Texas Buffs
Hatching
Hi! New Member with chick problems.
About me: I've been raising chickens for about 3.5 years. Have hatched out about 12 batches of my own eggs. I only have Buff Orpingtons and decided to try adding a new breed to the family. All of my chickens are pastured. I rotationally graze them by moving the electric net fence every other day. I have 55 chickens total and raise for meat and eggs. I feed Texas Naturals feeds which is a non-gmo, non-soy feed.
So here's the problem…. I ordered 25 Barred Rock chicks from Meyer Hatchery and received them 14 Jan. I'm assuming a hatch date of 12 Jan. Everything started off great. Everybody arrived alive and seemingly healthy. They even added an extra chick which I thought was nice. All the chicks were eating and drinking within the first 20 or 30 mins. I added chick electrolytes for the first two days. This should be no problem I thought, I've done this plenty of times and everything was going smoothly for the first two weeks.
Week two I noticed one little girl seeming to have a hard time. She was kind of lethargic and wasn't acting 'right'. When you've seen plenty of healthy chicks it's pretty easy to spot one that's off. Over the next couple of days I noticed that she was trembling and shaking and wouldn't really stand up. A couple more days, she is lying on her side. Not good! She seemed to be eating and drinking ok on her own. A couple of times I would check her and she would have a pretty full crop so I wasn't that worried about her not eating. After a week I found her dead. While I hate to lose a chick I thought, ok, no problem, I still have 25.
A couple of days later I notice several of the other chicks now acting lethargic. NOW I'm paying attention. Their little heads tremble and shake. Legs are twitchy. They can't seem to walk in a straight line. Falling over every couple of steps. When they stand and sometimes even walk, they walk on their lower leg and kind of shuffle around with their foot to their knee on the ground. More and more chicks start getting the shakes. They just kind of sit and the end of the brooder and nap. Everybody else is up running, trying to fly, scratching, pecking, etc. normal chick activity. I currently have about 15 that are in some stage of whatever this is. I lost a second chick yesterday and I have 4 that are lying on their sides, obviously in the late stages.
Their poops are normal. Nothing runny, no discoloration. Normal, brown, semi solid with the little bits of white. They don't seem to been having any respiratory issues. No coughing, sneezing, runny noses, etc.
Their feathers kind of look a little ruffled but it's hard to tell. They are at that stage where their feathers are coming in but they still have a little fluff. They look kind of disheveled but it's hard for me to say as the only chicks I'm used to are Buffs. I'm not sure what they 'should' look like at four weeks.
I'm hoping the collective wisdom of BYC can help me identify what THIS is!
About me: I've been raising chickens for about 3.5 years. Have hatched out about 12 batches of my own eggs. I only have Buff Orpingtons and decided to try adding a new breed to the family. All of my chickens are pastured. I rotationally graze them by moving the electric net fence every other day. I have 55 chickens total and raise for meat and eggs. I feed Texas Naturals feeds which is a non-gmo, non-soy feed.
So here's the problem…. I ordered 25 Barred Rock chicks from Meyer Hatchery and received them 14 Jan. I'm assuming a hatch date of 12 Jan. Everything started off great. Everybody arrived alive and seemingly healthy. They even added an extra chick which I thought was nice. All the chicks were eating and drinking within the first 20 or 30 mins. I added chick electrolytes for the first two days. This should be no problem I thought, I've done this plenty of times and everything was going smoothly for the first two weeks.
Week two I noticed one little girl seeming to have a hard time. She was kind of lethargic and wasn't acting 'right'. When you've seen plenty of healthy chicks it's pretty easy to spot one that's off. Over the next couple of days I noticed that she was trembling and shaking and wouldn't really stand up. A couple more days, she is lying on her side. Not good! She seemed to be eating and drinking ok on her own. A couple of times I would check her and she would have a pretty full crop so I wasn't that worried about her not eating. After a week I found her dead. While I hate to lose a chick I thought, ok, no problem, I still have 25.
A couple of days later I notice several of the other chicks now acting lethargic. NOW I'm paying attention. Their little heads tremble and shake. Legs are twitchy. They can't seem to walk in a straight line. Falling over every couple of steps. When they stand and sometimes even walk, they walk on their lower leg and kind of shuffle around with their foot to their knee on the ground. More and more chicks start getting the shakes. They just kind of sit and the end of the brooder and nap. Everybody else is up running, trying to fly, scratching, pecking, etc. normal chick activity. I currently have about 15 that are in some stage of whatever this is. I lost a second chick yesterday and I have 4 that are lying on their sides, obviously in the late stages.
Their poops are normal. Nothing runny, no discoloration. Normal, brown, semi solid with the little bits of white. They don't seem to been having any respiratory issues. No coughing, sneezing, runny noses, etc.
Their feathers kind of look a little ruffled but it's hard to tell. They are at that stage where their feathers are coming in but they still have a little fluff. They look kind of disheveled but it's hard for me to say as the only chicks I'm used to are Buffs. I'm not sure what they 'should' look like at four weeks.
I'm hoping the collective wisdom of BYC can help me identify what THIS is!
