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- #221
It’s been a while since updating this and a lot has happened since so for anyone still following after the hideous pics of my coccidia ridden Italians..
Coccidiosis. I didn’t have much luck with the coxoid (amprolium).
I’ve spoken with other quail keepers in the area who’ve given up because of the constant re infection. There seems to be a lot of it about around here and you can only use this for two weeks which is not sufficient and makes the eggs inedible.
I was having better results using a combination of kefir, kombucha, and verm-x which is a mix of garlic and herbs designed for poultry, seems garlic is fine to use at the appropriate dose.
But again, re infection was a constant issue and the ph of the probiotics was causing problems with calcium uptake resulting in soft shelled eggs.
So, fecal transplants. I’ve got one Italian that’s more resistant to it than any of the others, rarely had issues and recovered quickly if she did. I’ve been collecting her fresh deposits and putting them in the drinking water of any sick birds, they recover quickly without side effects and it seems to be a permanent fix, preventing any re infection.
The idea is that it’s the lack of diversity within the micro biome to compete with pathogens that causes the problem rather than the pathogen itself.
As things seemed to be getting back on track I bought in some point of lay females to even out the gender ratio with my Italians and hatched some new harlequin chicks which appropriately turned out to be a harlequin x rain quail cross.
The horror that followed made me miss dealing with coccidiosis, the pol Italians I bought in all had bumble foot and one had the runs so I took them back for a refund but then my newly hatched birds all started getting sick, tumours, paralysis, respiratory problems. One bird with a lump in his chest dragging his upside down head around on the floor looked unlikely to survive so I thought I’d risk treating him with some antiviral mushrooms. Within days his head was upright again and he was able to stand up and walk, he was the only bird to survive from his hatch. All the others dead within 10 days.
I’ve been giving the mushrooms to all my remaining birds @1% as a prophylactic and it seems to work, I’ve got a new batch of harlequin x rain and so far they’re all doing well.
I’m sending off feather samples to find out what’s been causing it but I suspect mareks disease, everyone vaccinates their birds but it doesn’t stop them carrying or shedding the virus and it’s allowed for more virulent strains to proliferate that would normally be selected against because the bird would die before passing it on, causing a rise in expected mortality from low in the 1960s when it was discovered to today’s 100% mortality in unvaccinated birds.
I’ve found that you can’t stop disasters happening in life, just change how you respond to them.
So the menu has been adapted accordingly.
I’ve also discovered nutritional yeast flakes which are gluten free, they seem to like, and are much easier to deal with than mixing popcorn with sticky yeast extract.
So the current menu consists of..
Mealworms 88g
Chlorella 6g
Kelp 4g
Turkey tail mushrooms 2g
Calci worms 88g
Chlorella 6g
Kelp 4g
Turkey tail mushrooms 2g
Sunflower seeds (hulled)
Cannabis seeds
Chia seeds
Amaranth
Quinoa
Millet
Teff
Buckwheat
Nutritional yeast
Oyster/egg shell
Pink salt
ACV @2% in their water
Coccidiosis. I didn’t have much luck with the coxoid (amprolium).
I’ve spoken with other quail keepers in the area who’ve given up because of the constant re infection. There seems to be a lot of it about around here and you can only use this for two weeks which is not sufficient and makes the eggs inedible.
I was having better results using a combination of kefir, kombucha, and verm-x which is a mix of garlic and herbs designed for poultry, seems garlic is fine to use at the appropriate dose.
But again, re infection was a constant issue and the ph of the probiotics was causing problems with calcium uptake resulting in soft shelled eggs.
So, fecal transplants. I’ve got one Italian that’s more resistant to it than any of the others, rarely had issues and recovered quickly if she did. I’ve been collecting her fresh deposits and putting them in the drinking water of any sick birds, they recover quickly without side effects and it seems to be a permanent fix, preventing any re infection.
The idea is that it’s the lack of diversity within the micro biome to compete with pathogens that causes the problem rather than the pathogen itself.
As things seemed to be getting back on track I bought in some point of lay females to even out the gender ratio with my Italians and hatched some new harlequin chicks which appropriately turned out to be a harlequin x rain quail cross.
The horror that followed made me miss dealing with coccidiosis, the pol Italians I bought in all had bumble foot and one had the runs so I took them back for a refund but then my newly hatched birds all started getting sick, tumours, paralysis, respiratory problems. One bird with a lump in his chest dragging his upside down head around on the floor looked unlikely to survive so I thought I’d risk treating him with some antiviral mushrooms. Within days his head was upright again and he was able to stand up and walk, he was the only bird to survive from his hatch. All the others dead within 10 days.
I’ve been giving the mushrooms to all my remaining birds @1% as a prophylactic and it seems to work, I’ve got a new batch of harlequin x rain and so far they’re all doing well.
I’m sending off feather samples to find out what’s been causing it but I suspect mareks disease, everyone vaccinates their birds but it doesn’t stop them carrying or shedding the virus and it’s allowed for more virulent strains to proliferate that would normally be selected against because the bird would die before passing it on, causing a rise in expected mortality from low in the 1960s when it was discovered to today’s 100% mortality in unvaccinated birds.
I’ve found that you can’t stop disasters happening in life, just change how you respond to them.
So the menu has been adapted accordingly.
I’ve also discovered nutritional yeast flakes which are gluten free, they seem to like, and are much easier to deal with than mixing popcorn with sticky yeast extract.
So the current menu consists of..
Mealworms 88g
Chlorella 6g
Kelp 4g
Turkey tail mushrooms 2g
Calci worms 88g
Chlorella 6g
Kelp 4g
Turkey tail mushrooms 2g
Sunflower seeds (hulled)
Cannabis seeds
Chia seeds
Amaranth
Quinoa
Millet
Teff
Buckwheat
Nutritional yeast
Oyster/egg shell
Pink salt
ACV @2% in their water
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