Possible Illness, some chicks in distress.

[Rhode_Island_Dad]

Hello everyone, happy to have this forum to come discuss this.. I have a tendency to over think things I'm hoping for a little insight. I'm definitely not new to chickens, but this is my first go of brooding them myself.. and I've got a couple chicks (an easter egger and a rhode island red) that are just under two weeks and they're not having a great time..

They're struggling to poop - but they don't have any poop stuck to their vents. Both vents are a bit swollen, and I have witnessed them after running their bums under warm water for quite some time take a double-poop (did I warn this is going to be a lot of poop talk?). The other I've witnessed take a rather large poo herself, and then immediately have to take another which they just can't seem to get out..

They're on pine pellet bedding, which they -might- be pecking at a bit but frankly I don't know how they'd be managing to eat them. The one (EE) I do see eat and drink still, albeit not as much as all the others (13 in the brooder in total, a 6' x 2.5' brooder). They're being fed medicated crumb.

The brooder is in our cellar, which is unfortunately kind of like being outside, but I measure the temps of the lights I have on in there and it's a nice spread between 100 and 80 around the lights, and down closer to 65-70 in the cool area by their water.

I started them out with some electrolyte water, then added a tiny amount of ACV to it for a day.. I don't think they liked that, but they drank all the same. Then I started noticing a bit of diarrhea around the brooder and I began to worry that someone in there might be spreading coccidioses around.. I may have jumped the gun because I already started them on some medicated water.

I guess my main worry is that treating birds with sulfadimethoxine that might not actually be sick could be bad for them.

The other 11 birds are as happy as could be. Why are these two struggling so?

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read this small book.

 

[Eggcessive]

100 degrees is too warm for chicks, especially 2 week olds. They should be able to tolerate 80-85 degrees in the warmest area. The heat could be causing pasty butt. For the constipated ones, giving a little chilled coconut oil cut into small pieces for them to peck is good. I would normally use Corid for possible coccididiosis, since it is safe for most. Dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid or 1.5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Sulfadimethoxine may be better for a resistant strain of coccidia.

 

[Rhode_Island_Dad]

100 degrees is too warm for chicks, especially 2 week olds. They should be able to tolerate 80-85 degrees in the warmest area. The heat could be causing pasty butt. For the constipated ones, giving a little chilled coconut oil cut into small pieces for them to peck is good. I would normally use Corid for possible coccididiosis, since it is safe for most. Dosage is 2 tsp of the liquid or 1.5 tsp of the powder per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Sulfadimethoxine may be better for a resistant strain of coccidia.

Is it still pasty butt if there's no poo accumulating on or around the vent?

I've fiddled with the heat so much I wish I could figure out exactly what they want. I may have overcompensated for the cool environment of the cellar, maybe they're over heating too.

I'll give the coconut oil a shot, thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

They could be constipated, but pasty butt usually shows on the vent. Chicks poop often so I would just observe them to make sure they are going. If they are eating and drinking, they should be pooping. Good luck.

 

[2ndTink]

I had a couple chicks having a hard time pooping this year too and after an Epsom salt soak they would pass a surprising amount of poop. I got a little oil into the two worst chicks then started feeding them mash (just the chick crumble with enough water to make it mushy) and the problem went away within a few hours. The one chick had some redness and swelling of her vent, this too calmed down in about 2 days.

For the chicks who were struggling but not as bad, I put a couple drops of oil on top of their water and stirred it so there were lots of small droplets. Not sure how much this helped or didn't, but the problem went away.

Eggscessive is spot on about everything.