Weak chick and worm-like poop

[Kiki]

I figured vitamins were a no, I know I couldn't give them nutridrench but it's been two years since I dealt with this so I'm scrambling for information.

Yes it was My Pet Chicken, I've gotten every chick I've raised from them, three broods total including these babies and have had nothing but good experiences thus far. After seeing the three deceased chicks I don't know if I'll ever get up the nerve to order birds online again, it's so stressful waiting for them to arrive and losing three of them was jarring. I'll be emailing them some time soon.

I can call my reptile vet, I haven't gone to them in years but they should remember me, they had some interesting experiences treating my rescue lizards. They might be willing to run a test, I used to get fecal floats done every six months, but they can be pricey since they were exotics, maybe it'll be less for a chick. I'll call anyway, I can use whatever money I get from my refund to pay.

Anything else I can do for the chicks in the meantime? If I remember correctly corid treatment is five days, I have them in a quiet room in the house and am paying extra attention to the brooder temperatures. They get fresh wet feed every hour or so, they won't eat dry feed for some reason. I'm keeping a close eye on their droppings but haven't seen anything weird since the cecal core/mystery mass last night.

What temp is your brooder?

 

[azygous]

MyPetChicken needs to hear about this. The contract with private Amish breeders for their hatching eggs, which go to Meyer for the production and shipping. If this is coccidiosis, one of their contractors could have a contamination problem or Meyer does.

I would just support any weak acting chick with sugar water to elevate glucose and soft boiled egg for added nutrition.

 

[darlingdarla]

What temp is your brooder?

Fluctuates a bit throughout the day. Early in the morning it's a bit chilly so they have a lamp and a heating pad until noon when I turn off the pad. Under the lamp is around ninety five, I take the temperature when I give them fresh feed. The rest of the brooder fluctuates between seventy five and eighty but remains mostly steady throughout the day. At night they sleep under the heating pad, the ground is 85 but they press against the pad and seem pretty comfortable, no cold cheeps. Both of them spend a lot of time under the lamp during the day.
I've been working to keep it more steady but the chicks seem comfortable, they run all over the brooder for the most part.

MyPetChicken needs to hear about this. The contract with private Amish breeders for their hatching eggs, which go to Meyer for the production and shipping. If this is coccidiosis, one of their contractors could have a contamination problem or Meyer does.

I would just support any weak acting chick with sugar water to elevate glucose and soft boiled egg for added nutrition.

I agree, I'll be in contact with them shortly as well as my old vet. I also need to file a complaint for the post office, the three chicks deaths were clearly negligence on their part, the box looked vaguely beat up and the air inside was freezing.
Thank you, I don't feel like I'm doing enough to help them. I feel guilty for ordering them at all, with the virus, I should've known the post office would be understaffed. All the feed stores near me are sold out of pretty much everything, people are going nuts here buying chickens and supplies, I can't even get the feed I usually give my adults. I had to order everything I got for these chicks online at twice the cost.
I'll be calling the vet and emailing the hatchery soon, unfortunately I need to work today and need to fill a big order or I'd already be on the phone.

 

[azygous]

Who needs more stress these days? I sympathize. I know it's a long shot, but it would be nice to get to the bottom of this story, first finding out of it actually is coccidiosis. You might tell the vet this whole mysterious tale and they might be more entusiastic about participating in discovering if coccidia somehow contaminated these chicks and get their take on how it could have happened.

 

[darlingdarla]

Who needs more stress these days? I sympathize. I know it's a long shot, but it would be nice to get to the bottom of this story, first finding out of it actually is coccidiosis. You might tell the vet this whole mysterious tale and they might be more entusiastic about participating in discovering if coccidia somehow contaminated these chicks and get their take on how it could have happened.

That's a good idea, I'll do that.
My vet knows me, I'm sure he'd be willing to do it, we worked together a lot back when I used to rescue exotics.

 

[darlingdarla]

Would a kit like this work?
I might get the results back quicker.

 

[darlingdarla]

As of today there are bits of blood in their droppings. Very little blood, at first I thought it was tissue but after a second glance I decided it was too dark and it must be blood. There hasn't been anymore cecal casings/pus/weird fleshy droppings. I feel sure it's coccidiosis but I'm having a fecal float done anyway so I know for a certainty.
Both birds don't have much of an appetite today, they're both eating enough so I'm not horribly concerned but I am keeping a close eye on feed consumption. As far as I can tell they're both drinking, I gave the d'Uccle some water with a dropper earlier to make sure she was getting the corid.
In good news, the d'Uccle isn't moping as much as before. She's learned to fly a few inches off the ground and spends a lot of time on top of their heating pad cave. I'm going to build them practice roosts in a few days after they finish a round of corid.

 

[darlingdarla]

So it'll be two weeks tomorrow since she passed this thing.
I got the fecal test results back, no coccidiosis.
I don't know what it was, it took a solid week for her to start feeling better, and now she's seeming mostly normal. Her appetite is still a bit unstable, some days she eats plenty until her crop is full and some days she's active but just isn't intrested in food. But she's doing pretty good, very active and learning to fly. Her wings are fully feathered and she's looking scruffy all over.
So I guess it was puss, she must've had some sort of infection. I'm going to email my pet chicken today to get my refund, I'm not sure if I should mention this chicks illness or just let it go, it seems weird she got sick so quickly after they were delivered. I wonder if being in the box with the three dead chicks gave her some sort of bacteria.
Hopefully she keeps improving going forward, she's been through a lot in her short little life.