newbie in need of advice!! please help me!

[stephen24]

i recently got 2 chicks. one was 4 weeks old, the other is 8 weeks old. my four week old recently died, the vet told me that she most likely had mareks disease.
any info on mareks you could give me would be great!

ok so the 8 week old chick is fine, shes healthy, eating well etc.. one thing ive notices is her poop is really runny, almost clear like water! and looks as though the pellets arent dissolved properly. any idea what this could be?

now.. i bought another chick today as i didnt want my 8 week old to be lonely, the new chick is 6 weeks old and is really alert, pooping fine, eating well etc..
my older chick however keeps pecking at the new chicks head.. any ideas why?

erm.. so yeah, sorry for the confusing essay!

please help me any way you can!

 

[HEChicken]

Sorry for your loss. If you do a search on the forum for Marek's disease you will get much better information than I can give you. From the little I know, I understand it causes progressive paralysis of the legs. They will start out walking stiffly, then limping, then dragging a leg, and eventually be unable to walk at all.

Your existing chick is pecking the head of the new chick to establish dominance. Hopefully she will settle down once she gets used to the newcomer.

When you say the pellets appear undigested, what kind of feed are you feeding? Nutrena does make a pelleted food that can be fed to chicks of this age, but most brands of feed for this age of chick only come in crumbles.

 

[stephen24]

thanks for your help,

i was feeding them pellets that i was given buy the man who sold me them, they had no lable on so i cant be sure what they were. i've now changed their feed to "chick crumbs" or somthing along those lines. they seem to enjoy eating it but my older chick is still passing really wattery poo's :s

as for the pecking, they have now become best friends and spend all day cuddling into eachother and following eachother around

im really enjoying having these chickens, and i am trying my best to give them the best life i can but i really need as much advice as i can get!

can you recommend any vitamin supliments or anything that is going to increase the overall health of my chicks?

thank you for replying.. it is greatly appreciated!

 

[jtallant]

This might help you with identifying the chicken poo:

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

I was curious since Marek's disease is contagious ( I thought) did the vet say anything about the other chick or the newest one being susceptible to it?

 

[HEChicken]

can you recommend any vitamin supliments or anything that is going to increase the overall health of my chicks?

You shouldn't need to worry about supplements since you are now feeding them chick starter. It is formulated to meet all of their nutritional requirements. You can keep feeding them the chick crumbles until laying age, or, when they are both 8 weeks or more, you can switch to a grower formula until laying age. Once they are 18 weeks or so of age, you can switch to layer feed, which comes in either crumbles or pellets, and they can continue eating those the rest of their lives.

Keep asking questions as often as you need to - it is the way we all learn, and I can tell you really want to give these guys a good home

 

[stephen24]

yeah she did!

basically, she told me that mareks disease is carried by all birds, and it only affects them when they have a weak immune system! she said that any chick i get from now on will be at risk from the disease but as long as they have been brought up with the correct vitamins and there immune system is working correctly then they most probably will be fine!

ive since purchased another chick and she is fine! not showing any signs of the disease!!

 

[stephen24]

brilliant, thank you so much for your help!! i do want to give these girls the best life possible so anything you can tell me to acheive that will be greatly appreciated!

i have another question (heehee)

i current have two hens, one is 11 weeks and one is 9 weeks. the older one is slightly agressive towards the younger one, its not so much bullying, but for example, the larger one will come out of the coop and roam around the garden, as soon as she notices the little one has came out of the coop she will run at her and chase her back into the coop. however, at night, the larger one lets the little on get underneath her and cuddle into her feathers, the little one will cry anytime the larger one moves away!

im just not sure why they are acting like this, im thinking it might be a pecking order thing, and if so would you recommend that i get more chicks?

 

[HEChicken]

It does sound like a pecking order thing, and will settle down as they get used to being together. I would not make that a reason to get more chicks as getting more won't solve a pecking order issue but perhaps add to it. There are, however, other reasons to get more. I like to keep a minimum of 3, so that if something happens to one of them the remaining birds still have one another. They are such social creatures that they are miserable if alone. However I recommend not adding a sole chick to an established flock. Everyone in the existing flock will then pick on the new one and without any buddies to run away with, it will be miserable too. So, try to always add at least two new birds at the same time.

 

[stephen24]

ahh you make perfect sense!

well i would like to get more chicks so i recently contacted a woman who is selling 2 10 week old chicks that have grew up together!

hopefully they will all get along haha!