Lost a lot of my chicks! Help

[Lisa Thorne]

Your kidding right?...Tired Chic

hmm...This is hard to explain but Chickens carry disease and come out at times of stress..Too many people don't understand how dirty Chickens are and how easily diseases transfer to flocks..

Thank you!!

 

[chickens really]

Thank you!!

Your welcome and sorry I was so blunt but Chickens are that way...

 

[Lisa Thorne]

Your welcome and sorry I was so blunt but Chickens are that way...

I get it. I feel starting over is best. But don' know how..

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I tried the yogurt and put the medicine in......Will the sick ones get others sick after quarantine? Will I get eggs still?

What type of medication are you adding to the yogurt?

To me, chicks look too hot and could possibly be showing some symptoms of Coccidiosis as suggested by @KikisGirls Watching your chicks behavior is a better indicator of how much heat they need than a thermometer. Your chicks are camping out on the "cooler" side of the brooder away from the heat, this tells us, the brooder is too warm. Personally I would adjust/ reduce the heat to see if that makes any difference in the fluffed up appearance, if not, I would start treatment with Corid.

I understand you mention that they sound congested - do they have any other symptoms that would indicate respiratory illness (watery eyes, coughing, sneezing, facial swelling, mucous, etc.). Sometimes excess heat, dry dusty feed and bedding, poor ventilation and molds are causes of respiratory symptoms as well. Look at your setup to determine if any of these need to be corrected.

Watch to see that they are drinking plenty of water, electrolytes for 1day to help get them hydrated would be good.

I do agree, that it's best to stop the hatchery order if you can so you can get things straightened out first before adding more chicks.

If the cause of the congestion is a respiratory illness - a lot depends on your goals as to whether the best course of action is to cull. If you are planning on selling, trading, giving away hatching eggs, chicks, etc., then having some testing would be a good idea. Respiratory illnesses make the whole flock carriers for life. If these are "pets" or for your own personal use, then keeping a closed flock may be best for you - this means any birds you have never leave your property - while you can add, new birds could become symptomatic - you would need to decide if you want to treat the symptoms as they arise or simply cull the bird, that would be up to you. Hopefully after some research/reading and getting some testing you can make a more informed decision on how to proceed.

 

[Lisa Thorne]

Thank you. The bigger ones are sneezing and opening their mouths. They are drinking. No mucous yet in eyes. Nose seems watery. I replaced the paper towels with pine chips now they're eating them!!! Or pecking. Is that bad?

 

[Lisa Thorne]

Thank you. The bigger ones are sneezing and opening their mouths. They are drinking. No mucous yet in eyes. Nose seems watery. I replaced the paper towels with pine chips now they're eating them!!! Or pecking. Is that bad?

I added the democynin.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you. The bigger ones are sneezing and opening their mouths. They are drinking. No mucous yet in eyes. Nose seems watery. I replaced the paper towels with pine chips now they're eating them!!! Or pecking. Is that bad?

I added the democynin.

Chicks will pick at shavings, are you sure they are eating them? It's always a good idea to provide chick grit for your chicks, even if the only food they have is chick starter. The grit should help if they do ingest a small piece of bedding.

The medicine - is it Duramycin? A photo of your bottle/package would be good. How much are you giving?

How much ventilation do you have in their brooder? Again, it could be respiratory illness like Infectious Bronchitis or Mycoplasma, but it's always a good idea to rule out environmental causes like not enough air circulation, etc.

If you have a video of their actions and how they sound that's always helpful.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Person is talking Vaccinated not Medicated Chicks..Only vaccines provided is Mereks and coccidiosis from hatcheries..

And a lot of hatcheries don't even vaccinate for those unless you order and pay for it. None of my chicks from the hatchery have been vaccinated for anything.

One super source of nutrients (though I don't think lack of nutrient is the issue), is a raw egg yolk. Though that is from my own flock. If you are still using store bought eggs, I don't know if I would still suggest that with the possibility of salmonella or whatever.

You've got lots of good peeps helping you figure this out here.

Sorry I'm having a little issue keeping my details straight... but if the sick birds came from the breeder, I would definitely be making a phone call and let them know about the issue.

 

[Lisa Thorne]

Chicks will pick at shavings, are you sure they are eating them? It's always a good idea to provide chick grit for your chicks, even if the only food they have is chick starter. The grit should help if they do ingest a small piece of bedding.

The medicine - is it Duramycin? A photo of your bottle/package would be good. How much are you giving?

How much ventilation do you have in their brooder? Again, it could be respiratory illness like Infectious Bronchitis or Mycoplasma, but it's always a good idea to rule out environmental causes like not enough air circulation, etc.

If you have a video of their actions and how they sound that's always helpful.

It is Duramycin. I gave .05cc to the water. 1.5 quarts. Then I added a half bag of electrolytes. They seem to be doing a lot better the babies I have left. The others are still sick. But today is the first day I haven't lost any. My Americauna is still weak. But she's eating and drinking . I'm on the pasty butt as well. The Marins still have quite a lot. The brooder is in the garage. It won't let me upload a video. More pics though.

 

[speckledhen]

I know you are stressing about this and I don't blame you, but take a deep breath and hold off on treating them with every medication under the sun. You said the older ones were from a "home breeder". I wasn't clear if they were separate from your hatchery chicks or not. If I was going to bet on where a respiratory problem came from, I'd bet on those you did not get from the hatchery.

But, I agree with the other poster that the big red light is way too hot for that size brooder. I never use a 250W heat lamp in the house, only a reptile bulb which has a smaller area it heats. A mama hen takes her chicks outside in 40* weather-mine sure do. They can take cooler surroundings as long as they have a heat spot to go to, but overheating is very bad for them.

I'm not sure giving Duramycin is called for, honestly. You have no idea what you are treating. If it's a virus, I'm going to be blunt here, you do not want them to live. Antibiotics will not kill viruses anyway. They will be carriers if they live. At the very least, they will be weakened and susceptible to other bugs. I understand that the inclination is to save them, but that is really not the best course of action. Weak chicks end up as weak adults, or worse, Typhoid Marys.