NEED HELP FAST: Bloody stools

[kybanty84]

I hatched out 38 chicks out of 112 bantams eggs a friend had given me and they are going on 1-2 mths old now and have been doing great until this morning.

I noticed some chicks were covered in blood and thought they were startin to pick at each other, but they wasn't as i never found any spots on the dead chicks. I seen that there was alot of bloody poop in the breeder so i hurried up and changed the brooder bedding.

What could this be? and how can i treat it?

My chicks are fed a 27% medicated turkey starter and have fresh water given daily. the brooder is 3'W x 4'L x18"H with half been a wooden box with 2 - 100 watt bulbs and the other half being an enclosed sun porch area with 1/2" wire mesh. I am going to town to pick up some terramycin and some sulfadimethoxine.

These are my baby old elglish, brahma, jap, and cochin chicks i was goign to raise up for showing this spring so please help me as soon as possible.

~Michael Drake~

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Why are you feeding them turkey starter?

I feed my chicks starter/grower for chicks with 18% protein, maybe the protein is way too high. I certainly wouldn't start meds without knowing what I was dealing with first....that can be a bigger problem for you....

Cocci (bloody stools) can be found in young chicks usually that have been on the ground from wild bird droppings and wet weather, in that case Sulmet is what is used..

 

[M@M@2four]

hello! I wouldn't feed them Turkey feed for starters. I feed mine medicated chick feed for starters...and it sounds like they hav Cocci. I agree about the meds above, but you need to move fast and get it in them immediately as Cocci can kill chicks SO fast! Good luck!

 

[pipermark]

Probably coccidiostat ., your medicated starter is probably antibiotics, they put it in there to make them grow faster and larger and not the Thiamine inhibitors needed to prevent coccidiostat.


What can you do. You are dealing with a family of single cell amoebas that like warm moist environment. The infected birds poop are filled with these animals. You need to get the chicks and keep them in a clean dry environment to minimize further intestinal infestation and let their immune systems work on the little buggers. There also is medication that will kill the amoebas, check with your local farm store.

Before giving them the medication you really want to make sure they have it. If you can not afford to do that, take one or 2 chicks that are in poor condition and give them the medication , if they turn around in a couple of days , you are probably correct.


YOU need to clean up the environment right away, first thing, good drying agents are DE and lime(non caustic type)

Sorry apparently their were several of us posting at once.

 

[kybanty84]

my chicks have never been on the ground at all and neither is my adults, so i have no clue what is going on.

i feed the high protein feed all the time and have never had a problem with it killing em. this is a new exprience with this problem as it is never unusual for me to hatch out over 400-500 chicks a year with no deaths at all so i dunno what is up with em now.

~Michael Drake~

 

[kybanty84]

M@M@2four :

hello! I wouldn't feed them Turkey feed for starters. I feed mine medicated chick feed for starters...and it sounds like they hav Cocci. I agree about the meds above, but you need to move fast and get it in them immediately as Cocci can kill chicks SO fast! Good luck!

i raise gamebirds, turkeys, peafowl, and a few duck breeds so it is easier to feed all my hatchlings the same thing as money is tight right now. also i am on my way to town in a few to get some meds for them. i also clean thier brooder every day to every other day so it is never wet and the escape area is all wire (floor sides and roof) and it is never wet either.

Im lost now cuz one of my chicks hatched from an egg that was a little bigger than a jumbo quail egg and she was going to be a pet, but i just found her dead

. but i am off here to go get meds and more bedding so i will check the thread after while.

~Michael Drake~​

 

[kybanty84]

Quote:
coccidiostat is the med they use in the starter to fight the coccidiosis i have used this brand for the past 3 years and never had no problems with it.

 

[speckledhen]

Cocci is bad this year, in spite of medicated starter. Trust me, I've been battling cocci for the first time in this year's chicks-never had this problem the first two years I had chicks. They've had medicated starter from the beginning and still got cocci the minute they hit the ground. I agree that turkey starter is too high in protein for chicks, although I'm not sure it would be the cause of the bloody poop. Could be, I just dont know.

 

[Jenski]

I noticed you were going to get Terramycin and a sulfa drug. You may wish to avoid mixing meds on them ~ just use the coccidiostat.

 

[pipermark]

Sorry , we are all wrong , hope things work out for you.