when i researched it, so I don't think her beak was keeping her from eating & drinking enough, it was just crooked enough to not line up.
The symptoms (except for the opening & closing beak which I dipped her beak in water, she drank a little, I used a small syringe to try to get her to get more since she wasn't fighting and her beak was partially open- it wasn't hard- this chick didn't have much fight in her.) to me sounded alot like coccidiosis, but could have also been just about any other chicken disease too from what I've read, as the symptoms are all kinda the same.
I didn't see bloody poop anywhere, but I read that you don't always have bloody poop.
I read somewhere it took 5 days for the cocci eggs that cause the problem to be mature, which assuming they hatched last Wed. yesterday was day 5. I also read that cocci is most common in chicks several weeks old, but can occur at any time.
So I culled the chick last night, saddest thing ever! I don't think I'm gonna eat chicken for a long time.
I know it's normal to lose a chick or 2, and I belong to a local online group and they've all been losing chicks left & right, and I posted there and nobody seemed worried.
So my question is this- my other chicks are acting fine, but I don't want to wait til another one possibly falls ill if it was cocci and is contagious. Given the young age of the chicks, do you think it was just one of those things? Or do you think it could have been cocci? Can I prevantative treat the rest of my 6 day old chicks? Should I wait and see if another gets sick before I do anything? Clean out the brooder?, although it's not bad at all. We have pine shavings down, and other than a little damp around the waterer, the brooder is in great shape. If so, with what? I've just read 'disenfect'. With bleach solution? Lysol? The walls of the brooder are plywood, so I would be afraid even with a 10% bleach solution, enough of it would soak into the wood and the fumes would kill the chicks???
Help????
Edit- They are not on medicated starter. I've also been taking care of the chicks before I take care of our older chickens and not washing hands in between. They aren't housed near each other but I have been touching the feeder & water in the brooder before feeding the older chickens. ??? Think I'm contaminating my older chickens? We've been fortunate to not have any issues with them, but we did just 'harvest' the old mean rooster 3 weeks ago, and brought them 2 new younger roosters, so they're still adjusting & might still be a little stressed. ???
One of them had a crooked/crossed beak and seemed to be lethargic- she would move around at times- but for the most part was being trampled by the others, very rapid breathing. What we first noticed was she kept opening & closing her beak. Hubby pointed out her wings hadn't started feathering nearly as much as the other chicks, so slower growth. Her beak wasn't nearly as bad as some of the pictures I saw when i researched it, so I don't think her beak was keeping her from eating & drinking enough, it was just crooked enough to not line up.
The symptoms (except for the opening & closing beak which I dipped her beak in water, she drank a little, I used a small syringe to try to get her to get more since she wasn't fighting and her beak was partially open- it wasn't hard- this chick didn't have much fight in her.) to me sounded alot like coccidiosis, but could have also been just about any other chicken disease too from what I've read, as the symptoms are all kinda the same.
I didn't see bloody poop anywhere, but I read that you don't always have bloody poop.
I read somewhere it took 5 days for the cocci eggs that cause the problem to be mature, which assuming they hatched last Wed. yesterday was day 5. I also read that cocci is most common in chicks several weeks old, but can occur at any time.
So I culled the chick last night, saddest thing ever! I don't think I'm gonna eat chicken for a long time.
I know it's normal to lose a chick or 2, and I belong to a local online group and they've all been losing chicks left & right, and I posted there and nobody seemed worried.
So my question is this- my other chicks are acting fine, but I don't want to wait til another one possibly falls ill if it was cocci and is contagious. Given the young age of the chicks, do you think it was just one of those things? Or do you think it could have been cocci? Can I prevantative treat the rest of my 6 day old chicks? Should I wait and see if another gets sick before I do anything? Clean out the brooder?, although it's not bad at all. We have pine shavings down, and other than a little damp around the waterer, the brooder is in great shape. If so, with what? I've just read 'disenfect'. With bleach solution? Lysol? The walls of the brooder are plywood, so I would be afraid even with a 10% bleach solution, enough of it would soak into the wood and the fumes would kill the chicks???
Help????
Edit- They are not on medicated starter. I've also been taking care of the chicks before I take care of our older chickens and not washing hands in between. They aren't housed near each other but I have been touching the feeder & water in the brooder before feeding the older chickens. ??? Think I'm contaminating my older chickens? We've been fortunate to not have any issues with them, but we did just 'harvest' the old mean rooster 3 weeks ago, and brought them 2 new younger roosters, so they're still adjusting & might still be a little stressed. ???
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