2 week olds, bloody poo

[Tracyree]

I have a few 2 1/2 week olds and saw two bloody poos in the brooder today. They are on unmedicated feed as I was trying to do this organically. They've never been on dirt besides for about 3 minutes yesterday.

Only other thing out of the ordinary is that my son gave them a few mealworms yesterday as well.

Should I go ahead and treat for cocci? I'm assuming the corid will have directions for such young chicks?

 

[greenkjb]

Hi there. Is there a lot of blood? How many chicks do you have? Are they having any other symptoms? Lethargy, not eating/drinking, eyes closed, etc. If they are obviously sick and having bloody stools I would treat them with corrid asap. I'm not sure if the dosages are different for younger chicks, but I do know the liquid corrid is 2 teaspoons per gallon...

 

[PtldChick]

Dosage in water is the same, the amount of medication is controlled by how much water they drink - bigger chickens drink more water.

I have Corid 9.6% and my bottle says 16 oz treats 100 gallons. 16/100 = ~1/6... so 1/6 oz for 1 gallon.

An ounce is two tablespoons, or six teaspoons. So 1 teaspoon per gallon of water.

In chicks that young, if you have any other symptoms, treat them fast - lethargy, standing still while others are active, fluffed up feathers, head pulled in, head drooping, etc. They can head downhill pretty quickly when so young.

Good luck!

 

[greenegglover]

Im in my 2nd year of being owned by chickens. I wanted to go organic to, but I've read some of the stories about cocci.....not good outcomes. I feed medicated starter feed now for at least 2 weeks! It should be out of there systems before they lay eggs. I couldnt imagine losing my babies to anything....do some research and make a decision that works for you. Now that their sick they your medicating anyway....just saying... not judging. I hope your babies make it!

 

[Saltysteele]

well, you can stay organic and lose the chickens, unless someone knows of an organic cocci medication (don't think so, though). herein lies why organic food is more expensive - higher costs for feed, higher animal loss.

or you can feed them medicated feed and fix the problems.

i'd say, give them medicated feed

 

[Tracyree]

So they are acting fine and I put paper towels over the shavings today and no blood. There were only two poos with blood that I saw yesterday. So now I'm confused.

If I see blood again, I'll go ahead and traetbthem (I picked uonthe corid)

As for organic feed costing more because of higher animal loss... That's a bit of a stretch, no? Just said I was trying to raise them organically, not that I was all or nothing about it. I am totally fine treating them if need be, just want to feed them organic when I can.

 

[remuda1]

Hi Tracy, you might do a search on this site for cecal poo. That may have been what you saw, if so (hopefully) it's normal. Good luck with it and I think corid is probably a good thing to have on hand even if you don't have to use it this time. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[greenkjb]

Tracyree,
So glad they seem fine. I had a chick come down with cocci recently and we thought she was a goner for sure! Thanks to the corrid she did make a full recovery though.!!! FYI, she was on medicated feed too. I learned that by no means does medicated feed prevent cocci, just helps them build immunity. I can't wait to switch to organic layer crumble once they are older

Take care.