8 week old chicken died, had runny bloody faeces

[wooklet]

My 8 week old chicken was running around the pen yesterday,eating and as happy as could be. This morning I noticed her all hunched up in the corner, with a mass of runny,bloody droppings around the pen. She died about an hour later. She had two pen companions of the same age, and I have moved them to another pen in case she had something infectious like Coccidiosis, but they are fine as are their droppings which I am now monitoring carefully. I had moved them from an indoor pen to one on the grass, but had rubber mats underneath it. As I said, right up until last night she was healthy, and eating and drinking normally, and they have always been fed medicated crumbles. Can Cocci cause these violent,bloody droppings and such a quick death? And what can I do to protect the other two chicks? ANY advice would be so welcome. Thank you.

 

[Imp]

So sorry you lost one.

And Yes I think Cocci can do that. I don't know if there is a preventative. I'd get ready just in case, but it sounds good that they have no symptoms.

Good luck

Imp

 

[wooklet]

I spoke too soon! Went out to check on them and there was a bloody dropping in the straw. So even though I had been up at the crack of dawn to drive 200 miles round trip to pick my husband up from the airport, I dropped everything and drove to my vets. He gave me Baycox to put in their water, and I have also syringed some in their beaks! Fingers crossed, one of them is a very special little chick that I saved from death already! I would hate to loose her!

 

[Kittymomma]

Get some Corid ASAP and start them on it. Cocci can kill fast, but they usually respond well to treatment if they're not too far gone. Sorry you lost some little ones, it's always sad.

 

[wooklet]

I'm sorry I don't know what Corid is

- I am in Australia - but what the vet gave me, Baycox ,is what most people here seem to us for Cocci. They are holding their own, and still eating and drinking. Thank you for your kind sympathies!

 

[Kittymomma]

I'm not familiar with Baycox, but the active ingredient in Corid is amprolium. If I remember correctly it's a vit. B blocker and since cocci needs vit b it causes the protazoa to die off by denying it to them. I hope your little ones are doing well now and that you didn't lose anymore of them.

 

[wooklet]

Thanks. Baycox does pretty well the same thing I believe. After a day of runny things with blood in them when I thought that I was going to loose both the remaining chicks, things have settled down and they are now passing normal droppings. I put them on newspaper so that I could keep an eye on things, and also put them back in their brooder box where I could keep them warm as we are now into late Autumn and it is getting cold! So it looks like they are going to make it, thank you!

My husband washed out the whole pen and sprayed it with disinfectant too, when do you think they will be able to go back there?(It has grass on the base) and is it right that once they have had this they are then immune to it for life? I am SO relieved, but it was so sad to loose the other chick, they were a little trio of friends!

thanks so much for your advice, it is much appreciated!

Just adding an edit here - the vet told me to give them the Baycox for 2 days, would it hurt to give it to them for 1 more day? It doesn't seem like long enough!

 

[Kittymomma]

I don't think they are completely immune to it, but they do develop a resistance to it. My experience has been that an adult chicken will only have problems with cocci if it's resistance has been lowered from something else--I had an 18-month old hen go thru a bout of cocci while she was coming out of a really hard molt. None of the other 25 chooks had any problems even though they are all housed and range together.

I'm glad all is going well with your little ones. I would put them back in after the treatment is finished and then keep a close eye on things in case some of them relapse. I wouldn't think there would anymore problems though.

 

[wooklet]

Thank you so much!

 

[ultasol]

Use corid or amprol (same drug). If you get the liquid which is about 9.5% active ingredient you need to use 2 tsp per gallon, if you get the powder it is 20% and use 1 tsp per gallon. DO NOT use vitamins or supplements while giving this medication, as it prevents the cocci from getting a vitamin it needs to survive and therefore kills it. Supplementing with vitamins makes the medicine ineffective. I would keep them on it for 10 days, and if it comes back put them back on it and keep them on it for longer.