mauichickies
In the Brooder
- May 26, 2019
- 7
- 14
- 39
Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here and I’m not the most experienced chicken owner so please pardon any ignorance. I want to do the best I can for them and I’ve been doing a ton of reading on here. I also apologize for the long post, I just want to make sure I share whatever information I can.
I have 6 chicks that are maybe 3-4 weeks old with what I believe is dry pox. They originally weren’t really mine, they just lived in our yard with their mama, but I noticed the pox getting bad and I also noticed them disappearing / probably dying off (started with 12) so I took them under my care for now 3 or 4 days ago. Their mother had stopped caring for them anyways and they’ve been living on their own. I had an additional one in my care which appeared to be one of the healthier ones, but the other night it very suddenly started making noises and I found it on its back. I picked it up gently and it seemed to be having seizures or something, and then it died in my arms. It was horrible and I cried all night.
Two chicks have minor scabbing right underneath an eye and they overall appear a lot healthier, so I separated them from the others but will still keep an eye on them. Out of the remaining four, two have both eyes covered by scabs. One of them now has teeny tiny holes in the center of the scabs, so maybe it can see a little better? Most of them have some scabbing on the side(s) of the mouth. The two with their eyes covered are the same size and smaller than the other two, so I’ve been especially focused on helping them eat.
They’ve been eating and drinking well and I’ve also been spoon feeding them a mixture of feed, scrambled eggs, and water. Any other suggestions of things for them to eat would be appreciated. They also have dry feed available which they have been eating. They do sleep a lot but they also like to peck at the ground and scratch, sit on the perch, snuggle with each other, etc.
Right now I have poly vi sol without iron, unflavored pedialyte, and neosporin. Since I couldn’t find any instructions on how to use these things with chicks (only older chickens), I’ve been giving them each a drop of poly vi sol or two with their food every day, adding a little pedialyte to their water, and applying the neosporin to their scabs (but not directly in the eye, couldn’t find info on that) two or three times a day. I have not tried to pick at the scabs and that’s pretty much out of the question since I don’t want to risk anything worse happening. I have tried loosening the eye scabs with a warm compress but it doesn’t seem to do much.
I did try and look inside their mouths to see if it’s wet pox but I had a very hard time doing it. From what I could see, and it was very little, there was nothing in their mouths. But I can’t be 100% sure.
What else can I do? I was thinking about getting a scale to weigh them and make sure they’re not losing weight, though they don’t seem to be. I also saw that people use terramycin, would you recommend this and how should I use it? Also, a certain kind of eye drops? Anything else? I’m really, really desperate for these poor guys to live
Thank you so much! I’ll attach photos of the main 4.
Chick 1:
Chick 2:
Chick 3:
Chick 4:
I have 6 chicks that are maybe 3-4 weeks old with what I believe is dry pox. They originally weren’t really mine, they just lived in our yard with their mama, but I noticed the pox getting bad and I also noticed them disappearing / probably dying off (started with 12) so I took them under my care for now 3 or 4 days ago. Their mother had stopped caring for them anyways and they’ve been living on their own. I had an additional one in my care which appeared to be one of the healthier ones, but the other night it very suddenly started making noises and I found it on its back. I picked it up gently and it seemed to be having seizures or something, and then it died in my arms. It was horrible and I cried all night.
Two chicks have minor scabbing right underneath an eye and they overall appear a lot healthier, so I separated them from the others but will still keep an eye on them. Out of the remaining four, two have both eyes covered by scabs. One of them now has teeny tiny holes in the center of the scabs, so maybe it can see a little better? Most of them have some scabbing on the side(s) of the mouth. The two with their eyes covered are the same size and smaller than the other two, so I’ve been especially focused on helping them eat.
They’ve been eating and drinking well and I’ve also been spoon feeding them a mixture of feed, scrambled eggs, and water. Any other suggestions of things for them to eat would be appreciated. They also have dry feed available which they have been eating. They do sleep a lot but they also like to peck at the ground and scratch, sit on the perch, snuggle with each other, etc.
Right now I have poly vi sol without iron, unflavored pedialyte, and neosporin. Since I couldn’t find any instructions on how to use these things with chicks (only older chickens), I’ve been giving them each a drop of poly vi sol or two with their food every day, adding a little pedialyte to their water, and applying the neosporin to their scabs (but not directly in the eye, couldn’t find info on that) two or three times a day. I have not tried to pick at the scabs and that’s pretty much out of the question since I don’t want to risk anything worse happening. I have tried loosening the eye scabs with a warm compress but it doesn’t seem to do much.
I did try and look inside their mouths to see if it’s wet pox but I had a very hard time doing it. From what I could see, and it was very little, there was nothing in their mouths. But I can’t be 100% sure.
What else can I do? I was thinking about getting a scale to weigh them and make sure they’re not losing weight, though they don’t seem to be. I also saw that people use terramycin, would you recommend this and how should I use it? Also, a certain kind of eye drops? Anything else? I’m really, really desperate for these poor guys to live
Thank you so much! I’ll attach photos of the main 4.Chick 1:
Chick 2:
Chick 3:
Chick 4:
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