Sickly looking chicks...what to treat them with now?

[carolinagirl58]

I bought 7 chicks last weekend. Honestly I should not have gotten them. One looked odd, sort of has his eyes half closed and ruffled feathers. She had just brough them out of the brooder house and the morning was a little chilly, and she said they were just chilled from the morning air. These are not day old chicks...they are probably a month or so old. Anyway the next day I heard sneezing. And then I saw the bloody stool. I treated them with Corid and the bloody stool has stopped, but they still look ruffled, eyes half closed, no nasal discharge but some sneezing. They eat and drink fine. I lost one of them and a couple of them look perfectly healthy....but the rest just look sickly. Any suggestions what I can treat them with now? Thanks.

 

[Judy]

Sounds like they have one of the respiratory diseases, most of which are not curable and will stay in your flock forever. Honestly, I would take them back or cull, and disinfect my coop. I'm sorry. It makes me furious that people will sell chicks like this. Can't tell me she didn't know.

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

 

[carolinagirl58]

not the news I wanted to hear. I am really new to chickens and bought chicks from 3 sources. These are the last ones I bought. The others are all healthy and growing.....but the pen they are in is only about 8 feet from the cage that houses these sick ones. And the sick ones cage WAS inside my larger pen with the other chicks for a night, until I realized something was going on with them. So no....I did not quarantine the new chicks. So far the older chicks are all fine. They are on medicated feed and are healthy and active.....but it's only been a week. I am so discouraged by this. I hate that I spent the money on them and an additional $20 for the Corid, plus drove so far to get them. I really really hate to do it, but I think I may tell my husband to go ahead and cull them all.

And keep your fingers crossed for my other chicks. Maybe they won't get sick from this.

 

[carolinagirl58]

I have been thinking about this problem a little more. A couple of the chicks in the cage look bad and will be euthanized today. They looked bad from the start and have made no improvement. But a few of them look and act like normal healthy chicks and never looked sick. At the farm where I got them, the lady has dozens of hens walking around free-ranging and all looked very healthy. So I am beginning to think that this may not be a viral respiratory problem, but a problem with a select few of the chicks. Does that make sense? My plan now is to sit and watch them to see which ones are sneezing...and to make sure those are the same ones sitting hunched up with their eyes half closed. And those chicks will be euthanized. The remaining healthy looking ones....no need to kill them yet just to protect my my older chicks because if they are going to infect them, they already have. Kind of like shutting the door after the horse has escaped at this point. Does this plan sound like a good course of action? I really don't want to lose these chicks if it can be avoided.

 

[schellie69]

I think this is a respiratory illness and maybe the sick one have already had this and recover which means they are a carrier and can infect rest of your birds. Without having a necropsy done you don't know what you have. A chicken can look healthy and still be a carrier and can infect other chickens any stress can bring these symptoms out again, If you are planning on raising chicks to sell or hatching eggs I would not want these birds in my flock. Some illness can be transmitted to the egg from the hen. call your local state vet and see what they say. Good luck,

 

[carolinagirl58]

Ok. Thanks for your honest response. I will euthanize them all.

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
I am so sorry you are going through this I am sure that the lady knew this was in her flock. This is why a lot of us do not buy starter birds or older chicks, I buy day old chicks from the farm stores and I have a few byc members I will buy from. I would make sure to call the buyer and let her know that she is selling sick birds. I think if your other birds are not showing signs then they should be fine. Just the birds you bought from the one lady. I wish things could have been different.

 

[carolinagirl58]

My hubby said he will take care of them for me while I am at work today. I'll just need to sanatize the equipment and the area around the cage with a 10% bleach when I get home. Will that clean things up well enough? I guess no Specked Sussex for me.

 

[speckledhen]

Hard choices and hard lessons to learn. I'm really sorry.

 

[carolinagirl58]

thank you. I sure did learn a lesson or two.

1....never ever buy a chick that doesn't look right and accept the seller's word that they are OK...just chilled.

2. Always QT any new stock, no matter how healthy it looks or how nice the seller is.

Here's the ironic thing. I am a avid koi keeper (large ornamental pond fish). Because of a fatal virus that can affet these fish, I quarantine them for up to a year, depending on the source. Why it never occured to me to QT a chicken is beyond me!! I KNOW better!