Two chicks are lathargic. One died HELP urgently

[Paz]

I suspect my chicks have cought the "mareks" or the “Gambuoro”.
They seemed ok yesterday, but this morning, there's two who act really lathargic, and their wings are not in place.
They were pretty cold, so I put them in the brooder. One of them is significantly smaller than the rest. They have whitish pasty poop. No insects were detected so far.
I made them drink water with sugar, and fish with crushed vitamin pill.
The chicks are only vaccinated against the "new castle."
One of the sick chicks has a wound next to its butt, which I suspect the cock caused, when I let the chicks out with the chickens yesterday (my hen acted strange so I gave her the chicks, I have a thread about that).
Am I doing ok?
Should I apply some honey on the injured chicks butt?
What should I do with the other chicks?
Do both chicks suffer from the same condition?

I'm sorry for asking so many questions this past month.

 

[Paz]

Test results: asbestos poisoning

 

[azygous]

Please let us know what the test results are. I hope these two chicks died from natural causes such as failure to thrive and not a disease you will have to deal with.

 

[azygous]

Oh, my. I bet the chicks were pecking at something. Did you find the source?

 

[azygous]

The thing about asbestos roofing panels is that once pieces break off, tiny asbestos fibers are then released into the environment - air, soil, water. These tiny poisonous fibers are now on the soil under the broken roof, and chickens will consume and breathe in the fibers as they scratch for grit and insects.

The risk to chickens being kept under the broken roof is very high, and you probably should think about moving them to another location. Then, wearing protective safety equipment such as a respirator and protective clothing, the shed should be dismantled or broken tiles replaced, and then the soil under the roof needs to be removed.

Since your budget is tight, and the expense of this sort of cleanup would be high, you might choose to fence off this site and abandon it. But continuing to keep chickens under the roof will risk losing more chickens to asbestos poisoning.

I understand how you must be feeling. Many years ago, I discovered a log splitting machine was leaking where my chickens foraged. My wakeup moment came when a four-week old chick that I'd seen under the machine earlier came into the run and collapsed at my feet. Older chickens had been going lame, and the leaking machine was most likely responsible. I moved the machine to an area where the chickens never go, and I dug up the soil where the hydraulic fluid had seeped, and I disposed of it. But I felt so bad that I hadn't noticed this hazard until it had killed a tiny chick.

 

[Paz]

The thing about asbestos roofing panels is that once pieces break off, tiny asbestos fibers are then released into the environment - air, soil, water. These tiny poisonous fibers are now on the soil under the broken roof, and chickens will consume and breathe in the fibers as they scratch for grit and insects.

The risk to chickens being kept under the broken roof is very high, and you probably should think about moving them to another location. Then, wearing protective safety equipment such as a respirator and protective clothing, the shed should be dismantled or broken tiles replaced, and then the soil under the roof needs to be removed.

Since your budget is tight, and the expense of this sort of cleanup would be high, you might choose to fence off this site and abandon it. But continuing to keep chickens under the roof will risk losing more chickens to asbestos poisoning.

I understand how you must be feeling. Many years ago, I discovered a log splitting machine was leaking where my chickens foraged. My wakeup moment came when a four-week old chick that I'd seen under the machine earlier came into the run and collapsed at my feet. Older chickens had been going lame, and the leaking machine was most likely responsible. I moved the machine to an area where the chickens never go, and I dug up the soil where the hydraulic fluid had seeped, and I disposed of it. But I felt so bad that I hadn't noticed this hazard until it had killed a tiny chick.

Guess I should move them, I’m afraid grandfather will not like it, he has Alzheimer’s and moving things make him go crazy, but what else can I do? I’m not going to remove this roof by myself, that’s for sure.

 

[azygous]

Maybe distract Grandfather with something while you do the moving. For your safety as well as your chickens, you need to do this as soon as possible.

When dealing with any old person, if you can maintain as much continuity as possible, a change is more easily tolerated. This might be accomplished by having Grandfather sit with the chickens in a temporary location while you move things to a new location and barricade the old shed. Then have Grandfather help move the chickens into their new home. This way, the continuity is the chickens themselves, and he's not so much focused on the different location they've been moved to.

You're going to need some family help. Can you organize this?

 

[azygous]

The small chick may be a failur-to-thrive, meaning it has underdeveloped organs and cannot process nutrients. The other chick may be borderline. Continue the hand feeding of sugar water and protein and vitamins. Finely minced cooked egg is a good food for such chicks.

I doubt it's Marek's. It's too early for symptoms.

 

[azygous]

It's not possible to say if this is gumboro. But you are already doing what you would be required to do if it is. Keep up the sugar water and vitamins. Keep up the animal protein. Feed frequently for today and tomorrow.

Watch carefully that they don't peck the wound on the vent of the one chick. If you can obtain gentian violet, you can dab some on the wound and it will make it less obvious to the chicks that wish to pect it.

 

[azygous]

Good. Keep that up the antibiotic for the next two weeks. Give them all additional protein and vitamins, too. Hopefully, you don't lose any more chicks. I'm so sorry this is happening.