Change bedding with Coccid?

[Iluveggers]

So after the advice of a few BYC ers, I am treating my 3 week old chicks with liquid Corid for Coccid after finding a bloody stool this morning

My question is, the chicks are in a brooder with deep pine shavings bedding. Do I need to discard all of it & start over? I have a few branches that have been in there since the first week for the chicks to climb on, & have sanitized my 2 waterers. I put new pine shavings in every evening to mix in to the old bedding. My brooder is a big cardboard box so I can’t bleach it, or get another box that size to switch to. I’m seeing conflicting info. Either sanitize everything and throw it away, or leave the bedding as they have all been living there for 3 weeks and are exposed anyway. Thanks again for your input.

 

[Blue Raptor]

So after the advice of a few BYC ers, I am treating my 3 week old chicks with liquid Corid for Coccid after finding a bloody stool this morning

My question is, the chicks are in a brooder with deep pine shavings bedding. Do I need to discard all of it & start over? I have a few branches that have been in there since the first week for the chicks to climb on, & have sanitized my 2 waterers. I put new pine shavings in every evening to mix in to the old bedding. My brooder is a big cardboard box so I can’t bleach it, or get another box that size to switch to. I’m seeing conflicting info. Either sanitize everything and throw it away, or leave the bedding as they have all been living there for 3 weeks and are exposed anyway. Thanks again for your input.

If they have been pooping in the litter than yes.

 

[fleurchickens]

When I have to treat my chicks for cocci I change shaving every other day.

 

[Iluveggers]

Thank you. Here is a pic of the cleaned brooder. Any suggestions on the easiest way to keep it clean? I only put in a few shavings this time. It took me over an hour to clean it all...so I’m looking at the simplest way to keep everyone healthy & safe. I had a bunch of sticks/roosts I removed to keep the items I need to clean at a minimum. Should I walk by & pick up all poos? Changing puppy pads was time consuming and will be expensive. Please be honest, if this was your setup what would you do?

 

[Swbertrand1]

Thank you. Here is a pic of the cleaned brooder. Any suggestions on the easiest way to keep it clean? I only put in a few shavings this time. It took me over an hour to clean it all...so I’m looking at the simplest way to keep everyone healthy & safe. I had a bunch of sticks/roosts I removed to keep the items I need to clean at a minimum. Should I walk by & pick up all poos? Changing puppy pads was time consuming and will be expensive. Please be honest, if this was your setup what would you do?

Looks great! When we're brooding chicks (in huge plastic storage container), we put a large towel down under the shavings. This does two things: 1) give the chicks significant traction because the shavings slide on the plastic bottom, and more importantly, 2) makes it super-easy to clean. We remove the chicks and feeder/waterer for a few minutes, fold the towel up and remove all the shavings/bedding at once. Then we put a new towel down, drop some new shavings in, and replace the chicks and their feeders.

Don't know if that will work for your setup, but it works for us and takes about 5 minutes at the most. Take the towel to the trash can, shake it out, then wash in hot water with bleach with other white "chicken" towels...

 

[Iluveggers]

Looks great! When we're brooding chicks (in huge plastic storage container), we put a large towel down under the shavings. This does two things: 1) give the chicks significant traction because the shavings slide on the plastic bottom, and more importantly, 2) makes it super-easy to clean. We remove the chicks and feeder/waterer for a few minutes, fold the towel up and remove all the shavings/bedding at once. Then we put a new towel down, drop some new shavings in, and replace the chicks and their feeders.

Don't know if that will work for your setup, but it works for us and takes about 5 minutes at the most. Take the towel to the trash can, shake it out, then wash in hot water with bleach with other white "chicken" towels...

That’s a good idea. How often do you change it?

 

[Swbertrand1]

That’s a good idea. How often do you change it?

We "scoop the poop" as much as we can with paper towels cut into quarters several times per day as the chicks are working overtime to poo on everyting! Thus, we keep a stack near the brooder for the duration Every few days or so, we might have to add some pine shavings, but this works to keep the bedding mostly poo-free, certainly free of the still moist poos...

To your question about changing the towel/bedding, that gets changed about once per week. As I'm sure you've realized, there is no way to get all the tiny little pieces of dried poos out of the bedding easily, and it falls to the bottom of shavings, so we just do a wholesale change about every week.

Our March temperatures can easily reach 80 degrees, and we rotate our chicks out of the indoor brooder to an outdoor enclosure over the grass and in the sun on warm days. This is the perfect opportunity to "change the sheets" so to speak and do the weekly brooder cleaning. Yeah, it's more work than some would put in, but we are insistent that the chicks have the cleanest brooder possible short of a daily change of their bedding.

Hope that helps.

 

[Iluveggers]

We "scoop the poop" as much as we can with paper towels cut into quarters several times per day as the chicks are working overtime to poo on everyting! Thus, we keep a stack near the brooder for the duration Every few days or so, we might have to add some pine shavings, but this works to keep the bedding mostly poo-free, certainly free of the still moist poos...

To your question about changing the towel/bedding, that gets changed about once per week. As I'm sure you've realized, there is no way to get all the tiny little pieces of dried poos out of the bedding easily, and it falls to the bottom of shavings, so we just do a wholesale change about every week.

Our March temperatures can easily reach 80 degrees, and we rotate our chicks out of the indoor brooder to an outdoor enclosure over the grass and in the sun on warm days. This is the perfect opportunity to "change the sheets" so to speak and do the weekly brooder cleaning. Yeah, it's more work than some would put in, but we are insistent that the chicks have the cleanest brooder possible short of a daily change of their bedding.

Hope that helps.

Ok thank you that was really helpful! I can put the thick toilet paper next to the brooder (doesn’t flush well w our septic but we bought anything we could during covid & it clogs), & use that to pick up as much as possible. I think I’ll change the whole bedding after the 5 days of treatment. They’ll only be inside for another 10 days, going to the coop soon, so I can monitor indoors until then.

If anyone else has advice/ideas please share!