Another Cocci question...

[bayouchica]

I've got some chics that are almost two months old.Had them since they were about three weeks old.
At first I wasn't able to get some medicated feed ,so now I have some Purina start & grow they have been on the feed for a couple of weeks. On warm days they go out in an enclosed run, that's covered with tarps & plastic.
Today I noticed some of their poops have blood. None of them are acting sick, I check them alot. I have some powdered amprol, but trying to save that for my older birds.
Okay my question is, do they need to get off of the medicated feed before I use the powdered amprol ? I don't want to overdose them. I have regular chic starter to feed them. Why isn't the medicated feed working?
Hopefully that makes sense to you...not too good at getting my point across sometimes.
Thank you, Miriam

 

[bayouchica]

Well I started them on another bag of Purina and seems most of the bloody poops have gone away.Still don't understand why that happened.
Everyone still acting healthy.Thank goodness.
Miriam

 

[dlhunicorn]

"A variety of factors can upset the calm balance of bacteria in the gut and allow proliferation of certain more harmful bacteria, eg E.coli, Clostridia or spirochaetes. As indicated earlier, the aim is to avoid sudden changes in feed intake or composition of the feed to promote a consistent gut environment and hence bacterial population.

What about gut disease?
One of the major influences on intestinal function is gut disease. The two main culprits here are coccidiosis and worms.

The development phases of both parasites cause gut damage and especially damage and ‘blunting’ of those important finger-like villi. Hairworm (Capillaria) can be particularly damaging because of the vigorous way in which they feed on the gut wall – hence even low worm burdens can cause significant problems. These effects greatly reduce the available surface area and damage the lining, both of which can severely affect efficient uptake of nutrients from the gut.

A healthy gut means healthy birds
As indicated earlier, the intestines must function efficiently to absorb nutrients and essential and valuable water which would otherwise be lost with harmful consequences. Hence, a functioning and healthy gut leads to healthy birds and good egg production."

An excellent article explaining the condition:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=FAQ&action=display&num=1166348777

...more in-depth articles to help you understand the condition and the treatments used to control it:
http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=articles&action=display&num=1158931925