Oh NO! Two chicks DEAD!

[BriteChicken]

Three weeks ago I got 4 bantam chicks and they've done great these past weeks and I was waiting for my order of Standards and they came in today! But when I got home there was a dead chick in the brooder my favorite Beatrice the brave!

I'm so sad and afraid to put the little ones in the only brooder I have!

I'll give a more detailed description later...

 

[RedJasper]

I just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear about your loss.

I am struggling with one of my little ones (about 1 week old - McDuff).

Hugs to you!
Keri

 

[AmyBella]

Oh, that is so sad! Is there any indication of what she died from? It might be a good idea to clean out the brooder, feeder and waterer and replace all the bedding. Keep a close eye on the other chicks too, just in case.

I'm sure everything will be fine! Have fun with the new babies!

 

[BriteChicken]

Thanks everybody! It was such a shock... I got my order of standard chicks in from the feed store at lunch today didn't even know they were coming for another two weeks so like I said I ran over there at lunch and was going to put the day olds in with the 3 week banty's and one was keeled over and dead!!

So I set the babies in their cardboard box down under the one heat lamp I have and called the guy I'm dating who happens to work at the feed store

and told what had happened and my predicament that I only have one heat lamp, waterer, and feeder and I don't want to put the babies in if the big ones were sick so he said to come back to the store and he is letting me borrow everything I need! I knew there was a reason why I was dating him

bc he's so sweet!

When I removed her there wasn't a pasty but or crop impaction so I'm thinking Cocci

, when I went back and he gave me the stuff I needed I also got antibiotics and gave it to the big ones they were all sort of listless when I left but I dipped all their beaks in the antibiotic water and am praying my heart out! P.s. the day olds are still in the cardboard box with a heat lamp, feeder, and sugar water.

GO MCDUFF! You can do it!

and Amy trust me I am cleaning everything as soon as I get home and maybe even putting paper towels down again bc she might have died from eating the shavings or their poop they all do it

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

I'm so sorry about your poor chick, it's never easy to lose one!

Is there some reason you suspect cocci? I would be careful about putting everyone on antibiotics, if you're unsure if the one that passed had it. Very, very often chicks that young sometimes just fail to thrive, not necessarily because they had an infectious disease, just something wasn't right in their tiny bodies.

Also, I would also be careful with overdoing it on the sugar water. It can be helpful if you have a weak baby, but only for a very short duration and is meant to give them a little boost of energy so they'll be interested in eating and drinking. Too much can give them diarrhea and make any pasty butt chicks worse.

Sorry about your baby!

 

[BriteChicken]

Yes I will be careful with both the sugar water and Antibiotics

Thanks for the concern though, the reason I suspect cocci is bc they love eating their poop and I will only give them one gallon of antibiotic water because your right I don't want them to build an immunity to it... but at the same time I have 5 day old chicks I'm going to put in the 3 week brooder tonight so I want to be safe by changing the bedding and scrubbing the rubbermaid with some hot water any other suggestions welcome please. She was fine until I came home for lunch today and that's when I found her just stiff as a board on her side but yesterday she did have this weird spasm where she plopped down and then stuck her neck out a few times, made a distressed noise with a seizure-like head movement once but was fine the rest of the day after that even cuddled in my hand later that night. What do you think? I don't think it'll hurt to give them antibiotics for a day but I'm probably wrong being a newbie...

 

[BriteChicken]

Anyone?

 

[kathyinmo]

They do not need antibiotics. Are you using medicated feed?

 

[BriteChicken]

Nope I'm using regular chick feed...

 

[ArizonaNessa]

Cocci is something that they get from the ground. If the chicks have never been in contact with the ground at all then I would just think it was failure to thrive.

ETA: Medicated chick starter does not contain antibiotics. It has amprolium in it which helps them to build a resistance to cocci. The cure for cocci is amprolium added to the water. Amprolium is not an antibiotic.