Sick chicks, is it the ecoglow?

[ladyrsanti]

I started them on the corid yesterday when it was first mentioned. I've lost three chicks since then, the two I had separated and a third found dead this morning. So two black copper marans and a swedish flower hen.

They're dropping like flies.

 

[lightchick]

Sorry to hear that you lost more chicks!

How are they now?

 

[ladyrsanti]

No more have died but I'm still dealing with recurring pasty butts. I was able to get to the store and get them some fresh pine shavings but it was good to be able to see their droppings properly for a couple of days on the pee pads. Some red-tinged droppings were present, too many to be shed lining. Looking better now for the most part but on the shavings it's hard to tell. Will continue the corid treatment and keep my fingers crossed. Curious how they got so sick, so young. I make a new brooder out of cardboard boxes for every hatch and sterilize the feeders, etc. It's troubling and caught me off guard.

 

[lightchick]

So glad to hear that they are doing better!

 

[chattelane]

How are the chicks doing?

 

[ladyrsanti]

Most of them are growing fast and seem 100% but the two swedish flower hen chicks are falling behind and it has me worried. They still get messy bottoms and spend most of their day under the ecoglow. They're very small for their age. They're all off the corid now, having finished their treatment and are one vitamins and probiotics.

 

[ladyrsanti]

UPDATE:

I got in touch with our chicken guru at MSU and he says it's likely not cocci but their environment, from what I described to him. He said to ditch the ecoglow and use a heat lamp. Back to my original concern. This is the first time I've used an ecoglow. They've come so highly recommended, it's a shame. I'll get the heat lamp back out though. I've got another hatch on the way and I don't want a repeat.

 

[lightchick]

Weird. Hope they are doing OK now! I just lost a chick too!

 

[TXEggcellence]

Why would it be the ecoglow? Too hot too cold? I have one chick that has become lethargic and just stands with her eyes closed. She drank water and then vomited it up. She is excreting white stringy poo... please help!

 

[ladyrsanti]

TX, I have no idea about your chick. It's so hard to diagnose chickens, let alone chicks and I do not profess to know much and certainly not enough over the internet to say. I think the ecoglow was not enough heat for them in our drafty old farmhouse and allowed whatever illness to overtake the stressed chicks. The question is, what illness did they have, was it carried in the egg and should I introduce them to the flock when they're older? I hatched a second batch and they are having some illness as well at the same age (1 1/2 weeks old) but I did not use the ecoglow so it's not only the cold but a variety of factors. A heritage buff orpington chick died this afternoon after being lethargic only this morning. Very little warning and nothing I can do for it. A few of the rest show the same respiratory symptoms as the first hatch did, stuffy sneezes. But thankfully, it's not most of the flock this time, just a handful of chicks. They are in an adjacent brooder in the same room so it's entirely possible that the first brood infected this one. They were from different eggs. I don't know. I get overwhelmed by all the factors involved. Thought about sending the dead chick for a necropsy but don't want to spend $100. Then again, if it means saving the existing flock from an infectious disease, it would be worth it.