Sick birds won't drink water

[CrazyChickMom]

Okay..so I think my birds have coccidosis or whatever its called. I fed them yogurt and cannot find any medicated chick starter in town, and they are not drinking their water which now has vitamins in it. They are tired but they did eat the yogurt. I have seen tan runny poop. No blood yet but suspecting looking stuff this a.m. Temp is 70 degrees, chicks are 4-5-6 weeks old and on non med. chick starter. Bedding is wood shavings and they are in a brooder. 4 Buff orpingtons, 4 Scottish Eagle, 4 Polish and 6 EE's.

So now what?

 

[mypicklebird]

I would warm them up- 70 is cool for chicks, and sick chicks need to be warm. 70 sounds more like room temp, do you have a heat source for them?

You have some treatment options for cocci-
kitchen source items such as apple cider vinegar, milk, yogurt ect- look up 'treatment for coccidia' for specifics. There are LOTS of discussions on home remedies.

Or medications such as corrid (amprollium) or sulmet. These are meds for the water. Medicated feed has amprollium in it already.

You can also do both, but if you can't find medicated feed, you may have trouble finding the meds. Most people have trouble finding UNmedicated feed when they want it- have you called around to local feed stores? Anyplace that sells chicks should sell medicated chick start.
You need something like Purina Start and Grow, it says medicated lower down on the bag.

Also the water based meds as well as the ACV only help if they are drinking it, so if they won't drink you will need to give it to them carefully. They need to drink, as they need their normal amount, plus more to make up for the diarrhea.

 

[CrazyChickMom]

Thank you..for starters I am going to go to a different town for the feed I need. I already went to our local feed store and they are out of med. chick starter. I can warm them up. If this works..how long before I see some progress? (and you are correct..they didn't have the medicine I wanted either.)

 

[mypicklebird]

can't really help much with a time frame, as I don't know for sure they have cocci and don't know how dehydrated they are-
BUT- warming them up will help immediately- if you make an area 85-90, they will not have to work so hard keeping themselves warm. Typically a brooder starts around 95 after hatch, and one lowers it by ~5 per week. So 70 is cool for a 4 wk old, but really cold for a sick 4 wk old. The 6wk old will appreciate the warmth as well, then lower it again once they are better.

A dehydrated chick will improve gradually over hours to a day if you fix that, and they continue to drink on their own.

The coccidia meds are "stat" drugs- they inhibit the reproduction of the organism (which is the stage that damages the GI tract), they do not kill the organism outright. The drugs that kill coccidia and have been used in poultry aren't in the US yet (baycox). If they start getting appropriate amounts of the stat drug (sulmet or amprollium) and the dehydration is corrected, they should start feeling better in a few days.

 

[Judy]

But don't overheat them. Be sure they have a place to get away from the heat, too, so they can choose, esp. since you have different ages.

 

[tulie13]

I agree with giving them some warmth, but I'm not sure you are dealing with a coccidiosis problem. Are these your first chickens? Where did you get them from? Have they been exposed to chicken poo from older/established birds? How clean is your brooder?

If you are working with your first batch of chicks, and the brooder has never been used, I would tend to doubt that you have a coccidiosis problem this early in the game. Can't hurt to treat for it, but I would not just make that assumption and be done with it.

Mine had runny poos when they were eating lots of shavings - I think they overdid it on the fiber (ha ha). Are you sure about the source of your shavings? Pine is OK, but cedar is supposed to be bad for them...

Good luck!

 

[MoodyChicken]

Put blue food coloring in the water. It may help. If I have clear and blue water in my chicks' brooders, they prefer the blue.

 

[CrazyChickMom]

Quote:
They suddenly became very lethargic and quiet. Yes, these are my first chickens. I got 8 from one farmer and 10 from another. I don't think they have been exposed to older chickens. My brooder had gotten wet. I cleaned it out but not all of it. It is clean now of course. They are definately sick with something.

They seem to be a little more active right now but not drinking. I am hoping that after eating the yogurt they will eventually want some water. What do you think?

 

[WalkingWolf]

Get them warm first, tan poo is not uncommon, especially on yogurt. Give them chicken broth 50/50 with your water. I start my chicks from hatching with a mixture of vitamins, yogurt, ACV, and chicken broth in water. I also have saved several puppies from parvo with chicken broth, it is amazing stuff.

 

[Judy]

Have you seen this website on poo?

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0