Coccidiosis? Mareks? Both? Your expert help appreciated --

[Mark_Kaiser]

Hi friends – your advice and insights have always helped us through troubled times, and we’re having some rough days and nights lately –

April - 25: Brought home (22) new hens and (2) roosters (several breeds, ranging from 12-14 weeks) from local breeder to add to our flock which was down to (2) old hens. Everyone appeared strong and healthy, acclamation to new coop went great.

May-15: Awoke to a sick hen, lethargic, not eating, not roosting, not walking, bloody poop. After consulting with breeder, these chicks were not fed medicated-feed. We (along with breeder) expected coccidiosis and immediately begin Corid (powder) in drinking water at 1 tsp per gallon for all. Segregated sick hen to ‘hospital’ (rabbit hutch) and syringe Corid-water and feed.

May-16: Hen dies. We continue Corid (powder) in drinking water for flock at 1 tsp per gallon for 7 days.

May -17 : One of the youngest hens again has bloody poop, is unthrifty and is separated and given Corid water 1 tsp. We also lose this hen. (She was stunted and always smaller than the rest of the group)

May 22: Awake to (2) dead hens that appeared fine the day before. Cannot locate any bloody poop in coop. Recheck this website and learn we may not have been providing a strong enough dose and that followup dosage of Corid is necessary to build immunity in the remaining flock. Increase dosage in water to 1.5 tsp per gallon for all.

June-13: Another hen has become sick and is in hospital receiving syringe-fed food and Corid-water. Read here that up to 2 tsp Corid per gallon ok, increased to that dose. Some blood in one poop.

June-18: Sick hen still alive but now lying splay legged and cannot walk, while will eat and drink by hand but appears paralyzed.

We have:
· Completely cleaned the coop from top to bottom
· Checked vents and skin for any type of worms (but we have not wormed them – we have purchased Wazine but do not know if we can safely give in conjunction to Corid)
· Have Safeguard on hand.

In retrospect, we thought this was all Coccidia based issues, however, wobbling and paralysis has occurred in the other lost hens. We are sadly thinking that we are dealing with possibly Mareks (paralysis) and Coccidiosis (bloody poop)?

Going to cull this sick hen to end her suffering --

We could really use your help, thank you so much --- tried to keep this as short of a read as possible

 

[One Chick Two]

So sorry for what you've been going through. I can't be much help on this, but, I will post to help bump your post to the top. I do know Cocci can take awhile for a bird to recover if they do. She has blood in her stools, but do you see anything else in it- like green? What have you been feeding them?

I can tell you that Wazine only targets Roundworm- that's fine if you know your birds have only Roundworm. You should use more of a full spectrum wormer, like Valbazen, in case the birds have other types of worms like Tapeworn, etc. Valbazen works over time, so there is less problem with worm overload. (We had worm overload happen with a cockerel when we used Safeguard.)

Best wishes.

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry! Treating for coccidiosis is a good idea, but you may have more issues here. Marek's disease also sounds possible, and getting a diagnosis is the best plan here. Your state (or maybe local) veterinarian can necropsy birds and tell you exactly what's wrong. Then you can treat and manage things appropriately. Mary

 

[Mark_Kaiser]

Thank you both. Our new birds came from two different sources, and we just put together that all the problems are from one source. We have two birds left from that group and one is now beginning to exhibit signs of problems. Not sure if helps with the diagnosis. Thanks again --

 

[Mark_Kaiser]

And if anyone can confirm that we should immediately cull birds that are clearly having splayed legs (the splits)? We had hoped this was going to be fun

 

[Akrnaf2]

Also botulism could cause Paralyze limbs. If you have some individual with the split legs it is almost for shore that you have Marek's in the flock. If this is the situation your farm is infected forever with the virus. You have in my opinion 3 options :
1-to cull all the birds,clean and disinfect all around, wait for at least six month before introducing a new floc. Don't start from chicks, if you can get 1 year old chickens it will be the best, and don't forget hopping for the best!
2. Try to upgrade your floc condition, and reduce the stress level they exposed to, and try to establish a Marek's resistant breeding stock from the survivors of your flock.
3 cull all the birds and buy a new flock of Fayoumi breed that have an excellent natural resistance for Marek's!
Reed this link:
http://www.jarvm.com/articles/Vol4Iss2/Duguma.pdf

 

[Folly's place]

Get an actual diagnosis! Then you can have a plan. If Marek's disease, vaccinated chicks from a safe source, raised in total isolation from your facility (friend's house?) for two to three weeks, will be able to live on your property; they will get Marek's, but not the tumors that kill the infected birds. The virus lives a lot longer than eight months on the farm... You will also want to practice better biosecurity in the future. Mary