Please Help 7 week old chicks dieing!!!

[chickendreams24]

Please help! Our chicks are dieing they have constant access to food(chick starter) and water and have been given grit. They have had small amounts of scratch but not for the last two days. They are still inside in a porch that is not insulated. Their crops seem empty they have been healthy seeming all along. No runny eyes or nose. They are very active. But this morning we found one dead. The rest were active and normal 10 minutes later another was dead. They have water in their crops but nothing else. We only have four left. Please help me. They have a lamp on at night over one corner of their very large brooder as it gets chilly in the porch. The other chickens in the porch also chicks from a different source are all healthy and well. Please tell me what's killing my birds. Please. I don't want to lose any more. The second chick that died had water oozing from its mouth. The first did not. One pullet one roo. Ccl/orp mixes siblings.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Sorry you haven't gotten any replies sooner. In chicks this age the first thing I would treat for immediately is coccidiosis. Get some Corid for their water and start with that. There may be something else going on here but coccidiosis is a fast killer and you need to get that ruled out asap. It usually also causes lethargy and runny droppings, sometimes blood in the droppings but not always.

You can get Corid at most feed stores and Tractor Supply. Comes in either liquid or powder, either one is fine.
Dose for the liquid is 2 teaspoons per gallon, the powder is 1 to 1.5 teaspoons per gallon. Do this for 5 to 7 days and make it up fresh every day.

Are these youngsters in with the other chicks or separate?

You might want mash up some hard boiled egg for them, see if they will eat that. Or make a warm mash of their starter to temp them.

 

[chickendreams24]

Thank you for your reply we lost the third after I posted. With three more pullets left one seems perfectly healthy the others are sick. I have been feeding them hard boiled egg and scrambled egg today and they picked at their starter a bit and have been drinking a bit of water. I wasn't sure one of the black orps would make through the night so I took a shot and mixed up a raw egg yolk some electrolyte chick powder(I just eyeball some of the package) and a drop or two of corid I have been syringe feeding the two sicker ones this periodically throughout the day(and once in the middle of the night) to be sure they were receiving nutrients and some medicine. Small amounts; they never finish the egg yolk mixture. I believe this has helped massively. I do think it's cocci as the third that died was pooping blood with no poop in it to speak of before death. I originally mixed up the egg yolk mix for him but he died in my arms before we could give it to him. Despite treating them as fast as we could. The other girls seem better tonight maybe but I'm afraid to hope. We lost half the six chicks and both of the cockerals it was a bad day.

They are in a separate brooder but in the same room as other chicks. Several people have told me we should go ahead and treat them all?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yes, it doesn't hurt to go ahead and give everyone the medicated water as it's easy to spread it around from pen to pen. Some people do so routinely as a preventative, keeping coccidia protozoa numbers in check until chicks are older and have had more time to develop their own resistance to it. This works especially well when birds first go outside on the ground and are exposed to higher numbers of the protozoa. In young birds it's sometimes a balancing act of letting them get exposure to it so they can develop immunity but not letting things get out of control and overwhelm their bodies.

You were wise to dose the sick birds directly, I usually mention that when I post about coccidiosis. If using the liquid Corid you can also give birds a drop or two in the beak undiluted to get them started.

Hope the survivors are doing well by now.

 

[chickendreams24]

Well they have survived so far and I'm feeling hopeful. They are eating wet chick starter as of yesterday and seem to be doing well. Of course I am still keeping a close eye on them and am ready to give them egg yolk again if needed.

I do have a question, are the eggs safe to eat from the other birds being treated?
Thank you @cafarmgirl very much for your help and I'll keep you up to date