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what do you mean by "virgin" ground??
i have chicks for the first time (they are on med. food) how can i be sure i don't have to go through what you have unfortunately experienced?
Generally, coccidiosis is "all over the place" when you have chickens. But if you have never had chickens before, and chickens have never pooped in your dirt, you might not have any coccidiosis for them to be exposed to when they are on the feed.
How to avoid this? That's a tough one. I had a friend who obviously had it in her flock (never been sick, added chicks from the same batch as mine, I took her roos into my flock of hens, then BAM!) so I can assume her chickens got it from somewhere. They were hatched from eggs they got from a friend. Then the chicks they got from the same order as mine were fed the medicated feed and raised with these other chickens. Apparently they were exposed to coccidiosis and became resistant to it while on the medicated feed.
I say apparently, because when the roos came into my flock, the only birds to get sick were the hens. For the coccidiosis to be so severe and sudden, it can only mean that THEY didn't develop the resistance to it when they were supposed to (while chicks on medicated feed). The roos were all fine - happy and healthy - but the hens were dropping like flies.
If you knew someone with an otherwise healthy flock (raised with good biosecurity from NPIP certified hatchlings, etc.) but that had coccidiosis (like I have now), you could get a shovelful of soil from their coop and intentionally add it to yours, and then feed the birds the coccidiostat so they can develop the resistance. Sort of like a "vaccination" - purposely expose them to it while treating them for it. Once this is done, they should be resistant to it for the rest of their lives.
Want a shovelful of dirt? I'll mail it to you...
Edited to add - if you never add to your flock with actual chickens brought in from the outside, you may never introduce it at all and you may never have an outbreak. Apparently coccidiosis it pretty chicken-specific, a passing sparrow is unlikely to poop it into your coop. So if you have a "closed flock" and you are sustainable, you may never have it introduced. If you see general signs of lethargy even if you DON'T see bloody poo, I would just treat with Amprolium (Corid) ASAP because that might be what it is.
Side note - The withdrawal time from Amprolium for slaughter (to actually eat the meat) is ZERO days. That tells me it's also safe to eat the eggs, although that study has not been done, so they can't claim that it's true. But I'd eat them.
