What should you do if your chicks get sick

[Armando I 3454]

I was wondering because my chickens got over a respiratory infection a little while ago and I have some chicks that are eventually going to grow and I'm going to have to move them outside in maybe about 2-3 weeks. Is it possible for them to get sick because of my full grown chickens? And if they do get sick can you give them any medications or antibiotics? I was just wondering thank you for any input.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can if you know what is making them sick.
If you don't know, you can still medicate them but it would be a very idea to throw drugs into them without knowing the problem.
Just like with all other animals including humans, there can be hundreds of problems that affect chickens.
There is no blanket medication that will aid an ailing chicken though some people may think there is.
A handful of bacterial infections can be cured with antibiotics, coccidiosis can be helped with amprolium.
Otherwise, viral, fungal, protozoal, parasitic, nutritional, environmental and all the bacterial things that have no cure, can't be helped by randomly medicating unless you know the cause.

How old are your chicks? How do you think they acquired a respiratory infection indoors, in a brooder as baby chicks?

 

[Armando I 3454]

No my chicks haven't gotten a respiratory disease but the outdoor full grown chickens have and I was just wondering if I move them outside will they catch what they had before. Also if they do contract it what to use if they ever do because I gave the ones with a respiratory disease tylan 50 and I don't know if you can give chicks tylan.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I agree that medicating an unknown illness is not ideal.

I don't know the answer to your actual question, but do have some suggestion..... Take some of your dirt into your brooder so they can play in it and build a little resistance to whatever is in your soil. Ideally this would have been done much earlier, but before you put them out full time it should help. When you do start taking them out, do so for only a couple hours for the first couple of days, again building immunity in smaller doses. And while it may or may not help, I would give some probiotics during that time. Not sure if they have it in the Sav a Chick or Nutri Drench. But a little raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar with "mother" added to the water would work. Or some yogurt. Garlic is supposed to be good.

You could also consider fermenting your chicken feed. It increases the probiotics as well as other nutrients. I highly recommend it, check out the link in my signature line. The change that really made me stick with it was the poo became much more solid and way less stinky with only every 10th or so being the really nasty poos.

Best wishes!