Hatchery Chick Die-Off!!?? Who else has experienced this?

Last year I ordered Houdans from a hatchery. I had about 15 but along the way I suffered an unexplained die-off. They symptoms were Mareks-like. Birds healthy one day, depressed and hunched the next, couldn't stand the third day and dead the fourth. I ended up with 7 of the original birds.

This year I hatched my own Houdans. I also bought some more hatchery birds. Crevecours this time. Same hatchery. At a younger age I began to have a Crevie die-off. Only a few at first, but now i have lost over 35 and not just the Creves. They are taking my Houdans with them. A few other breeds are affected as well. This die -off is happening at an earlier age. Both the oldest and youngest chicks are unaffected. The middle ones- 6-8 weeks are going.

I am maintaining my chick shed with areas of different temperature so the various ages can pick out a comfy spot. They started on medicated starter but are now on grower. I have started adding Superbooster to the water and hope this might help. The bedding consists of shredded paper and peat. I will not add any more chicks to the bunch until I get this issue under control.

I would love any ideas, comparisons, enlightenments, commisurations or advice you might have. Thank-you.

very sorry to hear you are having losses Sue, very hard to take I know...
I read that cocci hits worst at 6-8 weeks of age, not sure why? That is often when I am done w/ chick starter so always figured that the change to grower w/ no amprol was the reason for some deaths?
This year i kept them longer on chick starter just because I hadnt bought the grower yet and had less losses but who knows?
These are home raised birds though not hatchery.
When you say mareks like is itis because they cant walk primarily or do you just think they are so weak by then that they cant stand?
hope someone can help you out here...

I am sorry to hear this as it is truly heartbreaking and horrifying to watch them die while you don't know why and don't know what to do.

My personal chicken health arsenal is pretty limited. BUt when I don't know what else to do for a bird, I give it cod liver oil.

Most recently had a new chick that was 'off'. Couldn't put my finger on anything, he just wasn't right. Not growing. Not eating. Standing off alone. He was either going to die, or recover. I gave him cod liver, he spent another day looking iffy, and now is good as gold.

Poke a few capsules and squirt them on a few pieces of bread. Crumble the bread and toss to chicks. Cross fingers. Sorry SoSadSue.

If it was just your hatchery chicks then I would say possibly early chilling did it? I have had experience in the past when I get an order early in the year with more losses then normal, I always watch the rest as they grow. Some are stunted, some just die for no reason, I think it is just from a rough start.
But if these hatchery chicks are now causing your home hatched chicks this issue I would suspect disease of some sort. Whether it be cocci like Miry says, or Myco, or any type of Bacterial infections. There are lots of infections out there that can cause the weakness and quick death you describe, young chicks do not have the reserve when ill like the adults do so they seem to die easier when put through a stressor.

I had one case of Cocci this year that I wasnt even aware of, the chicks all seemed healthy and happy. It wasnt until I sold 3 pullets to a lady that she emailed me and told me of her issues of blood in the poo, I started that pen on the Amprol in the water right away and mailed some off to her. She said they were over it in 3 days (so only one day on the amprol), so was obviously just starting up. I never saw bloody stool in their shavings at all, it wasnt until I isolated a few on a wire floor pen did I see blood in the stool, so it could be very sneeky and you might not even notice the blood if they are tramping through it.

mirycreek wrote:When you say mareks like is itis because they cant walk primarily or do you just think they are so weak by then that they cant stand?

Last year it looked like Mareks and took longer. One leg forward and one back. They were skinny but only because they could not get to the feeder.

This year they are fat enough but weak and flop.

I am wondering about cocci. I did see a tiny bit of blood but not much. Will superbooster help? I have some others- oxy tetra a and a pennecillin- not sure I am not at home and will not be able to get to the feed store until tomorrow. Where do I find Amprol?

.

I ordered Amprol from my vet, but Dan has gotten it at Co-op in the past I believe. I find it works well and doesnt seem to make them look so ill like the sulfa drugs do. As far as I know superbooster or tetracycline dont do much for Cocci, Amprol or sulfamethazone are what are reccomended.
What I did this year with my broilers because they are only on medicated starter for 1 1/2 weeks is keep them on low dose Amprol in their water till they were 5 weeks old, now I do not worry. But if there is a huge rain storm and their pen gets a bit wet I do 3 days of Amprol as a preventative and so far not a problem in there, and usually there is always an outbreak in my Broilers, so very happy with the Amprol.
It is expensive, but the way it works is great.

Well I have some sulfamathazone so I switched to that. I even dipped the little beaks of the ones looking a little sad in the water and gave them a good dose. I shall report back and let you know.

I've only had that happen from a Hatchery from Alberts ,and I have never ordered from there again ! Sorry to hear of your troubles

What about somthing in their feed? My aunt had turkey die last year and it turned out they got a bad batch of feed. Looked fine on outside but was toxic?

fuzzylittlefriend wrote:What about somthing in their feed? My aunt had turkey die last year and it turned out they got a bad batch of feed. Looked fine on outside but was toxic?

Usually if it is bad feed it would affect them all, sounds like everyone is running together just the inbetween ages are being affected? Or am I wrong Sue? Do you have them penned off and feeding different feeds? If so Fuzzy could be right, we had some bad luck with broilers one year, they were going through water like crazy and dying of heart attacks when only 4 weeks old, seemed strange to us. So we talked to the colony we shared feed with that year and sure enough the company put in 10X the amount of salt they should have!!!

It was like that with the turkeys when they were about 3 months old. A couple died and a couple more were getting sick. It strangely did not affect everyone but she switch feed just to be safe and it was!

Very weird!

I hope the sulfa does the trick for you, and quickly!

I had my first case of Coccidiosis ever this year. I think the damp conditions might play a part in this. But the manager of the feed store also thought it was likely there was a problem with the medicated chick starter I was using. May have been mis-labeled and not actually medicated at all. The manufacturer is doing testing, but I haven't heard back anything for sure.

Hidden River wrote:

fuzzylittlefriend wrote:What about somthing in their feed? My aunt had turkey die last year and it turned out they got a bad batch of feed. Looked fine on outside but was toxic?

Usually if it is bad feed it would affect them all, sounds like everyone is running together just the inbetween ages are being affected? Or am I wrong Sue? Do you have them penned off and feeding different feeds? If so Fuzzy could be right, we had some bad luck with broilers one year, they were going through water like crazy and dying of heart attacks when only 4 weeks old, seemed strange to us. So we talked to the colony we shared feed with that year and sure enough the company put in 10X the amount of salt they should have!!!

I have different ages running together all eating the same feed. I may keep the next batch on the medicated starter a little longer. Only the middle aged were dying at first. Today there were a few younger ones. I lost 5 today. I am hoping to get this under control before the weekend. I have to head out to a dog show and leave Doug in charge. He was pretty upset when I got home yesterday. He would not touch the little bodies so I had a lot to clean up last night.

Sounds like cocci to me too. I have had my first ever cases of cocci this year. Never had it before in Canada or Australia. Only one breed seems to be really affected by it. Funny, but treatment seems to be working after losing a few of them.

Hope your treatment works.

Sue, I think the problem is Cocci especially if you saw some blood. When you switch from chick start to grower it should be done gradually. I do 3/4 chick Starter 1/4 grower after 4 weeks and 1/2 and 1/2 the next week, 1/4 start to 3/4 grower the next and finally 100% grower. I never use grower but do the same portion with the mixed feed I use. Heat, dry and amprol is required.

Sebas49 wrote:Sue, I think the problem is Cocci especially if you saw some blood. When you switch from chick start to grower it should be done gradually. I do 3/4 chick Starter 1/4 grower after 4 weeks and 1/2 and 1/2 the next week, 1/4 start to 3/4 grower the next and finally 100% grower. I never use grower but do the same portion with the mixed feed I use. Heat, dry and amprol is required.

I have never encountered a problem with Cocci as I feed only medicated chick start. Don't know if that is the reason why I've never had a problem with it or not?

I keep them on medicated chick start for 3 months but begin to introduce them to scratch slowly by mixing their food.

I also clean my brooders ever 3 days whether they need it or not.

I do add the grower gradually as suggested, but I am stumped by the Amprol. Where can it be bought in the Edmonton area without going to a vet?

I have all my hatchery chicks vaccinated for both Cocci and Mareks, and have had no Cocci problems since I started doing this. It's worth it.

You can order an Amprol powder from Cutler supply but I think rather than for the water it is to add to the feed.
Not sure how you would evenly distribute that in the feed so they got an equal amount and I know not much help to you at the moment Sue, when you need Amprol you need it now.
Hope you can find some....

Sent you a PM & email