Necropsies

[CritterHill]

Anyone know McMurray's order cancellation policy? I can't find the info on their website... Hoping it is not too late to cancel.

I found a breeder of polish bantams an hour and a half from me - trying to contact him now to see if he will have chicks available this season.

If anyone knows any breeders of standard or bantam polish chickens within a few hours of Philadelphia, that would be great. Thanks.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Just call them during working hours...
give them your order number and let them know you want to cancel... simple as that.

 

[zchickens]

I too have had similar problems with the chicks that I received on 2/25

Out of the 23 I had left after 7 days (3 died due to shipping and were refunded), and additional 2 have died, and many more are sick (can't stand, having "sakes", and can only eat/drink if brought to the water and held so that they can stand). Here is the breakdown of how the different breeds have been handling it:

1 Buff laced polish male (dead)
2 Black Jersey Giants - both sick, can't stand or walk
3 Delawares - all sick, can stand and walk a little, have severe shakes - these birds showed symptoms first
4 Silver penciled rocks - 1 dead, 3 sick (mild symptoms)
3 partridge cochins 1 very sick, 2 mild symptoms
2 Speckled sussex - both sick (can't stand, have a hard time walking)
2 Golden polish - one healthy, one sick (can't stand or walk)
1 Houdan (mild symptons)

By mild symptoms, I mean that the chcks tend to lay around alot and are not very active. They also continue to stay squated on their haunches when they eat, and only seem to stand straight up when you attempt to grab them or to get water (I have the waterer set up higher to help aviod getting pine shavings or droppings in it). They still eat/drink okay on their own, and do not show the "shaking".


Healthy

3 Buff Oringtons
1 Frizzle Bantum Cochin (mystery chick)
1 Mille Fleur

The birds started showing signs just after turning two weeks old. I have seperated the sickest ones into there own brooder; but I do not have sufficient space to seperate the chicks showing mild symptoms from the healthy ones. I treated the chicks with the sulfa medication for coccidiosis (to make sure that I didn't cause the sickness from not keeping things clean enough), but after 4 days of treatment, none of the chicks showed any improvement. The experience has been very disappionting, considering that this is the first time I have ever had chickens. It is hard to have much enthusiasm or positivity, when you spend a majority of your first experiences with chickens hand feeding sick ones, and watching them slowly get worse (sigh).

Z

 

[farm_mom]

zchickens-I'm so sorry this has been your first experience with chicks! I was just thinking to myself last night "thank god this hasn't been my first experience with chicks, I'd probably NEVER try again!" Hang in there. It sounds like you're doing a great job and the best you can. Trust me, this is not a normal chick experience you are having. A normal, healthy batch of chicks is a fun and rewarding experience. Don't give up!

 

[Mrs MIA]

I'll second farm-mom's post... please do not give up. Having chickens around is such a wonderful thing. This situation is definitely NOT the norm, both for chickens in general or for the hatchery. I can only offer hugs, and everyone here has helpful advice for getting through this, but please do not give up on your babies...

{{{hugs}}}

 

[zchickens]

Thank you both for your kind words of encouragement

. Hopefully the results from the Vet exams the other people are having will help to shed more light on figuring out what to do from here.

Another note, I also have noticed some growing (size) problems with a few of the chicks as well. Two of the standard partridge cochins are actually smaller than my mille fleur banty. And that's the funny thing, since the mille fleur is the only heathly rooster I have (I believe he is a rooster, not 100% sure), he seems to be the dominant chicken of the group, even though he is a banty and much smaller than most of the others....go figure.

Z

 

[innof8happinesses]

We have SLW, Leghorns, polish, auracanas and Buff Orpingtons. OF all of them, only the leghorns have proved to be healthy (or asymptomatic), eventhough we have seen some dark brown diarhea from them as well.

All of the others have either been sick & recovered or are still sick. We return the apparently recovered chicks to the active tank since they will pick at the sick ones incessantly once they are "better".

One that was the first to be sick about 2 wks ago is still in sick tank. A polish, she got it harder than the others and showed all the most severe symptoms. She has not grown since the age of one week. All the other chicks double or quadruple her size. But she is walking around and acting normal. I just can't put her in with the big active chicks now since she is so tiny.

We gave many things to help! Chicks that we gave to other people from this batch that arrived on 3/3 got sick and died. None of ours died eventhough they were & some still are very ill. I attribute this to the extra supplements which are: cod liver oil (in small amounts sprinkled on feed once a day), fresh greens (esp. spinach 1-2x a day), baby bird grit (1x a day), oyster shell crumbles (1x a day for their leg bones), probiotics (sprinkled on feed once a day), and now we are adding colloidial silver to the water (1/4 teaspoon per quart depending on the concentraion of your brand). Our friends didn't add supps and their died. ???

Like I said, we have had chicks lay on their side and tremble for days and still recover. Keep your hope alive. If they grow to be immune to this disease and cannot pass it on, it may be all worth it!

Blessings...
Homeschooling "criminals" in California (ha, ha)

 

[RedTailRanch]

I am empathetic to what zchickens is going through.

Although, technically, I have had ONE chicken before. When I was a little kid. He was am Easter present from my grandparents. When the chick was a week old, he was grabbed by the neighbors cat, whom I chased for three blocks over fences and walls. I got the chick back and nursed him back to health (with a gaping hole in his chest where the cat bit through him). All this took place in Los Angeles. The chick turned out to be a rooster, which did not go over too well with the neighbors. That rooster was an awesome pet! Better than a dog (and I LOVE dogs). Anyway, of course I had to give him up due to all the crowing.

That was over 25 years ago! Ever since then I wanted to keep chickens. My life and career took me from L.A. to New York and to Las Vegas. Finally I ended up in Spokane, WA. After two years here I was finally able to move into a home with some land and room for chickens. I have been so excited ever since I placed my order back in December!

Now, after waiting for so long, I have chicks with these problems (AE or whatever it is). It has really taken any fun out of this. I stopped taking pictures of them, stopped naming them, and now I wake up every morning wondering if today is the day they will die, or worse...I'll have to do it for them.

I hope this wasn't too off topic, but zchicken reminded me of how I am feeling on a personal level. I know this is affecting so many people out there. But I do ask myself "why me?" after all these years and all this waiting, and the first time I get chicks it's from the one place, at the one time that this happens.

 

[KathyM4]

I have a question for anyone that has had these sick chicks get better.

My first one (Polish) to get sick did so around a week old or shortly there after he's now 3 weeks old. Just a couple days ago he seemed to be quite a bit better. He started standing up and walking around almost normal, eating and drinking just fine. I thought for sure he was going to pull through. He was so well I actually considered putting him back with the others, but didn't 'cause I wanted to give him a few more days. Then I wake up this morning and the poor little thing is all of a sudden worse off than he started. He's trembling, can not stand in any fashion, can't eat or drink unless I help him, he looks like he's knocking on deaths door. I now have him in a totally separate brooder than the other sick ones cause they are all doing so well they were trampling him.

Has anyone else experienced this with the ones who seem like they are getting better?

 

[Meesh]

I'm so sorry, esp. for what some of you other first time chicken owners are going through. I can't imagine how I'd feel, being in your shoes.

It's just bad luck - you picked a good hatchery that is also having bad luck. I know it doesn't mean much for me to say don't feel bad, but please try not to be too hard on yourself about it. Its just crummy bad luck.

((((Hugs))))
Michelle