Chicken's May Have Disease - Need Advice

[Wyandottes7]

I did end up using an eye dropper to get some water into the rooster previously, but he's drinking on his own again. Also picked up both Diatomaceous Earth and Poultry Protector. Anyone have any experience with either and how well they perform? I plan on treating the chicken's with the Protector and sprinkling the DE around the coop. On another note, the rooster is still moving very little and almost always just standing with his eye's shut. They all still have watery poo and they've been on the corid for about 3 days now. From what I've read about cocci, it was probably on day 4 or 5 that the signs began and since they've made it past day 6 or 7 they should be immune to that strain now. Is this typically the case? I was hoping I'd see more improvement by this point, though we certainly have seen some. Thanks again for all the help!

I've used Poultry Protector before on my birds. It worked pretty well mostly, but I needed to use Sevin dust once to get rid of a stubborn mite infestation.

 

[Valley Farmer]

Well, it's day 5 of the Corid treatment and they're all still here which is great. However, while the hens seem almost 100% back to normal, our rooster is still hardly moving and just stands or sits with his eye's closed. He also seems a bit unsteady on his feet, but I'm not sure if this is due to him hardly walking in the past 6-7 days or whatever he may have. He is drinking and eating, though not as much as usual. His poo is a little runny yet and has a green tint to it. The last one was almost yellow and green. I'm including a couple pics, but the color doesn't show to well. Any additional advice would be great. Just not sure what to do next, since this is the final day of the Corid and if we do try something else, how long to we have to wait? We could bring him to the vet tomorrow, but if we can avoid it and save the money that would certainly help (not against it though). Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[Eggcessive]

Corid can be given for 7 days, and you can repeat it half strength just for the rooster. He may have a worse case of it, and he may not be taking enough of the Corid water. The strains of coccidia causing blood in the stools tend to be more dangerous. Here is a link you may want to read: http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_91839.html

 

[casportpony]

If he's been getting enough of the water that's been medicated to the .024% level (1.5 to 1.75 teaspoons or 4.536 grams per gallon) for 5-7 days and you haven't seen improvement, it's possible that it's a strain of coccidia that is resistant to amprolium. In that case, switching to a sulfa drug might be more effective and it might also treat a bacterial infection if he has that, but if he hasn't been drinking enough, you could try to tube the water to him. Make sense?

Here is a thread I started that shows number of mg of amprolium in both the powder and the liquid and the math I used to get there. Bottom line... Using 1 teaspoon of powder is the exact same as using 5.6ml of the liquid, which would be fine for a moderate outbreak where the recommended dose is .012%.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/818879/updated-corid-and-amprol-amprolium-dosing

Lots of other posts in this thread I need to reply to, lol, but need to be on the computer, not this stupid iPad!

-Kathy

 

[Valley Farmer]

We've been treating them all with 1.5 tsp to a gallon. I'm not sure, but if it is cocci wouldn't they all have the same strain? They all seemed to come down with it at the same time.

On another note, we've had them in one section of our garage/barn while we're finishing their actual coop, so I've been searching around to see if there's something they may have gotten into. Didn't find much except one thing that may or may not be significant. It's a bit nasty, but i keep a 2 or so gallon bucket partially filled with water as a mouse trap. Mice climb on the rim and more often than not fall in and that's the end of them. Well there were definitely several decomposing mice at the bottom and a lot of the water was missing. Even though it was in a section they typically never went to, I'm almost positive they must have drank some of the water (droppings around it). I have no idea what if any impact this would have on them, but I would guess they could get e-coli or some other bacterial infection (probably among other things). Don't know if this would change anyone's thought's, but maybe this caused similar symptoms to cocci, I have no clue. The rooster seems to get bursts of energy, where you'd almost think he was back to normal, but then he goes right back to being lethargic and seemingly very sleepy. I gave him some crumble mash mixed with the corid water and he was eating that up good. If anyone's had a similar experience with their chicken's drinking putrid water, please let me know what if any impact that had. Like I mentioned previously though, the hens bounced back pretty quickly after giving the Corid treatment. Sorry to keep this going so long, but at the same time that's what make's a thread of this kind useful for people in the future. I've seen so many that ask a question or two, a bunch of people reply and then nothing. It's nice to know the end result of issue/suggestions for future reference (at least I think so). Have a good night all.

 

[casportpony]

A bacterial infection is definitely a possibitly. What antibiotics do you have?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Is there any chance you could get a him to poop on a white surface? That would make the poop diag easier.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Or poop on hardwood floors works, too!

-Kathy

 

[Valley Farmer]

I could certainly put down some white paper and pass your request along. I may try to have a fecal test done at the vet tomorrow to narrow this down. No antibiotics on hand now but we had him on I believe Tylan50 right after the fox attack (Oct. 7) and for 1 week thereafter. What would be recommended and how soon after stopping the Corid could we try something else? It's pretty stressful to see the poor guy in this condition, especially after how happy we were to see he survived that attack and was recovering nicely. He was almost like having a dog around the yard. You could literally call him and he'd usually come running! I know some people probably wonder why all the fuss over one rooster, but we hoped he'd be with us for a while. After all what's a flock of hens with out at least one rooster anyway?

 

[casportpony]

If you're willing to have some vet work done have them do a fecal float for worms *and* a gram stain for bacteria, then they could recommend a proper antibiotic, something like Clavamox or Baytril.

-Kathy