8 week old lethargic chick with watery poops

[Avfields]

The watched chicken never poops...

Mine has housetrained herself - she crosses her legs until I put her outside!

 

[Winchikn]

We've attempted the fecal float and definitely see some round things but can't say if they are coccidiosis. Here's some pics... Can anyone confirm what these are?

We're novices but these were at 15 x on eyepiece, 10 x magnification on microscope and then zoomed in on the phone camera.

 

[Winchikn]

Gah - I think these are bubbles. Anyone?

We really are novices but I've called 4 vets and no one is willing to do a float for us.

 

[Winchikn]

Now I think we have something... DH says the microscope lens is really dirty. This is at 40 x.

Chick seems to have a bit more energy today, still has okay appetite - but poops are still very watery. We're continuing with the Germe-Zone supplement from our Farmer's Supply.

 

[Avfields]

Hey Winchikn - as far as I can tell, the floatation part is more necessary if you have worm eggs - there may not be many of them in a sample, and even one of some species (Capillaria) is cause for concern. Coccidia are different - they don't live in the gut exactly, they replicate the in cells of the intestinal wall, then burst their way out and go do it again until they end up in the poo. It is the cell damage that makes the bird ill, so by the time they are really showing symptoms, you're probably not looking for a needle in a haystack, there will be a whole load. I've been checking my birds poop by getting a dab on the end of a toothpick, adding a drop of water, and mushing it round a bit. Then squash the whole lot flat with a coverslip. I checked the scale on my microscope by taking a photo of a ruler (but anything small of a known size will do) to work out the field of view, and then working out number of pixels per mm. Then if you crop to the size of your suspect, you'll be able to convert back to the actual dimension by checking the size in pixels. If it falls into the 15-30 micron range (worm eggs tend to be larger), there are lots, and they are consistent in size and shape, then you have probably found coccidia oocysts. Here's the relevant bit from the book I used.

 

[Eggcessive]

The sulfa antibiotic you have will treat coccidiosis, so that would be good to use. If you could get a weight, that might help with dosage. The Germe Zone looks to be an electrolyte supplement. Sorry I cannot help with microscope slides for coccidia.

 

[Avfields]

Did you have any luck with getting something identifiable? If you're not sure, but all the symptoms fit, it might be a good idea to start the sulfa antibiotics anyway - coccidiosis is fast.

 

[Winchikn]

Thanks so much for the additional info.

Update ... We never found anyone to do a float for us and couldn't identify what we were seeing in the home fecal float. But, our chick is about 80% improved today!

His energy levels were better by yesterday afternoon and by this morning he was seeming almost normal. Good enough that we put him out in the dog crate in our garden next to his buddies for the afternoon. We brought him into the brooder again for the night - and I've just seen that his poops look almost normal!

That supplement we got at our local farmer's supply says it can be used to treat necrotic enteritis and has antiseptic, germicidal and astringent properties. I don't understand what active ingredient is working and what it might indicate we're dealing with. The store said they suggest it for coccidiosis but local hatcheries I've talked to have said that cocci would be unusual in our setting. Very small flock, large run, wet climate but generally not that warm relative to the States. But maybe we had a perfect storm. It was awfully wet here a short while ago.

I will update if there are any drastic changes but I'm hoping to get Topaz back with his little flock of cockerel buddies in 2 days - and plan to treat him and that whole little flock for 4-5 days to decrease the odds of a recurrence and address some watery poops I'm finding in the gang outside (though their energy levels seem fine - they're fighting like crazy).

Now if only this supplement/medication could transform even one chicken out of what's looking to be a 100% cockerel hatch into a pullet!!!