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help my chicks are sick

5 replies

SteppeAwayFromTheKeyboard · 03/03/2015 22:14

so, after researching for ages and spending a morning with my farming friend, we got dd (10) 3 chicks for her birthday. They are 2-3 weeks old, we have a brooder box and an infrared light. The farmer we bought the chicks from gave us an instruction sheet with the temperature for each week and how to reduce it and information on common diseases etc.

They have been lovely and healthy, eating and sleeping and calm and happy and letting dd gently stroke them.

Until tonight. There was one bloody pooh and I then went out for a meeting and come back to lots of bloody pooh. Obviously diarrhea and blood. The info sheet says it is coccodoisis, and they need a certain medicine, which has to be ordered in to the vet.
Google says act very quickly or they will die.
I am leaving for work at 7 am and will have the car, so dh can only get to local vet. Very worried we are going to wake up to dead chicks.

Also cross because it is a 5 day incubation and we have had them for 3 days.

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Ieirswnllyd · 05/03/2015 20:27

Sorry I'm no help. How are they now?

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SteppeAwayFromTheKeyboard · 06/03/2015 21:16

Well, after that there was no more bloody pooh and they are fine, healthy and bright eyed. the vet said they would be looking very sorry for themselves and not eating /drinking by the time they were poohing blood if it was coccodoisis, so looks like they are fine.

Have you ever reared chicks? We are slavishly following the advice sheet given to us by the breeder. The main point she drummed into us was to keep them warm, and said small box was the best thing to keep them warm. Well they are the right temperature, and they are bored. They are obviously desperate to explore a bit more. I have an old rabbit hutch which is much bigger and I could put them in there with the infra red light, but I am worried they will wander too far from the lamp and get cold?

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SteppeAwayFromTheKeyboard · 06/03/2015 21:27

rabbit hutch would be indoors

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Ieirswnllyd · 07/03/2015 18:58

No, we always buy when POL. We've had new hens and I thought there was blood in one of their poo last week, DH went to investigate but there wasn't any blood. The colour looked identical to blood but it was poo.

My Dbro raises chicks and he's always kept them in a cardboard box until old enough to go outside. How many are you raising? He normally raises 4-5 per time.

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SteppeAwayFromTheKeyboard · 07/03/2015 22:34

we have 3, that was one reason the seller was very hot about temp, because 3 only just have enough body heat in a group.

Dd wants to get 3 POL of another breed when ours are about that age/size and the introduce them to the new coop/run together.

One of the chicks is quite big and strong and tries to fly out every time you go to the box. She is ok, happy to let you pick her up and put her back, but I think the box will be a bit confining by the time they are big enough to go outside