Tragedy strikes. Of the 12 chicks that hatched at the beginning of July, I kept 8 and sold 4. The 8 were doing great when I went out of town on Sunday. Monday evening my hubby calls to tell me he came home from work to a dead chick. I thought it strange, but he thought the rest seemed fine. Tuesday am he calls to tell me there's another dead chick and one acting really sick. I'm the one who usually does all the chicken stuff so he really doesn't know what to look for when it comes to anything other than feeding them. I suspected coccidiosis even though he said he didn't see bloody poop, and walked him though making up their drinking water with Corid to give them, which he did. When I got home Tuesday afternoon there were two more dead chicks and the remaining 4 were noticeably ill and bloody poop evident. The 4 made it through the night and seem to be doing a little better now so I'm hopeful they might make it.
What lousy timing. :/ Poor dear hubby is not a chicken person and was doing me a favor taking care of them all. If I had been home I most likely would have noticed and gotten them on Corid a little sooner and more of them might have made it. (I had an outbreak of Coccidiosis in some chicks I bought last year and they all made it because I caught it really early.)
So please, new chick moms and dads. If you aren't feeding medicated chick feed (which I personally choose not to do because I'm raising my chickens as organically as possible) keep an eye on your chicken poop!