Any advice for Coccidiosis

[Feather babies]

I live on Vancouver Island in Canada and can not find corid anywhere. My research says this is pretty much the only thing that can help cure my chickens. No vet that I have called has any. I have been in a panic the last two days because my pullets are sick with coccidiosis and I have already lost 4. I am isolating, giving them ACV and herbs in their water, liquid vitamin supplements. I have diacemeatous earth I have tried adding to their food. I have completely cleaned and disinfected their house. They have been on medicated chick starter from the beginning. I have ordered corid from Amazon but it will not be here for a month. I have never in all my chicken years had this run through my coop and I am at a loss. Any advice is welcome.

 

[dawg53]

Sulfa drugs and Toltrazuril will treat coccidiosis. Your best bet would be Sulfadimethoxine or Toltrazuril from your vet. Diatomaceous Earth, ACV does nothing.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Stop completely with any added vitamins - you're negating the coccidiostat in the medicated starter. The DE, ACV, none of that is relevant with coccidiosis.

Corid isn't the only source of amprolium. Some other medications are listed on this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bloody-poops-noone-will-sell-me-amprol-in-canada.903366/ but it sounds like in Canada you need a vet to prescribe any form of amprolium, so you might want to check if they can prescribe any of the other medications to you.

 

[Feather babies]

Sulfa drugs and Toltrazuril will treat coccidiosis. Your best bet would be Sulfadimethoxine or Toltrazuril from your vet. Diatomaceous Earth, ACV does nothing.

Thank you, I'll see about getting some from my vet,

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

As mentioned above, the medicated feed has corid in it but the B vitamins you’re adding are negating it. Corid (amprolium) works by blocking the absorption of thiamine (a b vitamin) which starves the cocci. So quit all the extra things and just feed them their medicated feed and you should see an improvement.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

You should still talk to the vet because they are obviously overloaded right now. The best way to avoid this in future if you’re doing medicated feed is to bring a little soil from their new habitat into the brooder with them. It will give them a chance to build up resistance to whatever strains of cocci are active in your environment and for the medicated feed to work as intended. I know that’s unsolicited advice it’s just something about medicated feed that I wasn’t aware of for the longest time.

 

[Feather babies]

Stop completely with any added vitamins - you're negating the coccidiostat in the medicated starter. The DE, ACV, none of that is relevant with coccidiosis.

Corid isn't the only source of amprolium. Some other medications are listed on this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bloody-poops-noone-will-sell-me-amprol-in-canada.903366/ but it sounds like in Canada you need a vet to prescribe any form of amprolium, so you might want to check if they can prescribe any of the other medications to you.

Ok, no more vitamins. I'll try calling more vets today. So far all the ones I have called do not do anything with chickens are herbs like oregano basil garlic harmful?

 

[Feather babies]

You should still talk to the vet because they are obviously overloaded right now. The best way to avoid this in future if you’re doing medicated feed is to bring a little soil from their new habitat into the brooder with them. It will give them a chance to build up resistance to whatever strains of cocci are active in your environment and for the medicated feed to work as intended. I know that’s unsolicited advice it’s just something about medicated feed that I wasn’t aware of for the longest time.

Thank you, I'll keep now of that little tip

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ok, no more vitamins. I'll try calling more vets today. So far all the ones I have called do not do anything with chickens are herbs like oregano basil garlic harmful?

I don't know about harmful (though garlic is in large doses to most animals) but not helpful as far as coccidiosis is concerned.

As BlindLemonChicken mentioned some of us acclimate chicks to coccidiosis in the environment by deliberately exposing them to the soil in the area early on to allow them to get used to it while their immune systems are also developing. That should be done without medicated feed, as you need the parasite alive to build immunity. Won't help with your current issue but something to keep in mind for the future.

 

[SourRoses]

With them already very sick you are far better off getting some tolturazil. I believe it's easier for Canadians to get online (?). But your vet could certainly prescribe it.

When they are already very sick they can go downhill fast. One thing I learned the hard way is that when they sit with their feathers all puffed out, it's because they're cold. The illness makes it hard for them to regulate their body temperature.
Helping them with a heat light (and plenty of room to get away to cooler spots) saved some of mine when I learned that trick.
In summer, that makes it hard for you to offer... but it could still be done. Just remember they can overheat very easily so they need really good options for getting distance. And it depends what your outdoor temperature is. It's pretty time intensive to manage the temp of fully feathered birds, but if done well - hopefully with helpers, it could buy them an extra day or two while you get your hands on the meds to treat.
Make sugar water available very close by, and keep the water cleaned and changed at least once a day.
I also thought it helped when I offered a sweet flock-block style treat meant for chicks, it was a small cake but had molasses, ground corn, seeds, and worms in it. Something so tempting they would keep trying to eat it even when they didn't feel well. Also some egg yolk, but it doesn't become more tempting for sitting out, so if they didn't take it fairly quickly I would dispose of it and try again later. The purpose was not good nutrition but just getting enough calories in to keep them alive.

Herbs / DE / Vitamins won't be any help.