Cocci question! Please help!

[dannyelle123]

So here is my predicament...

1 week ago I foolishly got a new chicken and DID NOT PRACTICE GOOD BIO-SECURITY!!! My plan was to have the chicken separated through a fence (foolish) but I left for a few hours and came home the chicken had gotten through the fence and was mingling with the other chickens and I figured it would be okay. Big mistake! The chicken is about 12-15 weeks old. The chicken was in my coop for 3 days! Upon more thoroughly examining the chicken I noticed she was missing feathers which I thought were just from the rooster she was living with. Ugh....! No, it was mites/lice! Which I am treating for and her feathers seem to be growing back and are looking much better! I treated her and the whole flock with garden/poultry dust as well as cleaned out the coop and sprinkled the dust in the new bedding and all over the run.

Presently she is quarantined in my garage, but I started noticing intestinal lining in her poop! Coccidiosis! Yesterday I started her and my entire flock on Corid powder 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

My flock currently consists of 3/16 week pullets and 3/7 week pullets. I also switched everyone to medicated feed. They haven't started showing any signs of cocci and I'm hoping they won't contract it. The pullet in question spent the majority of her time (the 3 days she was mingling) inside the coop so I am hoping that reduced the chances of any spread of cocci in the run.

The chicken is eating and drinking on her own and will hopefully respond to the corid treatment.

My question is: If she pulls through and I no longer see signs of cocci, possibly keeping her quarantined for a month and treating my other chickens with 2 rounds of Corid, will they still be at risk of contracting cocci when she is integrated? I am also planning to treat her for worms and continue treating for mites/lice in 7 day intervals, as well as treating my coop again.

Are there any steps I can take to ensure that the cocci doesn't spread to the other chickens? What else can I do? Should I bleach the coop? The run is dirt is there anything I can do to the run to disinfect?

Thanks,
Dannyelle

 

[MeepBeep]

For all intents every chicken has cocci and they carry it forever, it's everywhere in the environment and nearly impossible to avoid...

That said the chicken will build up an immunity after being exposed and then as long as they stay healthy they can control the cocci by themselves... This is the purpose of medicated feeds, it give them a low dose of Amprolium that kills back the cocci but leaves some behind so that the chickens have an easier time building up their natural immunity.... Same thing when medicating with Amprolium (Corid) it doesn't eradicate the cocci it just lowers the cocci numbers so the chickens own immune system can catch up an get back on top of things...

Good sanitation is always a plus as it lowers their exposure to heavy doses of new cocci, but you will never get rid of it... So don't jump to bleaching everything just yet, chances are after you treat with Corid their bodies will catch up and they will be fine, that doesn't mean basic cleaning won't help but you don't need to go to extremes...

 

[dannyelle123]

So does that mean it will be safe to add her back into the flock when she recovers?

 

[MeepBeep]

So does that mean it will be safe to add her back into the flock when she recovers?

Should be unless you have a boat load of cocci in the coop that overloads her upon return, but as I said if you perform normal sanitation and cleaning you should be fine...

Since you treated everyone the cocci number in the coop area should have dropped significantly already...

 

[dannyelle123]

Is there a good way to clean a dirt run?

 

[MeepBeep]

Is there a good way to clean a dirt run?

I would not even bother trying it's really, really, really hard to kill the oocyst found in the ground and feces (bleach is for all intents useless expect on smooth solid surfaces) so short of nuking the entire area with highly toxic chemicals (like a 10% or heavier ammonia solution) or burning it to charcoal you are not going to accomplish much trying to clean the ground, just monitor the chickens upon return for signs that they are having cocci problems again, and if so treat them again...

 

[dannyelle123]

Thanks you have put my mind at ease!

 

[dannyelle123]

Meep, tell me I'm being paranoid!

Is this black spot a fowl pox?

 

[MeepBeep]

Meep, tell me I'm being paranoid!

Is this black spot a fowl pox?

Probably just a pecking injury/scar...

 

[dannyelle123]

God, I hope so! Beating my head against the wall for not taking the necessary precautions!