What Is Coccidiosis and how does it affect poultry:​

Coccidiosis is the common term used to describe a cluster of single-celled organisms called Protozoa. Protozoas are similar to amoebas or algae, because it's a type of single celled plant. Coccidiosis is found in every part of the world and inhabits both land and water. However coccidiosis can only reproduce if it's inside an animal, and for chicken owners or poultry of any kind that would be our feathered friends.

When poultry have coccidiosis, the biggest cause is coop litter. Since coccidiosis can be found almost anywhere and everywhere, chickens can become infected when foraging in leaf clutter or damp places or wherever the flock goes throughout the day. When a chicken eats something with oocyst on it ( oocyst being the first stage of coccidiosis), it will then travel into the chicken’s digestive tract where the oocyst can then transform into the secondary stage. In this stage it will then start to seek out the intestinal lining of the infected chicken. This is beacause it needs the hot and moist environment of the intestinal lining to then rapidly develop into its replicating phase.

This is when the worst part starts to happen and when you truly can tell that your chicken has coccidiosis, because this is when it grows in population at seemingly the speed of light, causing damage to the intestinal lining of the chicken. At this point, the chicken may begin to show some clinical signs as the coccidia infection advances. Noticable symptoms such as the chicken having bloody diarrhea and poor little to no weight gain happen as the coccidiosis slowly kills the chicken. They will also partially or completely stop eating and drinking.

Also, you need to be extremely careful when handling an infected chicken as touching the poop or touching the chicken in dirty areas without gloves and touching your face after, because you could give the other chickens, dogs, cats, and possibly even yourself coccidiosis as it can effect people too. It's not as bad for people and usually is only a problem when its going after mammals instead of birds, because there are diffrent variations of it, but they all have one target - the intestines. So always remember to wear gloves when handling chickens with coccidiosis and put them in a quarantine pen as soon as possible and you should have better results when trying to cure it.

The best treatment, imo:​

Now that you known the basic summary of what coccidiosis is and what it looks like when poultry have it, now you need to know how to treat it. It’s important to do a complete clean out of the whole coop. I mean the floor, walls, roosts, nest boxes, and any ramps around the coop. Getting rid of as much of the infected manure as humanly possible is the first step in slowing the spread of oocysts (the first stage of coccidiosis). It's also important to burn it as we don't want it coming back anytime soon. Also in order to get the coccidiosis out of any water it may be in, you need to scrub, wash and disinfect all waterers and refill with clean fresh water.

At the same time, I usually add an oral drench solution that is used to aid against coccidiosis called CORID (amprolium) 9.6% Oral Solution Coccidiostat to all of their water daily. Use a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon of water for the first 5 days, then I switch to a lower dose of ½ teaspoon per gallon for another 2 weeks or so. Be sure to check your label for instructions for your bottle. By this time, the birds have been protected long enough to have developed their own immunity to the coccidiosis species that they are facing.
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What Are Signs of Coccidiosis in Poultry?​

These are some better detailed descriptions of the signs that one of your poultry have coccidiosis
  • Hens that have suddenly stopped laying eggs (not related to seasonal change in egg production), or laying inconsistently
  • Diarrhea or more commonly, bloody diarrhea
  • Decreased growth in younger chickens, or chicks acting lethargic or not wanting to eat or drink
  • Pale sickly looking skin or combs
  • Weight loss in older chickens, or no more weight gain in growing chicken and weight lose from not eating as much
  • Blood that is located on, in, or near or at the vent site of the bird along with bloody poop.
  • Ruffled, weak, unhealthy, or uncleaned feathers from chickens being to weak to preen or properly take dust baths
  • Decreased water and/or food consumption normally being followed by weight lose

Causes for Coccidiosis:​

One single oocyst cell from coccidiosis can infect and kill thousands of a chicken’s intestinal cells. The spores can stay viable for months due to coccidiosis being found in chicken poop. After they are ingested by a different chicken through water or a diffrent hen pecking at poopy shavings or eating poop coverd food, the life cycle of the coccidiosis will begin again and again until all the chickens have it. It is important that you know that this disease can be inevitable and is very commonly spread around the flock when raising poultry.

This disease isn't always a sign of bad care to your flock. If your chickens are exposed to a higher amount of these oocysts, they will sometimes develop immunity towards that specific species of the disease. As there are many variation of the coccidiosis disease.

How to help a chicken's immune system :​

If you want to help your chickens for coccidiosis helping give there immune system some help can help along side their medicine can help. One important step is to give them probiotics and antibiotics. These will help boost good levels of beneficial bacteria in their crop in order to combat the nonbenefitial bacterial. It will also promote for a healthy digestive tract and better health for your flock.

There are several types of very good herbs and other natural substances that are believed to help chickens as they are believed to help combat bad bacteria in their gut and crop, these herbs include:

  • Turmeric, because it works as a dewormer for any parasites that your chickens might have
  • Unfiltered Organic Apple cider vinegar, because the acetic acid will help normalize pH levels in the crop & stomach and it actually lowers the intestinal and fecal odor
  • Thyme, because it's actually very rich in antioxidants, which help to protect the body against damage from free radicals and it has high amounts of vitamin C
  • Cinnamon, because of it's powerful antioxidant & it contains anti-inflammatory substances
  • Garlic, because Its causes a boost to the immune system, it protects against bad bacteria and parasites, and it also Re-balances the system
  • Green Tea, because it has significant, and high anti-viral properties.

(Warning: These are only believed to help chickens and should only be given in a controled quantity or it can be possibly toxic, so just be aware when giving chicken herbs or spicey)​

Ways to Prevent Coccidiosis in Chickens:​

One of the best ways to slow or stop an outbreak of coccidiosis completely, is to prevent one from ever occurring in the first place. Some of these measures will not alway prevent an outbreak 100% of the time, but they can help to ensure your flock will stay healthy. Clean your coop regularly and keep poo in runs to a minimum.
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