should I treat or watch and wait

[pappy1264]

Last Friday, I got 8 chicks from the feed store. Sadly something happened and when they got to the store, about half of the delivery were already dead. I still took 8 (was only planning on getting 6, but wanted to try to save two who were in very bad shape. Sadly, they passed.) I actually lost 5 in total. They are getting more in this week. My question is, the last chick who died was eating when she first came in, although not quite as much as the others, but over two days, she ate less and less, and got weaker. I actually thought she would pass Saturday night, but she held on and passed Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning, she started having poop stick to her bottom, which I kept cleaning off. By the afternoon, there was blood in it. She died a couple hours later. Now, until the poop, I was not sure what was going on (the others never would start eating, they were just weak). But she did eat (at first), kept drinking (although got weaker, so would have to bring her and put her beak in). Today I noticed my rhode island red has very loose poops with lots of water around it (saw her do it, so know it is her). No blood. She is acting fine. (Diamond, the last one who passed, had been wobbly, holding her wings out, puffy looking, etc, all symptoms I have read of coccidiosis.) I called and spoke to the people from the store. I was told they had never heard of coccidiosis in a chick this young (never heard of it younger then 3 weeks, actually). So.....what do I do? I am getting a new chick tomorrow, and another on Friday. I feed medicated feed, put vitamin/electrolyte powder in water, as well as a tablespoon of plain yogurt, which I have done from day one. Should I just treat them all with corid? What about the new babies? Can I put them in with these guys (I don't have another brooder, so hope I can, otherwise, will be running around like crazy!) Any and all help appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jwright]

I would suggest that you keep any new chicks separate for at least a few weeks to make sure they don't have anything to spread around. In my opinion I would see about getting your chicks from another source, I bought my first six barred rocks from a local feed store and they were perfectly healthy. I then bought two Buff Orpingtons from a local chicken breeder of CL and put them in with my six. Unfortunately the buffs had something that spread to my Barred Rocks, I lost one of the buffs and now have three sick BRs. I spoke with the guy at the feed store and he told me to never mix in new chicks or chickens with your existing flock, and he recommended a two week separation period. Plus if your RIR does have an illness you won't spread it to the new chickens. If you only have one brooder you could use a piece of cardroard to separate them, of course this means another feeder and waterer. Good luck and I hope your next batch are a little healthier. Also a cardbox box can make a cheap brooder, my first brooder was a 1.67 box from Lowes.

 

[pappy1264]

Ok, but what about the others???? Do I start them on corid? Is the person who told my chicks don't get coccidia that young correct? For them to have lost more then half of the shipment, something went very wrong, and obviously stressed those babies even more then a normal delivery, I suspect. Wouldn't that potential cause a cocci bloom?

 

[realsis]

yes they can get cocci that young. as far as I know because cocci is caused from a protozoa and if they ingested it they can get it. if the chicken eats the oocyst it releases sporozoites that lodge in the intestine and begin to reproduce. then those are released in the droppings continuing the cycle. bloody poop is not always present. hope this helps out.

 

[pappy1264]

So, do you think I should just get to corid and treat the others? Still trying to figure out what to do. I know that there are other reasons for watery poop, so not sure what to do.

 

[missnu01]

I probably would not mix the chicks. A brooder is easy...I well overdid my chick gathering this year and found that you can make just about anything into a suitable brooder until you can figure something else out. Boxes, tubs, puppy gates...whatever. lol.
But I wouldn't put new chicks in with chicks that may or may not be sick if I knew and could help it.
I'm getting ready to do another brooder shuffle.

on March 6 I bought 9 Cornish X, 5 Buff Orpingtons, and 4 pekin ducks...
on March 7th I bought 6 leghorns, 2 mallard ducks, and 2 red sexlinks....
on March 8th I bought 4 EEs
and then on March 14th some friends that stay with us bought 2 more mallards...

So we started out with the Pekins in a brooder and all the chicks in another brooder...
When I brought home the mallards they were the same size as the chicks so I figured they could go in with the chicks for a bit...but nope, the chicks wanted to peck the ducks feet and their bills repeatedly, so we used a rubbermaid for the 2 ducklings...
Then within a week the Cornish X were too big to stay with the laying breeds, so I grabbed another box and put the meat birds in it, so the pekin ducks were in the cut off bottom of a 55 gallon barrel, the laying breeds were in a big plastic tote my husband uses for work and that my youngest son was using as a toy box, the mallards were in a rubbermaid tub, and the meaties were in a large box...
Then we made our outdoor brooder and the meat birds and pekins went in it...
So we moved the chicks to an Air Conditioner box the pekins and meat birds outside and the mallards into the box the laying chicks had been in...
Then the chicks outgrew the AC box...so I grabbed an old puppy enclosure I had laying around and shaped it into a large rectangle, lined the bottom with cardboard and puppy pads and put the laying breeds in there...
Now I have 18 eggs on lockdown as of yesterday, we also moved the pekins to their new duck coop we built yesterday, the laying breeds will go to the outdoor brooder, and the new chicks will go in the puppy enclosure if and when they hatch...
Then it will be creeping up on time to process the meat birds...at which point the mallards should be large enough to be outside with the pekins...Then I have an order in for May to get 12 laying breed chicks, 5 ducks and 6 turkeys...
I'm thinking the chicks that will be in the puppy enclosure will go to the outdoor brooder, the new chicks and poults will go in the puppy enclosure, the new ducks will go in the box the mallards were using for a week or so, and then they will go to the outdoor brooder...
Eventually everyone will be out of the brooder, although I'm thinking I'll keep on hatching out eggs and see if I can't sell off some chicks...

Anyway that was a super long story, but what I am getting at is it is easy and cheap to throw a brooder together. As long as you have enough lights. We have 4...so I have to rotate everyone between 4 places, and really it's been going great. So all you need to buy is another light setup and you'll be good to go.