- Jan 25, 2008
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I just got a call from a lady that bought several Dorkings and Dominique chicks from me. Her birds are about 1.5-2 months old and have grown very well to this point. Her brooder contains several breeds at various ages, the oldest are 3-4 month oldRhode Island Whites, 1.5-3 month old Dorkings, Dominiques, and 1-2 month old Australorps.
She called me to vent a little because she is just having aweful luck with her chickens lately. Some predator has carried off all her roosters, no sign of the birds or predator feather or fur. Just gone. Even her prized Dominique "Ozzy" and the beautiful(BEAUTIFUL) Dorking sire of all my chicks.
Well anyway, the most frustrating part is that she has chicks dropping like flies. She lost 5 Dorkings and a Dominique all in the last week. Of course these are all chicks she got from me over a month ago. She had called to see if I was having the same problem with chicks from the same batch. I haven't lost a single chick and I told her I would ask my fellow BYCers what they think is going on in her brooder.
She says that the dead chicks have no weight to them. Almost like they aren't eating for two weeks before the finally die. The live birds in the same brooder are doing great and have good weight to them. She says she has caught a couple of chicks before they actually die and that they just "lay there".
I'm suspecting a parasite of some kind, but I am fairly inexperienced with diseases. Could this be worms? Or is it a disease of some kind?
It seems to be isolated to the brooder. No adult birds in her coop only 15 yards away are "wasting away" and her Wyandottes in a grow-out pen only 5 yards away are the biggest healthiest birds on the property.
I need some advice to help her figure this out. None of my birds are suffering the same symptoms, neither have I lost anything other than day-olds this year. So I do not think it is a disease that mine have "carried" over there. It does seem odd that only the chicks she got from me are the only ones suffering(so far).
What do ya'll think?
-Kim
She called me to vent a little because she is just having aweful luck with her chickens lately. Some predator has carried off all her roosters, no sign of the birds or predator feather or fur. Just gone. Even her prized Dominique "Ozzy" and the beautiful(BEAUTIFUL) Dorking sire of all my chicks.
Well anyway, the most frustrating part is that she has chicks dropping like flies. She lost 5 Dorkings and a Dominique all in the last week. Of course these are all chicks she got from me over a month ago. She had called to see if I was having the same problem with chicks from the same batch. I haven't lost a single chick and I told her I would ask my fellow BYCers what they think is going on in her brooder.
She says that the dead chicks have no weight to them. Almost like they aren't eating for two weeks before the finally die. The live birds in the same brooder are doing great and have good weight to them. She says she has caught a couple of chicks before they actually die and that they just "lay there".
I'm suspecting a parasite of some kind, but I am fairly inexperienced with diseases. Could this be worms? Or is it a disease of some kind?
It seems to be isolated to the brooder. No adult birds in her coop only 15 yards away are "wasting away" and her Wyandottes in a grow-out pen only 5 yards away are the biggest healthiest birds on the property.
I need some advice to help her figure this out. None of my birds are suffering the same symptoms, neither have I lost anything other than day-olds this year. So I do not think it is a disease that mine have "carried" over there. It does seem odd that only the chicks she got from me are the only ones suffering(so far).
What do ya'll think?
-Kim
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