Sick chics - need help

[soonerchicken]

Hi, I'm new to raising chickens. I've got about 20 adults that are all very healthy. As well, 15 adult guineas.
I have about 15new chics and they are slowly all dying of the same thing.... their eyes swell shut, the birds become very lethargic, then die.
These chicks are about 6weeks old now, kept in warm dry environ. I'm in oklahoma so it's been over 100 most days since I've gotten them.
I use pine shavings for their bedding and change that out about every 2 to 3 days.

Anyone have any idea what this could be? I've started putting a general antibiotic in their water(as of today).

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JakRat]

Any sneezing? I am not an expert on the subject but if the antibiotics in the water dont work you may have to step it up to an inject-able type. Hopefully someone with more experties will post

 

[dawg53]

Do you suspect it's heat related? If not, I'm leaning towards coccidia on this one rather than a CRD. Get some corid in the cattle section at your feed store and dose them with it, you have nothing to lose except more chicks if you at least dont give it a try. Hopefully you'll see improvement in a couple of days, if not...it could possibly be a respiratory problem.

 

[okiedrifter]

its hotter than hades here in Okla we are down in SE okla what I am doing for mine is....a sprinkler in the hottest part of the day to cool them down...they love it no woodchips they are on the ground...ice cubes in their water jugs severel times a day...and also lots of cold treats watermelon,frozen peas and different veggies out of the fridge.....no corn at all....corn makes body heat so no corn at all no chops not any of that.....watch that started feed doesnt get wet and moldy if you are still feeding that.....but watch em get happy over some cold watermelon

 

[soonerchicken]

I dont think this issue is heat related. Heat doesnt make a birds eye's swell up/shut and ooze pus. I appreciate the other suggestions on general things to do in the heat though.

Still in search of what the root cause of my birds dying is.....

 

[DTRM30]

This is what I have saved as a .pdf from the university of florida on chicken illnesses ....

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

This is another .pdf I have, but can't remember whose site I downloaded it from...

Eyes
Symptom - Possible Cause
Watery... Infectious coryza
Blindness... Fowl pox; aspergillosis; Arizona paracolon; paratyphoid
Watery, red, inflamed,
closed...
Laryngotracheitis; ammonia burn; Newcastle disease;
nutritional deficiency-vitamin A
Cataracts... Epidemic tremor
Crusts on eye lids... Nutritional deficiency-vitamin A; fowl pox
Pupil irregular, blindness... Marek's disease
Blood in eye... Hemorrhagic anemia
Large, swollen... Mycoplasma infection