So, the chicks are about 3 days old now. They arrived in fine shape (except the one small weak layer pullet that didn't make it) and have been eating their heads off.
They've been on newspaper covered with paper towels, changed twice a day (or more). They have Quik Chik in the water and are on game bird starter, non-medicated.
I set up a second brooder today to separate the broilers from the layers. One of the broiler chicks is obviously not feeling well. It's been eating up to this point because it looks like a little sumo wrestler just like the others, but now it doesn't appear to be eating, and is lethargic and occasionally distress peeping.
There may have been a little blood in the stool, which I know can mean coccidiosis, but how would one chick out of all of them have picked up coccidia when they went from incubator to shipping box to brooder and have never touched dirt? And would the symptoms already be showing this young?
What else could be going on here?
Unhappy broiler chick
Could it merely be that you separated it from its best friend?
Coccidiosis is not always because they have been on the ground. If your not sure I would seperate it and put it on some sulfadimethoxine in its water for a week. Just a small container should be sufficient...Hay
Well, when I got up from writing my post and went to check on it, it was dead. So it went from unhappy but alive to dead in about half an hour. I did a little necropsy. There was still a little food in the crop, and there was food in the gizzard. It had good weight on it.
Now, a dumb question. When the chicks take up the yolk during hatching, where exactly does it go? Is it just going into the abdominal cavity? I found something that looked unfamiliar, and that I could only guess might be a bit of the yolk. It was just under the skin of the abdomen, dark orange in color, and part of the membrane around it seemed to be partially constricting a loop of intestine. Not completely, but noticeably.
Porkpal, I hadn't separated it by itself. I had 10 broiler chicks and 17 layer chicks in one brooder and separated out the 10 broilers into their own brooder. So it was not alone.
That quick a death does sound like Coccidiosis. I don't know the answer to your question about the yolk. (Also, I realize it wasn't alone I just thought its best buddy may have been one of the layer chicks...)
I'm sorry for your loss.
Sounds like you found the problem. Twisted gut? That's wild that you would open it up to see.. but interesting!
Isn't game bird starter a little hot with protein? I haven't raised meat birds, so I don't know.. just seems a bit much..
I don't know if they can get Cocci that fast.. 3 days? He would have had to come in contact, and if he didn't have a crop full of chicken poo and dirt.. Where could he possibly be exposed to enough to kill him? That is really young if you ask me? I'm no expert, but wow.. 3 days old? I better do some reading.. LOL
So you don't know if that particular chick was pooping? or passing blood? I find this interesting.. In a learning kind of way.. I like trying to figure things out.. :)
You say there was food in the crop and gizzard, so food was goin in, what about comin out? LOL Sorry to be so scientific.. LOL
Yeah, 3 days is young for a full-blown coccidiosis infection - especially for an indoor chick.( I forgot about the age.) I agree with ZZ: it would be interesting to know whether the chick had been pooping. If not the twisted gut would seem very likely.
Even too soon for it to be infection if the yolk sac was retained in a weird way.. and she would have seen infection.. strange..
I thought 3 days was a little young for full-blown coccidiosis, especially given the environment. And I'd expect more to be sick, not just one.
It had pooped a little tiny bit when I moved the broilers to the new brooder. Not a nice big poop like the other guys. And there was a little blood in it.
I wouldn't say the gut was twisted. More like this bit of membrane had formed a loop around a length of gut in one area, partially constricting it. Nothing was dead or necrotic that I could see, but it definitely would have slowed things down.
I'm thinking that it just couldn't handle the stress, and was probably in some amount of pain, had a lot of retained feces, and they can die so quickly at that age from stuff like that.
I did a "necropsy" on a mouse our dog killed when I was just a kid. :) So for me it was not too weird. Besides, I butcher my own chickens so it was pretty much the same thing, just smaller. But that's also why I noticed this "thing" which I assumed was absorbed yolk just hanging out. It wasn't a normal part of the inside of a chicken.
The "Chick 'n Game Bird Starter/Grower Crumbles" from Blue Seal have the same protein level and a little less fat than the Broiler Crumbles, so they should be fine with them.
Oh okay.. I use some game bird feed, (actually not starter) that is 26% protein but just for treats.. thought that would be hot.. I'm not familiar with that brand, but sure sounds good!
I appreciate you sharing this thread.. informative and interesting. Thank you
Wow! I enjoy all the threads so much, but this one really caught my interest! I would have never thought to necropsy the baby.....but how many times have we all wondered why a little bitty baby just dies!! Thanks Gallesfarm, this gives me some thing to really think about! Dont just let things happen and worry... take a pro-active approach and DO something, and learn! Good Going ! If it were me I think I would also call your vet and give them the results and see what their input would be!