ThIsafricanhome
Chirping
- Nov 7, 2015
- 60
- 2
- 56
I have a batch of month old chicks that I incubated myself that have been dying over the last few days, one or two at a time. I was in the middle of a Cocci teatment when they started dying. They seemed to be not thriving or gaining weight despite eating, drinking, and acting mostly normal. I also saw a few watery stools but over all the poop has been normal. They are in a large brooder with a wire bottom, a nipple waterer and get fresh food two to three times a day. I have to mix my own feed to use with them. Here is the recipe Ive come up with - 4 cups beans (roasted), 1 cup yeast, 20 cups corn, 1 cup lentils, 2 cups sorghum, 1/4 cup moringa powder, 2 cups oats, 3 cups raw peanuts, 4 cups wheat, 6 cups soybeans (roasted), 5 cups split peas, and 2 cups white rice. This comes to an 18% protein mix with the moringa adding a lot of vitamins and minerals. All of this is ground together minus the yeast which I sprinkle on before I feed. When I feed I take the mixed feed, sprinkle on some yeast and add in some oil with oregano EO in it. All of that gets mixed with water mixed up with a vitamin and electolyte powder. This is also what they have for drinking water in the nipple bottle, other than when Ive been treating them for cocci with corid powder. They are outside almost everyday, other than when its raining or the last week with the treatment, with access to both the vitamin water and fresh water and their food. They have had sand/grit each day while in the brooder and obviously had it outside. I use sand in my runs for drainage since we live in a tropical place with a lot of rain and as I mentioned earlier the brooder has a wire bottom with no litter. They had dirt/ground exposure early on and have had a chance to ingest small amounts of poop for Cocci and I was in the middle of the week-long treatment when they started dying. The first one I brought in and attempted to treat with antibiotics, poly-vi-sol and broth for nutrition but it ended up dying anyhow. It seemed to develop something respitory because it gurgled and crackled when it was breathing but the other one I found before it passed did not. Most of the others have been dead upon checking on them in the morning for their first feed. I put them outside again today for the first time in a week since starting the cocci treatment and all seemed to be acting normal minus one who seemed more lethargic and droopy but was still eating, drinking and scratching around. I have struggled a lot with disease with our chickens here but this is a completly fresh start. No other birds around, sanitized coop and run and even the eggs were disinfected with virkon before going into the incubator. The chicks were around our newly hatched ducks (two months) for some hours during the day time but are now in their own pen. I am COMPLETELY baffled and discouraged with this problem as I have started over several times from problems with disease (bringing in older birds who were carriers) and this time started from disinfected eggs. Any ideas?
