Poorly chicks

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I am new to keeping chicks I have lost 4 birds since Aug. I brought some coxoid but that didnt seem to stop what ever is killing the girls. I have taken them to the vets they have given me Drops to put on the skin in case there were lice, Baytril which I have been giving for a week now and Flebenvet which I find hard to give as there is only 2 birds left and the amounts are for big amounts so I have been mixing a bit with a crumbled oatabix and giving it first thing in the morning. Then to top it all I sprayed a second hand coop I have just brought with Smite and 1/2 hour later it was crawling with red mites. Will the stuff just kill them when they come out or do i have to do anything else?

Heather :cry:
 
Heather red mite are a nightmare to get rid of them if you have a heavy infestation it can take many treatments to get rid of them. Do you have anywhere to keep the hens till you get control of it, if you have ony two left the mites will be feeding on just the two and you could lose them. Even a cat box or something just overnight when the mites feed
I cresote my houses and they really dont like this although after this you have to keep the hens out of the house for a couple of nights till the smell goes off a bit. You can also limewash your house.
My neighbour had a heavey infestation and it took weeks and weeks of spraying with smite then treating with DE before the mites were gone. They even took a blow torch to the cracks.
Good luck
 
Hi Heather, sorry you have lost some of your flock :(

There are some classic symptoms of coccidiosis, and mortality is high in younger the birds are ie between 6 and 14 weeks. Other older birds and indeed even adults usually present with more sub-clinical symptoms.
A little more info regarding, age, breed disease presentation will help us to help you, although I see you have already contacted a vet, which is brilliant and should help in getting the birds sorted.

Red Mite: Is the scourge of the poultry keeper and hard to eradicate, but you can get rid of the just takes a bit of time and tenacity! :-)17

There are some articles here which will help you understand the mites here:

http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/frequently-asked-questions/what-are-red-mite.html

http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/red-mite.html

Basically, red mite are a mite that live in the housing, although you may see the odd mite on the bird. The are smaller than a pin head so are notoriously difficult to spot. Check nooks and crannies and particulary end of perches for them. A good time to spot them is at night when they feed of the hosts.

Eradicating red mite: They are a raft of products available from the more powerful insecticides, Bifenthrin and Cypermethrin the most potent to permethrin more commonly available. There are organic options too, a good one is Diatom powder, most effective when mixed into a "slurry" with a detergent to act as a degreaser.

Other products use a degreaser as the main active ingredient such as Poultry Shield and Smite.
If you a major infestation you may need to bring in the big guns early..then use products such as Poultry Shield and Smite as your everyday defense particulary in the summer months when red mite are rife.

Finally, if a bird looks listless, pale of comb and face, inappetence then I would suspect red-mite in the first instance. Red mite can drain a bird to the extent of causing death, especially if they are a little under the weather.
 
Hi the birds I have left are
1 welsummer cockerel age 18 weeks and 1 golden pekin same age.
Some times they have watery stools I don't know if their chortle is right and now I am getting worried if they sit down. They scratch around in the garden ok eating ok.
The Apenzeller we had was fine one day happily scratching round the garden then when she went in that night she seemed a bit wobbly - couldn't sit in the perch the next day I took her to the vets and they gave me the whole on the above and she died that day. i dont think the vet really knew what to do with them i did send in samples from the Apenzeller to be sent off for analise but havent had anything back yet.
Now the neighbour has lost one of his hens - they use to share space till 2 weeks ago.
 
Sounds like bad worms from the poo description. Problem is killing the worms, if they are too bad, releases so much toxin into the bird that they die. Or red mite blood loss and the neighbours hen has taken some back with her. Dust the birds with red mite powder anyway, which discourages them from staying on them. Do they look a bit pale? I may be wrong and it is something infectious, your samples should tell.
 
I think by reading the symptoms my chicks have Gapeworm I have been giving them Flubenvet for over a week now but the cockerel is shaking his head and making a strange cough noise, can I give flubenvet in water and syringe it so I know he has had some?
 
Think the concentration may be too high that method but can the manufacturer be contacted to comment? Perhaps the gapeworm are loosening in his throat?
 
hatchie said:
I think by reading the symptoms my chicks have Gapeworm I have been giving them Flubenvet for over a week now but the cockerel is shaking his head and making a strange cough noise, can I give flubenvet in water and syringe it so I know he has had some?
Click to expand...


please do not administer Flubenvet concentrated. it's not meant for that purpose. it's meant to enter the body with the food. Have you given your vet a ring just to go over the symptoms you are experiencing with your chickens?
 
Take care when reading up about signs/symptoms of diseases as there are several that present in a simalar way and you can confuse yourself.
I've found gapeworn to be the least likely cause of head shaking and I don't remember ever having a case. Red mite not only wear the birds down to the point of death, the hens are left weak and exposed to other diseases so it's imparative to tackle the red mite problem.
You probably won't start to see any of the good effects of Baytril until after the course has finished and the birds have a chance to get some condition back.
 
how are you going with the chicks. How is the battle against red mite going. All your problems could be caused through those little blighters they do make hens very ill and kill them. it can take many treatments before you get rid of them. Hope they are improving.
 
Hi everyone thanks for your information
I brought a new coop dusted the birds with red mite powder and that helped with the mites.
The stools got worse very runny with blood in it. The Pekin died last night but the Welsummer Cockerel has picked up (thought he had died at lunch time today - but when I came home after school run he was up and about and eaten all the food).
The report from the vet was not helpful - no unusual bacteria they didn't look for coccidosis or any parasites but £53 still needs to be paid for that information + the initial £24 when they looked at the birds and she didn't have any idea what was wrong. Could of brought complete new stock with that!
I have been told it sounds like coccidiosis and have someone that will look under a microscope to see if they can see anything.
Moving on - we want to get 2 more pekins at the end of oct but want to check the garden will be ok for them. The birds were only in the garden 3 weeks so I was going to scrub the new coop with Jeyes fluid a farmer friend suggestion that, then red mite powder it - should that be ok for the coop? Then dig over the lawn where the coop was and replant and place the coop in a different bit of the garden.
I don't think I will keep the Welsummer Cockerel (lovely boy and so tame, he loves been stroked) he was meant to stay with the neighbours copper blacks but not sure if thats ok now so plan to bring him back to health again and hope to find a good home for him any one know of one please let me know.
 
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