I hatched 8 Rhode Island Reds from my own flock on 3/20 so they're about 6 weeks old. For the first 4 weeks they were isolated in my garage and fed medicated chick starters. There were no issues at all.
2 weeks ago I moved them to the chicken coop where my 3 adult RIR's live. They are the chicks' parents. They are in a dog kennel to give them some separation from the big birds. All of them in the coop get 'all flock feed.'. Basically later crumble without the extra calcium.
There were no issues until 2 days ago. When I opened the sliding door to the coop I kinda squished one or maybe two of the little ones that weren't in the kennel at that moment. They chirped but didn't seem seriously injured. While inspecting them I noticed a little bit of blood in their kennel. It wasn't like fresh drops of blood from a wound. It was more like blood that had been coughed up or came from some other orifice. My conclusion was that the one or two chicks that I hurt were bleeding internally and might not make it.
Yesterday morning two weren't doing well at all and there was more blood in the kennel. I went to work expecting that I'd come home to 2 dead birds. I came home to find four dead birds. Half the flock.
At this point I'm thinking that maybe I just hurt more of them than I thought. I rearranged the coop to keep the remaining four away from the door. This morning I go.check on them and all four are alive but lethargic and there's a little more blood. I know for a fact that I didn't injure these birds. They were nowhere near the door.
At this point I'm pretty sure that my little accident was incidental to what's going on. They appear to be sick, not injured.
This morning I put them back on medicated feed because it's all I have. I'll be in town later and can pick up additional supplies.
So. That's a long story. Thanks for anyone that took the time to read all of it. What diseases are out there that would take a batch of healthy, but unvaccinated young birds to their graves in two days? The blood looks just like blood. It doesn't look like a bloody stool but I'm truth, I have no idea where it's coming from.
2 weeks ago I moved them to the chicken coop where my 3 adult RIR's live. They are the chicks' parents. They are in a dog kennel to give them some separation from the big birds. All of them in the coop get 'all flock feed.'. Basically later crumble without the extra calcium.
There were no issues until 2 days ago. When I opened the sliding door to the coop I kinda squished one or maybe two of the little ones that weren't in the kennel at that moment. They chirped but didn't seem seriously injured. While inspecting them I noticed a little bit of blood in their kennel. It wasn't like fresh drops of blood from a wound. It was more like blood that had been coughed up or came from some other orifice. My conclusion was that the one or two chicks that I hurt were bleeding internally and might not make it.
Yesterday morning two weren't doing well at all and there was more blood in the kennel. I went to work expecting that I'd come home to 2 dead birds. I came home to find four dead birds. Half the flock.
At this point I'm thinking that maybe I just hurt more of them than I thought. I rearranged the coop to keep the remaining four away from the door. This morning I go.check on them and all four are alive but lethargic and there's a little more blood. I know for a fact that I didn't injure these birds. They were nowhere near the door.
At this point I'm pretty sure that my little accident was incidental to what's going on. They appear to be sick, not injured.
This morning I put them back on medicated feed because it's all I have. I'll be in town later and can pick up additional supplies.
So. That's a long story. Thanks for anyone that took the time to read all of it. What diseases are out there that would take a batch of healthy, but unvaccinated young birds to their graves in two days? The blood looks just like blood. It doesn't look like a bloody stool but I'm truth, I have no idea where it's coming from.
