Sickness spreading among chicks? Please help!

[casportpony]

I don't mind sharing btw, but I'm sure you'd get better answers and make things less confusing for folks who might want to help. But I'm too new to want to be suggesting that. Thanks, Casportpony.

And I hope your hens get better, aliren!

It's nice that you will share, , but it sure can get confusing.

 

[aliren]

Start your new thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/create-thread

T

Start your new thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/create-thread

Thank you iv found it, but still couldn't post video.

 

[FLChickens]

Well the Wyandotte died. It might be my fault - I had to run an errand, and I left the box in the garage. It's a hot day, so I had already turned off the lamp, and had air circulating out there. Maybe it was too hot while I was gone. But then the other one did the same ... looked a little better then just died. I had really hoped to save this one though.

All the others really look fine now. There's no way to tell which ones were being separated to treat yesterday. I really do hope they will all be fine. That would be 8 survived out of 12. Considering how fast so many seemed to be coming down with it, and how sick-looking many of them were, well, maybe it could have been worse. It was the weakest among them that died, for the most part. I hope there are no more nasty surprises.

They are drinking - haven't been able to monitor each one, but they are drinking normally among the group of them. And I'll be watching closely. I hope no more problems. I'll finish the course of medicine, then give them the Rooster booster.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[FLChickens]

Looking good today. Everyone looks fine, active, eating, and I saw almost all drink within a few minutes' time (and they have water 24/7 so they just almost all happened to drink while I was there). The tiniest RIR is holding her wings maybe a few mm fanned down but she's actively digging up tiny insects and running about with bright eyes and peeping so I am pretty sure she's fine. I watched her drink too.

Going to keep dipping in veg oil (next treatment tonight) every few days. If that first chick hadn't been picking at her legs I might have found what was actually going on faster. Maybe being bothered by mites weakened the few that died. And the young hen without chicks was yawning a few times yesterday so going to watch her in case gape worms. I did have that in a few hens years ago.

It also finally stopped raining a couple days ago - we've had 2-3 weeks of daily rain, much of it heavy. The run is dammed (we are susceptible to water running past in extreme flooding) but it still was wet and muddy for weeks. (They do have covered outside areas too but with weeks of rain it just got muddy out there.) I read another thread here about raising ground by adding material (compost style) and I think we will try that with leaves, paper, grass, etc. Though at times it just gets wet here.

Thanks again. I hope we are going to be ok from here on out. But I'll keep watching them carefully, finish treatment, then get some vitamins in them.

I'm sorry for the chicks we lost (4) but there were another 4 or so that were sick and seem fine now, and 4 that never got sick, so it was better than it could have been. I do wonder if the delay of a little more than a day could have caused the death of some. Neither of the older chicks (maybe 11 weeks) nor the hens were affected.

A little bit of experience gained. Though not happily. Glad for your help. And glad Tractor Supply didn't close on the 4th. And hoping they will be ok now.

 

[FLChickens]

Today (in the afternoon) is three days they've been on Corid-treated water.

The ones that recovered seem fine, except that week-old (now 11 days) RIR still fans the wings just a few millimeters lower than really tight, and she was peeping because she was ready to go to sleep about an hour before the hen was ready to go in the coop. She tried to roost on a tiny branch and nap for half a minute. That may well be normal young-chick behavior though, and that's ALL I can see.

I'm debating, thinking maybe I should go with the 3-day duration and get vitamins in them?

It's hot and humid, but not rainy, so the soil has been dry for a couple of days. I've not noticed any bad droppings, but they scratch around and bury them pretty quickly.

I'm also thinking of tossing in a bucket of leaves every night into the run for a few days, give them something else to do and maybe house more bugs for them to find.

 

[rebrascora]

So sorry you lost the Wyandotte.

I would be inclined to give that one chick that isn't looking quite right, a direct dose into the mouth of concentrated Corid for two or three days just to be sure, especially if you are thinking of stopping the medication in the water.

 

[FLChickens]

So sorry you lost the Wyandotte.

I would be inclined to give that one chick that isn't looking quite right, a direct dose into the mouth of concentrated Corid for two or three days just to be sure, especially if you are thinking of stopping the medication in the water.

Thanks for the suggestion.

It's thundering outside and may rain again. So I won't be stopping today at any rate. I'll give that chick direct doses. And hold off on the vitamins just yet. I'm also thinking to wait an extra couple of days to re-dip the legs for mites. Being oily on the feathers might not be ideal for them right now and I'm not convinced the chicks actually have problems with mites.

 

[FLChickens]

Ah, the little RIR has been up and down. I am about to switch all the water to regular (non-medicated) I think. Everyone else is ok (I think!) and I'm worried about dehydration too if some don't like the Corid.

But the RIR was down in the coop this morning. Maybe she got trampled as the others went out, but she felt cool, was weak, peeping loudly. I brought her in and dosed her a bit stronger dose with a syringe, gave her a little extra water, and set her under a heat lamp. I thought at one point she was about dead, then she'd rally. I kept checking and giving her drops of water. She pretty much learned to just accept the syringe giving her a drop at a time. But refused to eat. When she seemed strong I put her in the run, she would eat with her mama. I'm going to have to get a cage that I can put a hen and chicks in. I have a door that closes off a nest box but this hen pushes and climbs over the divider. (Top is slanted and I never expected to have to pen a hen in so there's a gap.)

Anyway. She's had a few grains of crumbles and a couple of seeds. She won't eat unless her mama calls her over, so everything else I tried she didn't eat. I've done about all I can. I'm going to dose her again and I guess leave her in coop with mama tonight, along with full feeder and water. I think when she's strong she's stressed being away, and that hen has only two chicks left so I'm unwilling to take both. The others are too large and tend to pick on her.

I don't think I've ever had to work so intensively to save a chicken before. I keep thinking what if it turns out to be a roo and ends up stew in a few months. But I always try to save everything I can. But the stress level of this reminds me of sick baby goats.