sick chick lost one please need some advice

[lionkitty71]

I bought 15 chicks from a hatchery and have the 5 older ones seperate from the 10 youngest each have food and water and heat lamp... I had a brahma that had splayed leg syndrome was small and weak. tried to get it to drink water and after it would for a while but also would get sick... it was small and felt light compared to the other chicks and would have half closed eyes.. 6 days after born he died.... Now out of the same batch i have 2 silver wynadottes that are starting to act a little weird drinking the water... i pick them up and them seem to be very light now... Any suggestions on what the first one had and may have transferred to second? i have them on shavings and clean their litter every 2 days.. Anyone could help or some advice itd be appreciated...

 

[Eggcessive]

There are so many variables when it comes to newly shipped chicks dying. They may have been weak to begin with, or stressed during shipping due to extreme cold (or heat in summer.) Once I get them, I make them drink (dip their beaks into it), eat, get the heat lamp on 90 degrees, and put them on the larger flakes of pine shavings so they don't eat it. A few usually have a case of pasty butt for the first week which has to be cleaned off or they can die. There are runts and chicks who won't thrive, though, and if you read threads on here very long you will hear about many chick losses. I've only ordered chicks twice, and have had good luck so far. Even the chicks from Tractor Supply come in the mail, so most of the time they do well. I'm brooding chicks right now, and the biggest problem is trying to keep my temps the same inside my new coop. At night it is cold, and warm in the daytime, so next time I will have them back in my house for the first week or 2 like last year. Hope your babies improve.

 

[lionkitty71]

I lost the wynadotte last night... not sure what is going on i seperated her from the others.. im jus hopin yje others dont come down with it.. I have checked for the pasty butt and knew how to clear that one up... i feel helpless and not knowing what to do... they jus get weak and wont eat or drink... the other wynadotte feels light im scared im goin to lose her next..

 

[lorijohnson823]

Ok, vitamins in their water is a good idea if you do not already gave it in there. You can get this at any feed supply store. It is a packet of powder mixed with their water.

Also, are you noticing if they are having diarrhea? Very likely could be coccidiosis. You might want to try Amprolium. You can also get this at the feed store. This a medicine that goes into their water as well for coccidiosis. But, you are not supposed to mix it with the vitamins. So I would try one or the other for a couple of days.

Symptoms for Coccidosis: droopiness, huddling with ruffled feathers, loss of appetite, retarded growth, and some early stages have bloody diarrhea.

A book that has really helped me with raising my chickens is The Chicken Health Handbook. I recommend getting that and keeping it as a reference for you.
The health of our chickens is a complete guessing game. But in this book, you can check their symptoms, and read about what to do next and what to treat with. It is very handy to have.
Hope this helps you and your baby chicks.

 

[lionkitty71]

i jus put the vitamins in the water ..... i wondered if this is what it is... i will get that other stuff and try that.. i dont want to lose anymore and ive been cleaning the bedding daily... i havent noticed to much diarrehea but i did notice blood oncei n the diarrhea and cleaned it right away...
Thanks fr the input on the book i will also have to get one... i have tons of others but not one on health.
Thanks so much for all help.. ill try and go from there..

 

[Egghead_Jr]

As stated above, mix vitamins in drinking water. It's quite a pick me up for ailing chicks and usually that's all they need to get back on top to feed properly again.

See you just posted that you have done that. Did you use medicated chick starter?

Good luck.

 

[lionkitty71]

yes i did use the medicated chicken starter... this is the first year ive had problems... my chicks last year all did well so im confused on this one...

 

[DawnCols]

This is a tough one. I'll add what I've learned from reading when I was trying to figure out my own chick problems.

Coccidosis is a sickness caused by microscopic parasites in the chick's gut. Symptoms are weakness, failure to gain weight, and bloody diarrhea.

The most common treatment is Amprolium (one brand name is Corid). This works by blocking vitamin B1 (thiamine), which weakens the parasite. It's called a "coccidostat", which is latin for "stops coccida" Medicated chick feed usually has a low dose of amprolium in it.

I also ran across a reference to a "coccidocide" (means "kills coccida", not just stop it) called Coxistac used by commercial poultry keepers. I'm pretty sure that when I was shopping at Tractor Supply I wasn't able to find that stuff. But worth mentioning.

As others have pointed out, there are other possibilities, including that the chicks were weak to begin with, then stressed during shipping.

I hope things work out for you and your chicks.

 

[lorijohnson823]

I'm hoping for you that the vitamins do the trick. All of my chicks are healthy with theirs and going strong. I'm glad I could have helped.

 

[lionkitty71]

Update... i did put vitamins in the water... Got a baby chick stick for them to eat and i also had a cage where the poop falls through so i put them in there for a few days to see if it would help.... They seem to love running around the cage and the chick stick... the other wynadotte has seemed to pic up some.. she is also running around an eating dont seem so droopy for now... going tomorrow to check on getting the medicine jus to see if that helps... Thanks everyone for the info... my 17 year old cried and cried it broke my heart.... she not use to be on a farm where these can happen... =)