sick ? dying - baby delawares dying help !

[allquackedup]

Hello, I hope someone might have some ideas....A quick history of our lil delawares... We ordered a straight run of delaware chicks... we received 15 we are guessing three different ages. Didn't get a straight/ exact age when I asked the seller. Anyhow, we are thinking they were couple days old (some), a few about a week old and a few alittle older maybe 2 weeks. Again these are guesses. When we got them two of the little ones were dead in box. One more little one died that night. We have a couple that didn't seem as fluffy as other (the older ones of the bunch) and a couple of the little ones we nick named droopy cuz their wings were drooping. We noticed last thursday two of them were sneezing/weezing. we immeadiately seperated them from the rest and went to southern states and bought VetRX and followed directions for that. The two that we quarrentined were a little one and a medium size one. The little one died on friday. the other one is still hanging in there- isn't sneezing anymore but does seem to weeze or gasp for air every now and again. Yesterday, another smaller one was acting really droopy all day. I listen to him , he was not weezing or anything but I did notice that when he would lay down he was VERY slow at getting up. Well, he died last night. This is breaking our hearts. We have lost over half of these chicks. Some of the ones left are very fluffy were as the others seem scruffy (thin not fluffy feathers) we have two little ones left and the rest are either the med. or larger size. One of the 15 is very obviously not a delaware. Not sure what happened there but.... My husband was telling a couple farmer friends what was happening with them and the both said sounded like worms to them. I see no signs of worms in their poo- My question is should I just go get some med for worming them and treat them all or what? If so what medicene am I looking for? We thought maybe it was a reaction to maybe the amonia in their poo- we raised 10 RIR from hatching to 9 weeks old and we did them no different then we did these. Only thing is we ordered live chicks for these because we couldn't get eggs to incubate. I make sure their area is clean and we have a red heat light for them. I am switching out the dirty stuff several times a day now so that I am sure the smell is not hanging around. We have decided we will never order live chicks or eggs through the mail again. It is not worth the risks to the chickens and it is so sad when these little ones don't make it. We are newbies at this and have hatched RIR with now problems. We hadn't lost any chicks until these delawares. Is it possible it is worms? Could they have come with an illness that is just now showing up? I am going to email the girl we bought them from and let her know what's going on and see if her delawares are sick at all but I would hope if they are she would have notified us. Anyhow I am hoping someone might have some thoughts, I don't want to loose anymore of these guys/gals. Thanks again for your advice!!

 

[bargain]

How did you house them once they arrived at your house.

How long were they in transit to you. What was the weather like when they were shipped.

It's a little cold in the season to ship eggs.

If there's a state poultry lab near you, I would recommend contacting them for a necropsy of one o f the dead ones and you will need to keep it in the cooler until you go.

I don't want to jump the gun but it sounds respiratory but could be many things....

Keep this entire flock isolated until you learn why!

What are you feeding them. See what the prior owner fed them.

Thanks and wishing you the best.

 

[VA from WV]

As I posted in the other thread, I'd give them as much water by mouth as you can get into them and proceed from there. Dehydration is probably the first enemy here, and giving them water with an eyedropper will get them a little extra time while you find the underlying cause.

Straight water to start with an eyedropper; don't add stuff to it until you get it running clear out the other end.

Hope your babies turn around.

 

[allquackedup]

Hi There, They were shipped from arkansas overnight. I went to Post Ofc as soon as they called. They were in transit from door to door approx 22 hours. The weather here wasnt real cold We were having a warm spell, not sure about Arkansas. Also not sure how they ship them on the planes. I am worried that they ship them with rest of cargo stuff and isn't that not pressure controlled and/ or heated? Anyhow, I am not sure about poultry lab and I have already disposed of the ones that died. we were thinking respiratory and with the one we have isolated I would agree it is respiratory. The other ones don't show any signs of respiratory problems. The littel one that died last night has been as active as the rest until yesterday. The chicks are not near any of our other chickens and we have been really good about washing our hands after handling any of them so as not to spread anything. We are feeding them medicated feed from local southern states- this is what we fed our RIR's when we hatched them several weeks ago. These were not eggs they were live chicks. Not sure of the proticall for shipping live chicks but we were not thinking they would be such different sizes/ages- we thought they were to be day olds (which we thought was to be between 1 day to 7 days) We feed the medicated feed until they are 8 weeks then put them on crumble 20 % food. The medicated feed was what local farm supply informed use we needed to feed them until they were about 8 weeks old. We have them in the house with a heat light. The have ventilation. I will ask prior owner what she was feeding them. I had emailed her to try and find out ages when we got them but really didnt get a definite age for them. Like I said we are newbies and since we had so much success with our RIR's we just really are thrown for a loop with these little ones. We learn something new everyday reading the BYC web sight. I appreciate your help. They are eating and drinking fine. SOmeone else wrote and said they might be dehydrated and we should water them with eye dropper. I will try to do that as well but I do see them drinking even the one that we have isolated seems to be drinking and eating okay. SInce he is by himself it is eaisier to see what/ how much is gone. Again thank you for the good wishes. Hopefully they will turn around. I don't want to put them with anyone else until I know they are not infected. Do you know the signs of worms? Shoud I worm them just in case or is that hard on them. Thanks again!
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[bargain]

As young as they are, I wouldn't worm them without evidence. Worming is very very tough on digestive system.. If there were othe birds in transit, they may have picked up something air borne. Also by shipping a wide range of age of birds, it makes me wonder what's going on.

Were they shipped in a regular shipping box or a homemade one.. I don't ship chicks just eggs...I worry so much about the baby chicks.

Another question ....how warm is their area they are in.....Too cool can also be very bad as well as too warm....Do they have room to walk away from the heat lamp.

Wish I could help more. If there is another death and I hope not, do call your agricultural department in the state and ask for the nearest poultry lab and bring the body there. If I were you, I would want to know what these birds had/have and if it's contagious.

Type in Cocci and there will be many references on worms. Are you getting respiratory symptoms just in the last few hours of life or for many hours.....It could literally be their little death rattle.

Cocci has been rampant with the weather as reported on the board. It should not be showing up in the babies though unless prior food was medicated. Hopefully seller will answer soon.

Type in edit and change title to urgent, more help needed. Maybe some others can help you.

God bless you and the babies.

 

[speckledhen]

Who sold them to you--individual or hatchery? If they weren't day olds, then that may have been some of the issue. When they hatch, they can live 3 days on the yolk, but if they aren't eating and drinking by the end of that time, they will be dropping by Day 4-5. 24 hours with no water is too hard on older chicks and they should never be shipped till they are much older if you miss the day old mark on shipping.

With respiratory stuff, they could have come from a flock which had CRD and passed it through the egg to the chicks. Another thing to think about is how you are brooding them. If you have them in a brand new plastic tub, they may be suffering from the outgassing of the plastic.

This is NOT breed-related, trust me. Delawares are very hardy, strong chicks as a rule. Worms would be almost impossible if they haven't touched ground yet. If they were in drafts, that wouldn't help anything. Worms do not cause respiratory illness.

Can't say for sure what the issue is, but if the seller shipped older chicks, that was just plain wrong, IMO.