Very sleepy chick

[Purechick]

I have a young chick that is constantly sleeping. She'll wake up and eat a little bit but then she will immediately go back to sleep. I separated her from the other chicks in case she was sick. Is she sick or is this normal?

 

[ReikiStar]

Cocci! For sure. Treat her immediately! Cocci doesn't always present with blood stools. With the younger chicks, usually they sleep alot and in particular on their feet where they rock themselves awake and then try to fall back to sleep. Cocci works fast. If you don't have any medication, go get some! I would only treat that chick. No need to put the meds through the systems of chicks who aren't having a problem with it.

 

[angie3881]

I had a baby chick that slept all the time and it ended up dying. What is cocci? I see it a lot and being my first year with chickens I am still learning about these things. Does the medicated chick starter take care of that or is there a different treatment?

 

[Purechick]

Thanks ReikiStar for the information. Unfortunately the feed store was already closed for the day and the chick died that evening The others seem to be doing well, hopefully I separated them just in time.

 

[ReikiStar]

Purechick -- I'm so sorry to hear that.

The one thing I would always recommend is to have a Cocci med on hand...even before you bring chicks home. No matter how clean you keep things, chicks manage to eat poo. Someone stepped in poo and then steps in the waterer...contaminated. A weaker chick will be affected. The good thing is the chicks that didn't come down with it are strong.

Angie -- cocci is a very common bacteria present in their feces (please read more about it on the web). There are many varieties and they can attack at different ages of growth. Usually chickens are immune to most cocci by the time they are mature (6 months). Medicated feeds are not actually medicated, they contain a Thiamine inhibitor. Thiamine is one of the Vitamin B's and Ampro-something, in medicated feeds prevents chicks from absorbing Thiamine which cocci needs to survive. Personally, I don't want to deny my chicks from absorbing any vitamin but that's a choice people who use the "medicated feed" make.

Chicks can still get infected with cocci while on the medicated feed. If that happens, you must feed them a non-medicated feed while you are treating them.

 

[LizaBlue]

Quote:
"cocci" is short for coccidocis (think I spelled that right) and chickens get it from exposure to poo. Keeping things clean is vital. Chicks and unhealthy chickens don't have what it takes to fight it. Medicated chick starter does not cure it, and I'm not sure that it is one of things it is supposed to help - I think the medication is supposed to help prevent worms. I didn't use medicated food, so I don't know. Slowly exposing chicks to the outside is supposed to help build up their immunity. I've read that some people who introduce new chicks to established flocks will place a "used" board from their coop in with the chicks to expose them. The cocci bacteria are individual to each area from what I understand, which is why wearing the same shoes into someone elses farm then onto yours is a no-no. Sulmet is one of the medicines used to treat cocci and is simply added to the drinking water. I treated all my chicks when one got sick, as symptoms sometimes don't show up until it's too late.

 

[LizaBlue]

Quote:
So sorry. Had a "mopey chick" die on me too.

 

[curliegirlie89]

Purechick -- I'm so sorry to hear that.

The one thing I would always recommend is to have a Cocci med on hand...even before you bring chicks home. No matter how clean you keep things, chicks manage to eat poo. Someone stepped in poo and then steps in the waterer...contaminated. A weaker chick will be affected. The good thing is the chicks that didn't come down with it are strong.

Angie -- cocci is a very common bacteria present in their feces (please read more about it on the web). There are many varieties and they can attack at different ages of growth. Usually chickens are immune to most cocci by the time they are mature (6 months). Medicated feeds are not actually medicated, they contain a Thiamine inhibitor. Thiamine is one of the Vitamin B's and Ampro-something, in medicated feeds prevents chicks from absorbing Thiamine which cocci needs to survive. Personally, I don't want to deny my chicks from absorbing any vitamin but that's a choice people who use the "medicated feed" make.

Chicks can still get infected with cocci while on the medicated feed. If that happens, you must feed them a non-medicated feed while you are treating them.

Thank you SO MUCH for this informative answer. We had a couple of days old chick that did the whole sleepy thing and pass away. We had no idea what happened. We now have another 3-ish day old chick just starting to do the same thing. Thankfully we have some Corid on hand and Google tells me this can treat Coccidiosis. Fingers crossed this baby will improve soon.

 

[Sarahloveslulu]

We bought 10 babies. 1 of them is showing signs. Really sad