Lethargic, diarrhea and losing weight in chicks and 5 month old pullets

[jnoble243]

It started with 10 weekold chicks. I hae treated one with antibiotics and the other teo pulled through ontheir own. Now some of my 6 month old leghorns aren't doing well. They are lethargic and one has a purple looking comb. They don't have diarrhea but I was getting 7 eggs a day and now I am down to 3 a day. It hasnt been too hot the last few days but has been very wet 12 inches of rain yesterday. None of them seem to have an upper respiratory infection. We got some adult chickens a few weeks ago but they have been separate. They were close to the chicks that originally got sick. My boyfriend did let the chicks out with the leghorns right before they got sick. The chicks are doing better now but I don't know what has caused this. Originally I thought it might have been te new food I gave the chicks but my leghorns haven't had any of that food. I have checked them for lice and mites. The new chickens I got had lice but we dusted them. One of the new chickens we got died yesterday but never acted sick at all. I don't know what to do for them. I have added electrolytes to their water. The chicks were treated with Albon and flagyl, do I need to do this for the leghorns? I also got some amprolium but havent used it because the chicks were doing better. Please help!!!!! And what could this be? I have not seen lice on anyone else and I know it doesn't live well once off of the chickens so they shouldn't be traveling to the other pens. Their diarrhea is white to greenish and is mucousy. When I checked a stool sample there was no coccidia just a lot of bacteria. Not sure if hat is normal for chicken poop I usually look at cat and dog poop at work and know it isn't normal for them.

 

[Eggcessive]

You have used a lot of strong antibiotics and everyone may have trouble getting their bowel bacteria back to normal. I would have treated for coccidosis first thing with the Corid, since chicks will usually get that from new birds being brought in if there are new strains of cocci. Did you check for cocci yourself or did a vet? I would probably give everybody some plain unseetened yogurt, Put some ACV in their water to get their guts back in shape, but I'm still wondering if you need to treat for cocci. However, the amprollium (Corid ) needs to be given for 5 days without anything else in the water. You have a complicated problem--be careful using antibiotics so quickly without knowing what is going on first (no offense met, just my advice.)

 

[dawg53]

It sounds like there's alot going on with all your birds. You mentioned "alot of bacteria." Possibly ecoli out of control in your flock, it is spread via feces. There may be a biosecurity issue here. I recommend that you get a necropsy performed on your sickest bird and find out what you're dealing with.

 

[jnoble243]

Thanks, and I am a registered technician so I am used to reading fecals we just don't do a lot with birds. I had a dr check after me and neither one of us saw anything other than the bacteria. I could not find the corid so I used what I had available to me from work. Since then I have found corid at southern states but have yet to use it. I agree with u about the use of antibiotics so I didn't treat everyone. I only treated the weakest chick since I figured I wouldn't have anything to lose..... Her poop is back to normal as well as the other two that are in the same pen that I did not treat. They are doing well now just need to gain back weight. Right now 2 of my leghorns just aren't themselves and are weak. Their combs aren't really purple anymore just on the tips. I started treating the same as I did the sickest chick but I don't know. The other 6 seem to have normal poop and the rooster also. I have been putting probiotics in their water to help. I just didn't know what this could be and if the 5 month old girls are still susceptible to getting coccidia. They live in pretty clean conditions for chickens. It's just been so wet here lately. It's hard to keep things dry. I have been using sweet Pdz in the coop bedding and stirring it at least once a week sometimes more. I will have a necropsy done I guess if any more die. Unfortunately the one that did die was a new bird to me and she was disposed of before I got home from work.

 

[Eggcessive]

The one thing I have learned about cocci is that you have to treat everyone on the place at the same because the oocysts shedded in the poop are highly contagious. There are 9 strains of cocci that chickens get, and at any one time a new chicken can bring in a strain your guys aren't immune to. The corid dose is 1/2 tsp. powder or 2 tsp of liquid to 1 gallon of water. In getting a necropsy done, they may find E.Coli as well as other things because in the textbooks many chickens can have mycoplasma, coryza, and E.Coli infections going on at the same time. Same way with cocci--it makes them more susceptible to other diseases. Good luck to you with your chickens.

 

[jnoble243]

Thank for the dose. I was just afraid to do it of not needed but this has worried me enough so ill stop te other antibiotics on the hen and use the corid. Thanks again!