Can I give week old chicks amprolium and poly vi sol at the same time?

[Phililorp]

I've had 3 chicks die in the last 2 days and I'm not sure if it's from a vitamin deficiency or coccidiosis. Therefore, I want to add amprolium to their water and give them 2 poly vi sol droplets today (or can I mix it into the water along with the amprolium?). Is it okay that I give both to them on the same day? Also, how long should I give the chicks poly vi sol? I read I should give them amprolium for 5 days. Also, can I give poly vi sol WITH iron or must it be WITHOUT iron?

 

[coach723]

Poly vi sol should not be given at the same time as amprolium. Amprolium is a thiamine inhibitor, which starves the coccidia, giving anything that contains thiamine (which poly vi sol does) may reduce the effectiveness of the medication. What symptoms in the chicks are you seeing before they die? Were these purchased? Shipped? Hatched by you? How many chicks do you have, what is your brooder set up like, size, bedding, heat source, etc.

 

[Phililorp]

Poly vi sol should not be given at the same time as amprolium. Amprolium is a thiamine inhibitor, which starves the coccidia, giving anything that contains thiamine (which poly vi sol does) may reduce the effectiveness of the medication. What symptoms in the chicks are you seeing before they die? Were these purchased? Shipped? Hatched by you? How many chicks do you have, what is your brooder set up like, size, bedding, heat source, etc.

We bought our 12 australorp chicks from a breeder here in the Philippines. We keep the chicks in a brooder that is about 6 square feet and use a thermometer to check on the temperature. We use rice hull bedding, feed them starter feed, and clean the waterer twice a day. For the symptoms, the chicks became very lethargic for about a day and then right before death suffered seizures for a few minutes and then died. It happened to one chick, then another, than another. Whatever the problem is seemed to affect the chicks one at a time. Now we have 9 chicks left but they all seem pretty good. They are all lively, eating, drinking, running around, but the other chicks seemed fine as well until they weren't.

 

[coach723]

Do you have resources there to have one necropsied? One week old is young for coccidiosis, but it doesn't sound like a vitamin deficiency either. What kind of lamp are you using for heat? An incorrect bulb that is not intended for poultry can give off fumes that are deadly. Have you had any pasty butts or abnormal droppings? Coccidiosis will usually present with runny, or mucousy, or bloody droppings. Check your feed for any signs of spoilage. If it's still in the original bag, dump it all into another container and look through all of it, sometimes a bag looks good on top and has spoiled at the bottom. Any color change, green/whitish/grayish or any strong odor or clumping would mean probable spoilage. And bad feed can do this. With nothing else to go on, between vitamins and amprolium, I would do the amprolium at this point, if it happens again or if you see symptoms. Lethargy is another symptom of coccidiosis and amprolium is pretty safe, it won't hurt them if it's something else. I also might contact the breeder you got them from and explain what has happened, see what they say.
For future reference, poly vi sol without iron is what you want.

 

[Phililorp]

Do you have resources there to have one necropsied? One week old is young for coccidiosis, but it doesn't sound like a vitamin deficiency either. What kind of lamp are you using for heat? An incorrect bulb that is not intended for poultry can give off fumes that are deadly. Have you had any pasty butts or abnormal droppings? Coccidiosis will usually present with runny, or mucousy, or bloody droppings. Check your feed for any signs of spoilage. If it's still in the original bag, dump it all into another container and look through all of it, sometimes a bag looks good on top and has spoiled at the bottom. Any color change, green/whitish/grayish or any strong odor or clumping would mean probable spoilage. And bad feed can do this. With nothing else to go on, between vitamins and amprolium, I would do the amprolium at this point, if it happens again or if you see symptoms. Lethargy is another symptom of coccidiosis and amprolium is pretty safe, it won't hurt them if it's something else. I also might contact the breeder you got them from and explain what has happened, see what they say.
For future reference, poly vi sol without iron is what you want.

For the light the only available ones here for heat are incandescent because brooder lights aren't available locally. Product availability in the Philippines is nowhere near what it is in the US (I'm from the US) and the province-wide lock down here is impairing supply lines to our local area. In other words, we are stuck with the light we have. However, we keep the brooder well ventilated. For the feed, I think it all looks good. It's uniform in color. We check the chicks for pasty butt every day and there were a couple of cases early on but we don't see it much anymore. Maybe the ones that died were the ones that had it? Here is a picture of a poop from this morning (the poop is on the top of a feeder we made that a chick jumped on):

Thanks so much for all of your help by the way!

 

[coach723]

That could be a cecal poop, but it does look runny/mucousy, so I would go ahead with the amprolium. Particularly if you are seeing them more than occasionally.

 

[Phililorp]

That could be a cecal poop, but it does look runny/mucousy, so I would go ahead with the amprolium. Particularly if you are seeing them more than occasionally.

Will do! We added some to their water and will give it to them for 5 days. Afterwards we will start giving them vitamins.

 

[Phililorp]

That could be a cecal poop, but it does look runny/mucousy, so I would go ahead with the amprolium. Particularly if you are seeing them more than occasionally.

I want to let you know I think the amprolium is making a difference This afternoon when we cleaned their poops we saw the poops were harder than before. They were like chips when mixed with the rice hull. Before it seemed like the poops never dried. The chicks were also more active today and ran around and pecked things all day lol. They also started to act more independently. Before, they all slept as one unit and ate as one unit, but now sometimes a couple are sleeping, a couple are drinking, and the rest are eating. We will continue treatment for 4 more days and then switch to giving them vitamins.

 

[coach723]

Glad it seems to be helping. Sincerely hope they all do well and you don't lose any more.

 

[Phililorp]

Glad it seems to be helping. Sincerely hope they all do well and you don't lose any more.

Thanks! I really hope we don't lose anymore. My wife and I hope to breed these one day but losing them all would destroy our confidence. I don't know if I would want to keep trying and up killing batch after batch of chicks I read a few chicks dying is just how it goes sometimes, but 25% is too much.