One chick died, discovered second sick chick

[posey]

I posted yesterday about my sick silkie chick who died last night.

Today, I discovered another sick chick, a light bramha. She is 5 1/2 weeks old. She walks like she is drunk, very unstable on her feet. Using wings for balance. Her face is not swollen like the one who died but I think the left eye is bothering her 'cause she is closing it more than the right one.

She took 5lm of water with tetracycline hydrochloride in it this morning. At noon she started to eat her chick food, the dry crumbles. She ate non stop for 40 minutes. She has continued to eat throughout the day. I don't think she is drinking on her own, so I have continued to use the dropper to give her the medicated water. How much water should she have daily?

She is alert, flew out of the container twice but still can't walk very well. I have a lamp on over her container but it's 90 degrees here today so maybe she only needs that at night?

The chick who died was small for her age and so is this little chick. She is 1/2 to 2/3rds the size of the other chicks of her breed.

Stool is less watery and more formed than this morning but still not normal.

I am medicating the other chicks water supply.

Should I clean out the coop and disinfect it? The wood chip bedding is only 1 1/2 weeks old and I had 12 birds. The coop has lots of ventilation and does not smell.

Is this a respiratory infection that I am treating? I thought so but correct me if I am wrong.

Is there other things that I should be doing?

My coop doesn't have a lamp, should we install one ASAP to use at night? Our daily temps have been in the high 80's and low 90's and the evening temp is around 65 to 70+ degrees.

Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks all for your help yesterday.
Posey

 

[briana1975]

At that age you should not need a light at night with those temps. But I do not know what might be wrong with your chick. Hopefully someone else will post that would be of more help.

 

[posey]

Thanks for reponding about the light in the coop question. We didn't think that it was necessary but thought I'd better check.

Can anyone with sick chicken experience please read my other questions and reply. If that coop should be cleaned out and disinfected I want to do it.

I also need to know how much liquid she should be consuming daily and if there are other things I should be doing at this point

Thanks in advance, and hoping for a healthy chick,
Posey

 

[annek]

I can't really help you but I am curious as to why you think it is a respiratory infection? Why did you put them on tetracycline? Do you know if they were vaccinated for marecks? That can have wasting and shows up around 5 weeks.I have read where a swollen face was a sign of something, but I don't remember what it was, I will try to find out if no one gets back with more experience.

 

[posey]

Yes they were vaccinated for Mareks. When I discovered the first sick chick I called the man whom we purchased from. He told me that if the eyes were closed and the area was swollen around that the chick needed to be on antibiotics, yesterday (as in right now). He gave me a short list of things that I could get, hoping that I would be able to find one of them locally.

I was reading other posts and got the general idea that this was symptomatic of a respiratory illness.

My county extension agent told me that perhaps these two chicks had a reaction to the vaccine and they had used much energy to fight that reaction and that is why they were smaller. She wondered if they might have also had a compromised immune system.

I also understood that wet dampness can cause respiratory ailments. We had a lot of rain here for 2 straight days. My chicks don't leave the coop yet so they were not out in the rain. We kept the windows closed but the ventilation screens up near the roof are open all the time. During the rains, I went out to check on the coop, it was dry inside so no rain entered. But I am sure that the damp air did.

If I am looking in the wrong direction as far as cause with the respiratory illness, please feel free to correct me. I'm new and just trying to learn as fast as I can. I just want to learn the correct things.

Thanks for your reply,
Posey

 

[annek]

I would think if it was respiratory that they would have a discharge mouth/nose, or you would be able to hear something. Here is a good site that I have gone to to get information on different things. It is written in simple terms and is a good general overview on most diseases.

http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/contents.htm

Do you know if they were vaccinated for cocci, if so, don't give them medicated feed.

With that heat, don't worry about light.

The wobbly walking concerns me, have they been outside where she could have eaten something?

 

[annek]

I did a search for wobbly and came up with a few things. You mentioned that you had the light on, make sure it isn't too hot since that is a sign of heat stroke. Also, lice or mites can cause that too since they suck the blood from the chicken. Make sure to check for that. Do a search if you don't know what they look like. I think the vent area is where they are easiest to see. If it is mites, they need dusting immediately since if she is that weak it is critical to get them off.

 

[posey]

No I don't think they were vaccinated for cocci but I don't know. I guess I need to call the seller again and ask exactly what they were vaccinated against.

Not one of my chicks has been outside. They went from the pen at the sellers, into a travel box, into there new coop. We have wood chips on the floor from the tractor supply store.

As for the walking, I just figured it was: A. they were sick, and B. they weren't eating or drinking and therefore very weak.

I took her out of the tub around 9:30 and she took several steps on my desk. Her balance seems to be some better, well much better than this morning.

Did I answer all of your questions?
Posey

 

[posey]

Thanks for checking the wobbily issue. No I hadn't thought of lice or mites. Don't know what to look for with the mites but will do a search.

Can you tell me, how much do chicks this age (5-6 weeks) preen or peck at themselves? I have been trying to find out but the books I have don't say. When I watch the others in the coop there is lots of it going on and it did make me wonder if there was an insect problem, so I will check for lice and mites. This chick doesn't seem to be preening or pecking much at all.

She seems to be able to stad quite well and she has been an eating machine since lunch time.

Just thought about something. We have ants entering the coop to get the feed that the chicks have scattered on the floor.

We aren't sure if they are native ants or fire ants. My extention agent told me that fire ants do not have that habit and that they are probably native ants. We have both types of ant nests in the yard. We did spray around the coop to keep them out but it didn't really help. How would I know if the chicks have been bitten by fire ants?

 

[Judy]

OK, here is my take on all this.

They definitely do not need a light at that age, day or night. You will just overheat them. If they are a little cool, they will cuddle. At those temps, this is no problem.

The only reason to clean and disinfect the coop would be for lice/mites, IMHO, unless you are going to cull the flock and start over, which I would not!

Most chicken respiratory illnesses are viral, so antibiotics are worthless unless there is a secondary bacterial infection (links to follow.)

Medicated feed, if medicated with amprolium, is not going to hurt them, even if they were vaccinated for cocci, and this is not a commonly used vaccine. There are several types of cocci, and they are found in the soil. Amprolium inhibits thiamine use, is not an antibiotic, simply slows down the infestation of cocci while the chicks develop their natural immunity to them. As a rule, adult chickens do not have a problem with cocci, because they have developed immunity as chicks.

An infestation of lice/mites at this age is not really likely, but possible. They are carried by wild birds. Look at the base of the feathers for tiny crawling critters or clumps of tiny eggs at the base of the feathers. If you see a bunch of them, use pyrethrin/permethrin spray or dust, on the vent area and under the wings. This is available around here as pooultry dust at the feed store, or Adams flea/tick spray at the vet or WalMart. You can also use 5% Sevin as a dust.

For ants, my approach is DE in the coop. Fire ants are a real pain, but I do find that DE works well enough on them to keep them out of the broody nest and coop.

OK, links about resp. illnesses and DE (don't know whether you are familiar with DE; not likely you will find it locally


https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=9241

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1560-Food_Grade_DE

http://www.custommilling.com/

http://www.freshwaterorganics.com/what_is_de.htm

I bought my DE from Custom Milling because it was the cheapest at the time. I've been working on the same 40(?) lb. bag for half a year with two coops. It should be used sparingly. You can add it to feed to prevent worms, dust them with it, and sprinkle it on dust bath spots. You can also use it in the litter to cut down odors and flies, but I use other products for this as DE is not cheap.

I have only skimmed through this thread. If I repeated something, just ignore me.