UPDATE: Possibly bad feed. HELP! Chicks are 18 days old, slowly dying

[Missouri Chicken Chick]

I only gave them boiled eggs only once and quite a few had died before I did that. Since the boiled eggs, I've been sticking mostly with fresh fruit, vegetables, etc.

I have been treating for cocci just in case, but I haven't really seen any signs of it. Maybe I have over-medicated them. I did read that you shouldn't give them vitamins and Sulmet at the same time, so I treated with Sulmet as the instructions indicate, then started putting a few drops of Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins in every other waterer fill-up.

I am also thinking maybe it's possibly something to do with my incubator. If there was some sort of bacterial infection, what kind of antibiotic should I use? Anybody have any recommendations?

 

[artathart]

Quote:
Why are you giving 3 week old chicks so much stuff? Boiled eggs? Fruit? Veggies? Medications? Vitamins? Dusting powder?

They really just need starter food, heat, grit and water. I do add electrolytes to my water.

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
Im confused, don't medicated feed already have a treatment for cocci? If your giving extra treatment won't that cause death?

 

[skillswife]

Quote:
Me too! And even if you have a regular carbon monoxide detector, it won't alarm at levels low enough to kill chicks. Most are like 120ppm and up before they alarm, not sure on that though. I do know that after having long term low levels of carbon monoxide in our house and issues caused by it, everyone should get one that you can check the peak levels. Ours now will tell us if we have any present, even as low as 1ppm but doesn't alarm until the higher settings.

 

[ScissorChick]

If your feeding medicated chick starter, the chicks do not have cocci, and

you shouldn't be treating for it. I understand completely your just trying to do

everything you can to help them.

But stop treating for cocci. Stop the sevin

dust. Grit IS NOT needed when feeding chick starter. Hold off on the grit, until you

want to feed them a treat, or switch to 'big bird' food (pellets/scratch/treats/etc)

artathart, boiled eggs, fruit, treats are all ok. My birds get them all the time. At 3

3 weeks it's OK for them to have treats.It's the 'treatments' I'm worried about.

Can you tell us exactly what kinda of fruit you've been feeding? Some are highly toxic.

So far, I agree with the recent suggestions on what it could be.

ScissorChick

 

[artathart]

Quote:
I dissagree with the chick grit. If she is feeding anything else other than starter, which clearly her chicks are. then they should have grit to stimulate gizzard development. Just sayin. All in all, I think there is far too much going on with these chicks in their enviroment,

 

[ScissorChick]

Quote:
I dissagree with the chick grit. If she is feeding anything else other than starter, which clearly her chicks are. then they should have grit to stimulate gizzard development. Just sayin. All in all, I think there is far too much going on with these chicks in their enviroment,

But, that is exactly what I said in the post. Maybe I didn't word it clearly. Anything other than starter needs grit.

But if starter is the only thing being fed, grit is not needed. In my post I suggested holding off

on the grit unless treats or 'big bird' feed is being fed. Starter, however, doesn't need grit.

 

[7L Farm]

I just give iddy's chick starter. The one thing I do is make sure their water is always fresh. If I see the water even a bit dirty I throw it out .I do this with all my birds. Fresh water at all times. I do add ACV to their water. I put 1 tablespoon of ACV to one gallon of water. I use Braggs ACV. No treats . I just raised 30 iddy's & they were eating about 25 lbs of chick starter a week. I had 2 feeders in their coop & I was constantly filling them up. Fresh water & keeping their feeders full. I talked to a vet the other day that specializes in birds. He told me that most feeds today have all that's needed to raise birds used for laying purposes. So, I've gotten away from adding a bunch of treats.

 

[njgarlicgrower]

I always use pine wood chips in my brooder box with no ill effects and the chicks come right out of the incubator into this after they dry off. I only feed water and medicated starter crumbles, nothing else. Of course, a brooder light, mine is a red bulb. This is my recipe and have only very, very minor losses.

 

[dolly85]

I highly doubt its carbon monoxide killing the chicks. I am assuming most of your chicks are the same size, so if the CM level in your house is strong enough to kill one chick of a certain size it would kill the majority of them. Plus, it sounds as though this has gone on for an extended period of time and as the chicks grow larger they would be less likely to succumb to CM poisoning and your losses would dramatically decrease or stop all together.
You have older chickens outside right? Do any of runny noses, goopy eyes, etc? It is possible to transfer bacterial and viral infections by going to your chicken coop to feed older chickens and then going to your brooder to feed your babies, especially if you don't wash your hands. It could even spread if you have a dog, cat, or kid going to and fro. Clean and disenfect your entire brooder with diluted bleach (don't forget to rinse well!) Practice good handwashing and try to isolate your chicks as much as possible. If you find some birds in your older flock to be sick treat everyone and clean their coop as well. In general if its a virus it may just have to run its course, but if its a bacterial infection certain antibiotics work better then others depending on the type of infection your birds may have.
And no more seven dust in any amount!!!!



ETA Sometimes older chickens are carriers to certain diseases and do NOT exhibit symptoms. It is always good practice to wash hands and keep barn shoes outside!!!