April 15th, 2019

Raising baby chicks can be a lot of fun for the whole family. They're adorable, funny and so sweet. However, they are live animals and any baby animal must be treated with care. In addition to the regular care you should take with raising birds, there are also several chick diseases you want to watch out for. Here are two of the most common diseases or conditions along with treatment method and preventative measures you can take.
 
Coccidiosis
This is the number one killer of baby chicks and the disease you most need to worry about. This is a highly contagious parasitic disease of the intestinal tract. This disease can kill your chicks so quickly, you may not know they have it until you've already lost it. Sick chicks may be weak and listless and have bloody or foamy stool.
 
Prevent Coccidiosis by buying pre-vaccinated chicks or making sure chicks you hatch at home are vaccinated or fed medicated feed early on.
 
Treat sick chicks with a Corid 9.6% liquid solution. The dosage is 9.5cc to a gallon of water for five days. Make sure to isolate sick chicks from all other chicks.
 
Dehydration
Dehydration is both very serious and a very easy condition for chicks to come down with. Dehydrated chicks can die very quickly from dehydration so you should always take all measures to prevent this and treat it very quickly if it happens. Dehydrated chicks will become pale in the face, start to pant or breathe heavily and become listless and weak.
 
To prevent dehydration always keep clean, cool, fresh water available in a place the chicks can easily reach. Change it frequently as chicks will get their water dirty very quickly.
 
To treat dehydration, wrap the chick in a tow and provide water with electrolytes via medicine dropper a few drops at a time. You can also provide the water and dip their beak in to encourage them to drink.