Sick 2 day old peachick.....At a loss what to do.

[Peacrazy]

Thanks for all the info. This chick was at day 30 the others came out at day 27 and 28. As for feeding I tested him for dehydration by looking at his skin elasticity compared to the other chicks at that same stage. He was severely dehydrated since he had defecated at least 3 times since he was a day old. I agree he didn't need food the first 2 days. All my other chicks took to food and water by day 2. I did finally mange to get ahold of a vet. They recommended that I tube him and sent home a tube for me to use. We tubed him this morning and it was successful. He doesn't act any better...i think that he may not have developed properly internally and not just his feet. the swelling behind his head is not soft...it is very hard and hasn't shown any improvement. Thank you for all the help....i hate to see one suffer but also he keeps trying so so will I.

 

[Peacrazy]

Well my baby didn't make it....we heard a loud noise coming from the brooder. So I ran over and looked....he had a seizure and died. At least we gave it a try. Had he been with his mother he more than likely would have never hatched. Maybe he was happy for the few days he was here. I just wish we could have done something more for him.

 

[Peacrazy]

On a positive note the other slow eaters are doing better. They like lettuce better than eggs.... i think they like the green color more than anything.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Really sorry to hear about your little guy.

It's so heartbreaking to lose one.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Peacrazy,,much sorry for your loss.I too was the same as you 3 years ago when I started but now with the number of birds and eggs we collect,then incubate and hatch only the strong survive.I leave the chicks in the hatcher normally for 2 days after they hatch.I then id each chick with zip ties then check their toes,if curled I use shipping tape.If splayed legged I either zip tie the legs together above the knee joint or wrap the chick in newspaper and staple the ends totally on their rear end side,then snug by their neck and leave alone for a day,at which time they will need water and feed. We've had perfectly hatched chicks die for no apparent reason before that maybe a week old. Peafowl is in a seperate field when it comes to hatchability,then survival to 6 months.What works for some may not work for others and it normally takes a few years of growing pains to know what and when to help,and when to just leave alone and let nature take it's course.You were right in helping as you did.

 

[AugeredIn]

That sucks. As FBC said, peachicks ain't always easy. I am certain you did the right thing hatching the chick. I probably would have left it alone after that for a couple of days. My wife says I have become callous to the plight of chicks now that we hatch so many, but I believe quantity has made me let nature take its course instead of providing unnecessary help. It is surprising how much improvement they can make on their own during the first two days.

One thing I will not do is let a chick die in the egg. When it gets to be that late, it is not going to hatch without help. Pip it, check the membrane. If there are active blood vessels wait 6 hours and then hatch it. If there are no blood vessels, hatch it.

 

[Peacrazy]

Thanks for all the info everyone. This was only our second year hatching. We did three hatches last year 1 pea, 1 goose, 1 turkey, 1 duck. All survived until let to free range. Of the 12 peas in the hatch last year 9 are alive and well. We sold all the geese, ducks and turkey. We have hatched 3 batches this year. 2 peas and one turkey. One turkey batch is stil in incubator. So I'm new to hatching but tring my best. I will take everyone's advice into account when my turkey start to hatch.

One a sad note we are looseing adult peas. I have had 2 die unexpectedly. We have had them 3months. Bought them from a great breeder and were doing well. We wormed them when we got them. With puncture and ivermectin. It was brought to my attention to treat maybe for blackhead. So I guess if they are still alive in 18-30 days we will treat for blackhead. So far all mine I raised here are showing no signs of illness, but the ones that died really didn't either.

 

[Peacrazy]

Oh....before we found out about blackhead we started treatment with pancure. 2more days of treatment. That's why we have to wait the extra time. I don't wat to over load their system.

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for all the info everyone. This was only our second year hatching. We did three hatches last year 1 pea, 1 goose, 1 turkey, 1 duck. All survived until let to free range. Of the 12 peas in the hatch last year 9 are alive and well. We sold all the geese, ducks and turkey. We have hatched 3 batches this year. 2 peas and one turkey. One turkey batch is stil in incubator. So I'm new to hatching but tring my best. I will take everyone's advice into account when my turkey start to hatch.

One a sad note we are looseing adult peas. I have had 2 die unexpectedly. We have had them 3months. Bought them from a great breeder and were doing well. We wormed them when we got them. With puncture and ivermectin. It was brought to my attention to treat maybe for blackhead. So I guess if they are still alive in 18-30 days we will treat for blackhead. So far all mine I raised here are showing no signs of illness, but the ones that died really didn't either.

Sorry for your losses.

There is an abstract somewhere that shows ivermectin at 200 micrograms per kilogram is not very effective in poultry, I'll try to find it. There's also an article about ivermectin not working on capillary worms, so if they were mine, I would worm them all with fenbendazole at 20mg/kg three days in a row or 50mg/kg once, and I might even treat them for histomoniasis (blackhead) at the same time.

Article on worming peafowl:
http://www.unitedpeafowlassociation.org/MoreonWormingandDisease.html

Abstract on worming with fenbendazole:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6750887
Efficacy of fenbendazole against helminth parasites of poultry in Uganda.

Ssenyonga GS.

Abstract

Fenbendazole 4% (Panacur, Hoechst) administered in feed was used to treat chickens infected with Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Railletina spp. It was also used to treat Syngamus trachea in broiler birds. There was a marked drop in helminth egg counts in the faeces on the second day of treatment and the faeces became negative by the seventh day after the last treatment. Post-mortem examination 15 to 21 days later showed that the drug was 100% effective against Ascaridia galli and Heterakis gallinarum at 10 mg/kg. However, for complete removal of Railletina spp. 15 mg/kg was required. Similarly 20 mg/kg fenbendazole was effective against Syngamus trachea. It was concluded that fenbendazole is suitable for the treatment of the important intestinal and tracheal worms of poultry, a dose of 15 to 20 mg/kg for 3 consecutive days being recommended for use under field conditions.
PMID:
6750887
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]





-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Here is the ivermectin abstract:

From:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0450.1989.tb00635.x/abstract

Summary

To evaluate the use of ivermectin as a bird anthelmintic, 29 White Leghorn hens naturally infected with Ascaridia spp., Heterakis spp. and Capillaria spp. were treated with 0.2, 2 or 6 mg/kg intramuscularly or 0.2 or 0.8 mg/kg orally. Faecal samples were collected before treatment and at autopsy, 2, 6, or 16 days after treatment, when the intestines were also examined for helminths. None of the treatments gave satisfactory anthelmintic results.