I went out this morning to the brooder and found a young Wellie cockerel laying on it's side. Yesterday it was just fine. No signs of any illness in him or anyone else. Can't remember for sure but I think he's about 8 weeks old.
The food tray was empty and their waterer was too. I fill each up the night before but I didn't fill the waterer up last night because I was in a hurry and it was over half full and I figured it would last through the night. Nonetheless, they couldn't have been without water for very long.
Anyways, the little guy would drink if I held water up to his beak. He would not eat though and he would not stand on his own. He would lay on his side with both legs parallel to each other. Not the symptomatic splayed legs in opposite directions.
At one point I did see his one leg quivering. Sort of like a spasm or seizure. Oh, I also noticed some reddish poo near where he was laying that most likely came from him.
So I started looking in The Chicken Health Handbook (TCHH)and went to Mareks first as that is the most common. There were no signs of tumors anywhere and no other real symptoms that I could identify. Even though the reddish poo is indicative of coccidiosis, I don't think that is it because there were no signs of weight loss, this was the first I've seen any reddish poo in the brooder, none of the other chicks are showing any sign off coccidiosis as well, and I've got them on medicated chick starter. Well, I didn't have time to play nursemaid today and had to get back to work, so I just snapped his neck and put him down.
One of the things I read in TCHH is that Mareks is transmitted by the Darkling Beetle and Mealworms. I recently got a Mealworm Farm (you might say) off of Freecycle. I honestly can't remember for sure but I don't think I fed any to the chicks yet.
So, all this is to say I have two questions. First, does anyone recognize these symptoms and know what might have happened? And second, I see threads all the time on BYC that talk about feeding mealworms to their chickens. Have any of y'all done that, and if so, have you had any problems with Mareks being transmitted from mealworms?
I'm all ears and I look forward to hearing from ya.
God Bless,
The food tray was empty and their waterer was too. I fill each up the night before but I didn't fill the waterer up last night because I was in a hurry and it was over half full and I figured it would last through the night. Nonetheless, they couldn't have been without water for very long.
Anyways, the little guy would drink if I held water up to his beak. He would not eat though and he would not stand on his own. He would lay on his side with both legs parallel to each other. Not the symptomatic splayed legs in opposite directions.
At one point I did see his one leg quivering. Sort of like a spasm or seizure. Oh, I also noticed some reddish poo near where he was laying that most likely came from him.
So I started looking in The Chicken Health Handbook (TCHH)and went to Mareks first as that is the most common. There were no signs of tumors anywhere and no other real symptoms that I could identify. Even though the reddish poo is indicative of coccidiosis, I don't think that is it because there were no signs of weight loss, this was the first I've seen any reddish poo in the brooder, none of the other chicks are showing any sign off coccidiosis as well, and I've got them on medicated chick starter. Well, I didn't have time to play nursemaid today and had to get back to work, so I just snapped his neck and put him down.
One of the things I read in TCHH is that Mareks is transmitted by the Darkling Beetle and Mealworms. I recently got a Mealworm Farm (you might say) off of Freecycle. I honestly can't remember for sure but I don't think I fed any to the chicks yet.
So, all this is to say I have two questions. First, does anyone recognize these symptoms and know what might have happened? And second, I see threads all the time on BYC that talk about feeding mealworms to their chickens. Have any of y'all done that, and if so, have you had any problems with Mareks being transmitted from mealworms?
I'm all ears and I look forward to hearing from ya.
God Bless,
