Silkie thread!

[mom of silkies]

Need some help, they are Silkie Brahma crosses, Boy or girl?

 

[tjo804]

Thats kinda cute looks more like a silkie hawk cross

I love the face!

 

[Fancychooklady]

I need some advice pertaining to silkies in particular.

I have a brooder with six chicks, four of which are silkies. A little over two weeks ago there were suddenly bloody droppings in the coop. I put the chicks on Corid (amprolium) as soon as I saw them, and within two days the bloody droppings had stopped. I finished their course of Corid treatment. This occured very shortly after they'd been taken off medicated feed (which they had the first six weeks of their lives) and been exposed to the outdoors. I had never had a problem with raising chicks on medicated feed before, but I've never raised silkies before. I've since read that Amprolium, even in the very small doses in medicated feed, can deplete their vitamins. The dosage in Corid is definitely known to. One of my chicks has since developed a bad case of crook neck that I am currently treating. I suspect that this is, at the very least, in part due to the medicated feed/Corid treatment. I haven't seen much improvement with her yet but I have hope.

Now this is where I need advice. Two days ago the bloody droppings came back in the brooder. I have to give them further treatment with Corid, because I know that cocci is very deadly. However, I am very worried that my three other silkie chicks will develop the crook neck that Tabitha has. When I look up cocci treatment everyone says to give them vitamin supplements AFTER treatment, but not during, which implies that they would make Corid less effective. But I just don't know what to do to keep my silkies healthy. Also, I do not understand why the cocci came back. My chicks are in a sanitized brooder, on pine shavings that I change frequently, with waterers that I clean out multiple times a day and a feeder that I clean when I refill. They're not in dirty or damp or poorly ventilated conditions. If the cocci isn't kicked by this treatment I will consult my vet, but he is not an avian specialist so I don't think he'll have any helpful advice on what do with silkies and this vitamin issue. I have poly-vi-sol and vitamin e (and I know that you also need selenium to make the vitamin e effective) but I'm not sure when I should be treating them with it. or how much to treat them with as a preventative measure? I've never dealt with these issues before and would appreciate any advice from people who have experience with it.

As seminolewind has advised, I would switch to sulfadimethoxine, it contains Albon. Amprolium is a thiamine blocker, thiamine B1 deficieiency is more often than not the cause of wryneck. You need to treat the cocci or you may lose the lot. Change the meds and add some nutridrench to their water and if you have any, open a vitamin E capsule and add it to some scrambled egg daily. Clean the brooder and be sure that the area around the feeder is kept dry.

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/di-methox-12-5-gl

 

[tjo804]

Quote: Before? during? or after cooking? If I cook the E with the eggs will I cook out what they need from it?

 

[frannyglass]

If you can, run to Tractor supply and get SulfaDimethoxine. It can also be called Di-meth I think. 1 tsp per gallon for 5 days. It's another anticocciostat . My guess and I am not a vet is that with the medicated feed and the corid, it's the same thing and maybe the cocci are resistant. I don't think wry neck is related, I have never heard that they were connected in any way. I would not put anything in the water with the sulfadimethoxine, but you know that. Make sure the chicks are drinking. If not keep dribbling it on the side of their beak until they get some. Sometimes sick chicks don't drink and don't get the med.
Tube feeding some water is better, let me know if you can do that.

While at Tractor supply, pick up a package of chicken vitamins and electrolytes or Broiler booster. You can do this afterwards at a pinch per gallon of water.

As seminolewind has advised, I would switch to sulfadimethoxine, it contains Albion . Amprolium is a thiamine blocker, thiamine B1 deficieiency is more often than not the cause of wryneck. You need to treat the cocci or you may lose the lot. Change the meds and add some nutridrench to their water and if you have any, open a vitamin E capsule and add it to some scrambled egg daily. Clean the brooder and be sure that the area around the feeder is kept dry.

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/di-methox-12-5-gl

Is that a different name for Sulmet? Sulmet is Sulfamethazine. I know they have Sulmet but I will see if my feedstore in town has the di-methox. If not I will try Tractor Supply but I only see the Sulfamethazine on their website and the employees at mine are not very helpful. I have vitamin E, adding it to eggs is a very good idea that I hadn't thought of! I will see if the feedstore has nutridrench, they've been out of everything lately, so if not do you think the Poly-vi-sol could work? It contains Thiamin and vitamins B6 and B12. Is it okay to add the nutridrench during treatment or only after? They are all still drinking normally. Weirdly their behavior is quite normal, only one has started acting a bit less active. I would have expected them to act far worse considering the amount of blood I saw. Not that their acting fairly well makes me any less worried. I've been cleaning their brooder out completely every day.

Thank you so much for your help and I'm sorry for all the questions. I've never dealt with cocci or wry neck before and I am a wreck about it.

 

[Gossie]

Yesterday, I learned how protective chicken parents are of their chicks. I have never hatched chicks before, but when my silkie hen went broody on her own eggs, I thought I would try it. We successfully hatched 1 egg. The little chick, Pancake, wandered out of the cage she was in with her mother, Caroline. She had an encounter with a grown up hen named Abigail Adams. When Abigail pecked Pancake, the parents went crazy. Caroline got off her eggs and started flapping her wings. She stuck her head through the cage bars and tried to bite Abigail. Dot, the father who has never gotten into a fight in his life, stuck his head through his cage and tried to bite her too. His head is two times the size of the space he stuck it through. He had never seen the chick (He was in a different cage then Caroline, but the 2 cages are close together. We had to separate them because he kept stepping on the eggs) and he tried to save it. Now, Pancake and Caroline are in a larger area where Pancake can't sneak out.

 

[silkiecuddles]

Yesterday, I learned how protective chicken parents are of their chicks. I have never hatched chicks before, but when my silkie hen went broody on her own eggs, I thought I would try it. We successfully hatched 1 egg. The little chick, Pancake, wandered out of the cage she was in with her mother, Caroline. She had an encounter with a grown up hen named Abigail Adams. When Abigail pecked Pancake, the parents went crazy. Caroline got off her eggs and started flapping her wings. She stuck her head through the cage bars and tried to bite Abigail. Dot, the father who has never gotten into a fight in his life, stuck his head through his cage and tried to bite her too. His head is two times the size of the space he stuck it through. He had never seen the chick (He was in a different cage then Caroline, but the 2 cages are close together. We had to separate them because he kept stepping on the eggs) and he tried to save it. Now, Pancake and Caroline are in a larger area where Pancake can't sneak out.

Yep, broodies are not to be messed with. I had a silkie broody attack my duckling flock, who were several feet away from her chicks. Those poor ducks

 

[Fancychooklady]

Before? during? or after cooking? If I cook the E with the eggs will I cook out what they need from it?

After the egg is cooked and cooled , just before you serve it up. Nutri drench contains vit E and thiamine.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Looks pullet to me so far...

Yay! Sure hope so!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Is that a different name for Sulmet? Sulmet is Sulfamethazine. I know they have Sulmet but I will see if my feedstore in town has the di-methox. If not I will try Tractor Supply but I only see the Sulfamethazine on their website and the employees at mine are not very helpful. I have vitamin E, adding it to eggs is a very good idea that I hadn't thought of! I will see if the feedstore has nutridrench, they've been out of everything lately, so if not do you think the Poly-vi-sol could work? It contains Thiamin and vitamins B6 and B12. Is it okay to add the nutridrench during treatment or only after? They are all still drinking normally. Weirdly their behavior is quite normal, only one has started acting a bit less active. I would have expected them to act far worse considering the amount of blood I saw. Not that their acting fairly well makes me any less worried. I've been cleaning their brooder out completely every day.

Thank you so much for your help and I'm sorry for all the questions. I've never dealt with cocci or wry neck before and I am a wreck about it.

From what I can gather, sulfamethazine has more of a ' bolous ' effect on preventing coccidia whereas the sulfadimethoxine is for treatment of outbreaks.
In the interim a little buttermilk will help with intestinal lining shedding ( causing the blood in droppings )
The polyvisol will do the trick , be sure it is without iron. It is good to keep it on hand and it is also more readily available but not always as palatable to the chicks as nutridrench or other poultry multi vitamins.
The chicks will have built up some immunity and not all will show symptoms but it is best to treat everyone. Better to be safe than sorry.

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.aavpt.org/resource/resmgr/imported/sulfonamides.pdf