UPDATE!!scared!!HELP!!Think I might be loosing half my new babies...

[chicky_mommy]

I have owned chickens for 13years, and I have been raising them from chicks for the past 8years; HOWEVER this is the first time I have raised them on completely on my own...my helpful grandfather has recently passed away and I'm afraid he didn't teach me much about how to handle things when they might be sick, or how to tell if they actually are sick...

About a week ago I bought 6 cochin x chicks all about a week old. They all looked, sounded, and acted healthy when I purchased them. 4 were all the same size "the group" (all have individual names), one was a bit bigger than the majority "Squire" and one was a bit smaller than the majority "Ren". I was told this was due to about 48hours age difference between the Squire, the group, and Ren.

With in 48 hours the size gap between Squire and the group had almost completely disappeared but Ren hadn't really changed, this brought up the first question...Ren seems to have lost weight I can now see the back and breast bones clearly, and it almost feels as though Ren is shrinking in my hands, not only that but now its sleeping a lot more than the others...

Question number two is, Squire appears to have some kind of a skin condition, there is a large amount of what could be dust beneath his feathers and when I blow on the dust nothing happens, if I use my finger nail and scrape some of it away his skin is very scaly, none of the other chicks I've ever owned had scaly skin, should I worry or is this normal for cochin x chicks?

Question number three one of the group has cold feet and always shakes, I tried putting it with a hot water bottle, left it in a shoe box with the bottle under the heat lamp in the main brooder with the other chicks for about half an hour, no change...the chick is still eating and drinking normally and still spending as much time awake as the other 3 completely healthy chicks...should I bother to worry?


Every one has poops of normal consistancy and color, although Ren seems to be making much more of it than the others.


If anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate hearing them...if any one wants more info to help diagnose anyone I'd be happy to give it to you...if anyone has to tell me that I should be prepared to loose all three of these friendly, beautiful babies I will cry...but if thats the case I want to know it so I don't get too supprised...


This is about 2.5 hours later and I just checked on the babies, Ren now has her wings fully spread and they are just about flat on the bedding so she clearly dug down into it, and her poops have become watery, color is still normal...



Every one is doing well now, the new Ren, integrated without a hitch.

 

[CMV]

Dust in the feathers? Are you sure they don't have mites? Where did you get these birds? I'd start by doing a bug check. Mites can be deadly for birds, much more so for chicks. That would explain a lot of the issues you are seeing- shrinking chick, skin problem, poor condition of the one who is shaking and cold. Start there and get back to us.

Good luck.

 

[chicky_mommy]

I did a full mite check before I posted, because mites is something pretty easy to fix, but, they are clear of those.

I called the breeder I got them from and he said he lost one of his other chicks from the same brood as Ren to similar causes but that his the other chicks in with it seemed to have been harassing that chick, mine aren't doing any harassing...I'm so confused!

 

[CMV]

A breeder will say that. S/he doesn't want to be responsible for chicks that are already sold. Can you give us a full run down of the situation you are in?

Give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

 

[chicky_mommy]

Quote:
the answer to most of these are in the original post.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
The first two are in the original post...Cochin X, they are about a week old...the small one weighs just a few ounces not enough for my scale to pick up, the other 5 are about 1lb each

2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Ren(the little one) spends about 45minutes out of every hour asleep, is still getting up and eating/drinking.
Squire is eating, drinking, sleeping, pooping normaly.
the other chick is eating, drinking, sleeping, pooping normally but shakes...almost vibrates...constantly.

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
I noticed that Ren was smaller than the others when I got them 6days ago and thought nothing of it, it was just a small chick.
I noticed Squire had the skin thing going on just yesterday after I'd had them for 5days.
I noticed the other chicks issues Saturday night (I had them 3days)

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
Only the three birds are sick my other three in the same brooder are healthy, and none of the chicks have any of the same symptoms.

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No apparent signs of any kind of trauma, nothing is broken, no one is bleeding.

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
I can't think of anything that has happened with the sick chicks that hasn't happened with the three healthy ones

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
They are all eating 'BLUE SEAL MEDICATED CHICK STARTER' and drinking plain water from the tap...

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
This was also in the original post...everyone has nice normal poops, the right color the right consistancy, the right timing (I wasn't sure if this would help so I timed them)

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
This far I haven't done anything to treat anything, because I didn't know what to do if anything...

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
If at all possible I want to treat them myself, if they can't be treated they will...have to be put out of their missery...

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
I tried to get pictures but it just doesn't show very well the situation...

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
They are currently being housed in a 30gallon fish tank, with pine/maple/oak shavings mix. the lid is a wooden framed 1/8th inch galvanized wire screen (I wanted to make sure cats wouldn't get to them) and sitting on the screen is a heating lamp with a 100watt light bulb in it, the whole tank is kept at 80-85 degrees...

 

[chicky_mommy]

Ok so the shakey cold chick is better today, didn't post about it this morning because I didn't want to jinx it.

I think the Ren is getting worse, stopped eating today...i'm still praying that she gets better but I have resigned myself to the fact that tomorrow it will be necessary to make the decision does she live or does she die...my neighbors mother says to give it whiskey because that will either save it or kill it, I am so depressed...

 

[welasharon]

I don't have a clue but I'll bump you back up so maybe someone who knows will see. So sorry!
sharon

 

[chicky_mommy]

Ren was dead when I woke up this morning and the other babies are starting to pluck Squire (the dusty one) so I put him in a smaller tank inside the big one, they can see each other but not get to each other...for now...I'm just worried he may not get the right heat. I'm going to keep checking on him all day...


Good news is that he isn't dusty where he was plucked.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did you find any lice or mites on your chicks? they will kill a chicken pretty fast, so it would be alot quicker for a chick. sorry for your loss

and I wouldn't give a chick whiskey.

 

[ChooksChick]

See if you can find VetRX at a feed store. It's a thin oil with some herbal extracts that you can put on the dusty skin.

I would get baby parrot formula from the pet store- Exact or Kaytee brand. That powder can be put on their feed to add concentrated nutrition and probiotics to help any gut flora issues you may be having. If a vitamin deficiency causes the tremors of the other one, that may be remedied quickly with the parrot formula. If the feed they have isn't cutting it for them, it will balance it out so they don't pick on each other. I would be sure to use a red lamp so they pick less, as well.

Lastly, if you have a TSC, they can get BabyCakes- a specially formulated chick brick for them to pick at that gives them extra nutrients and fosters the normal instinctive pecking and exploring they want to do to prevent boredom.

I'm sorry you lost your chick- it's never easy.