Worming day olds?

[kari_dawn]

these are too young to be with any of my other chicks or adults. They are separate. They still have foamy poo.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Did you check the poo page link that I posted for you? It could be entirely normal, what you are seeing.

I do the opposite of what has been suggested. I have chicks in the brooder in the house right now. They are 3 weeks old and on medicated starter. For the past week I have been taking them outside and around my adult birds as much as possible; with my supervision of course. It's important that they get exposed to the adult birds they will be living with, including the adult birds poop. The medication in medicated starter helps them to develop an immunity to coccidiosis, but they have to be exposed to it in order to develop a strong immune system response to it.

Had my broody hatched these chicks I would be feeding unmedicated food and the exposure to the adult birds droppings would do the same thing as medication starter, in a sense. IT would gradually expose them to cocci, which would jump start their immune systems.

If they are going to be living with the adult birds eventually anyhow, I see no reason to prevent them from having some exposure to the "germs" that the adult birds have built immunities to.

 

[kari_dawn]

yep, poo page is on file....consulted it before posting. Thank you for the link

They still have foamy poo, but the little seabright is not as lethargic these days...though it had pasty butt today. Didn't fight me when I cleaned him/her up though

I am not going to integrate day old bantams with five week old standards (nor am I going to put five week olds in with my adults just yet) simply because of the huge size difference (and predators. These babies do not have a mother hen protecting them, and the coop is not quite secure enough for them at night at that size), but on top of that, if the banties DO have something, I am not going to risk spreading it to my other birds, then having to treat ALL of them. Otherwise, I would have no argument about socializing everyone early. But even babies are quarantined before they start getting anywhere near my other birds.

I have to disagree with you on medicated chick starter helping the babies develop immunity. Medicated chick starter simply helps control cocci in little ones with immune systems that are not fully developed yet. It is given as a prophylactic treatment, not as an imunity builder.

So far, the banties seem to be doing okay, Im just concerned that their poo is still foamy, and I don't think it is just ceacal poo...it is consistantly foamy.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Perhaps I worded that wrong. Medicated chick starter aids in preventing the cocci from mutiplying and overwhelming a young chicks system while the chicks own immune system develops an immunity.

At any rate, everyone is entitled to raise their chickens as they see fit. I choose to raise them with a broody when I can and wasn't really wanting to brooder raise chicks this time but my broody was killed. So far it seems to work just fine as I have not lost a chick or an adult to illness (other than one hen with egg peritonitis). As they are all going to be living together as soon as the chicks no longer require supplemental heat I mix them early.

Good luck to you.

 

[kari_dawn]

Quote:
I would LOVE to raise my chicks with a broody. I have really wanted to try this...the closest I got was an OEG that I couldn't break broody, so I stuck two week old feedstore specials under her. It worked like a charm, but I would love to use a broody to hatch eggs. Unfortunately, all of my girls are too young yet...I lost my three favorite (and the last ones left) to a brutal predator attack one night when my family decided to let my birds free range, but didn't feel it was important to close the coop when it got dark (I work nights, and wasn't there till after midnight).

Thank you for helping me try to figure this out. I appreciate it...I just hope I am wrong, and that these guys are okay...