cocci?

[fiddlebanshee]

I think one of my 7 weeks old chicks has come down with cocci. I haven’t observed her poop so I don’t know if the poop is watery or bloody but she is listless, sits separate from the rest of the chicks and is very slow to move. I guess droopy would describe it best. I’ve never had a case of cocci so I’m a little unsure of what to do.

I’m running to TSC for some corrid or sulmet but my questions are --

1. should I isolate her?
2. I should probably treat the entire group of chicks, which are still separate from the main flock, separated by chickenwire.
3. Should I also treat the main flock (my gut feeling is no). Can I track the disease to the main flock with my shoes and then infect them too? I think I read somewhere that adults are generally immune for cocci.
4. If I treat the whole group of chicks should I still keep the sick one separated to be able to observe her a bit more closely? The rest of the chicks are not bothering her (yet). It’s hard to catch her, she still has the energy to run from me when I try to pick her up.
5. What else could it be? She doesn’t seem to have respiratory symptoms. I haven’t been able to catch her to inspect her crop. Seen from a distance it doesn’t seem to be very large.

Advice from anyone with experience would be appreciated.

 

[Chambertin]

1) Always isolate chicks who act really different.
Gives you a chance to confirm symptoms and observe behavior without any other chicks picking on her.

I have no experience here, but it is transmitted through droppings and thus anything that comes in contact with the ground or droppings can carry the parasite too.
If it turns out to be coccidiosis then you might want to treat everything.
Again I havent had to deal with it myself, but in researching some really strange poops that lasted for a week I also noticed that adults arent "immune" they just have built up a resistance to the parasite. In fact the birds who survive without (and sometimes with) treatment just live with it and possibly pass it on to incoming chicks.

With that in mind:
2) If you have it, treat the flock
3) Same (better chance of it not being passed to the next batch of chicks)
4) Always separate chicks who arent normal. Just better for everyone in my opinion.
5) Too many things to think of. It seems everything in the world tries to kill a chick.
Isolate, Identify, Intervene

Good luck, and wish I had some personal stories to share.
EDIT: Spelling

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Thanks for the reply. I went and got a medium size dog carrier and isolated the chick, with corid laced water and medicated crumbles and some yogurt. Then I sat and observed. After the fright of being picked up and moved wore off she first tried to get out, and when that wasn't possible she seemed to settle in. She ate some, drank quite a bit and took a few sips of the yogurt. Then she stood with her eyes closed for a while.

While I had her in my hands I felt her crop and it seemed empty and squishy. I couldn't really feel a bulge so I don't think it is anything crop related and the fact that she started eating maybe meant that she hadn't had anything to eat for a while. She also looked as if she was going through a hard molt, which is possible I guess at about 7 weeks.

The other thing is that I changed the feeding situation in their brooder to a hanging feeder. I'm now thinking perhaps she didn't figure out where the food went. The feeder that is in the isolation cage is the feeder she was used to.

So perhaps it's just the feeder thing and the molt and she's exhausted. I will try to feed her some scrambled eggs later to boost the protein.

So two follow-up questions.
1. If a chick is afflicted with cocci, will it eat? Or will it generally drink but not eat?

2. If it is feeder related and not an illness will the corid harm her?

 

[Chambertin]

Sorry I dont know anything about Corid. The medications we have here in China are different.

If the poor chick is affected with cocci, then everything can appear normal except for her at rest behavior and stool. The stool being the first to show change and she'll get weaker and weaker as it gets harder for the body to absorb nutrients.
So if she gets better fast and you dont see any really strange poop then she just got confused.

Keep here there for some recovery time and if nothing strange appears let her back in with the rest.
For my sick and or problematic chicks I put them back in when they are well enough to try and climb the walls of the isolation box.

Good luck~

 

[mamazta]

Observe her droppings if is not bloddy then may be a vitamin defficience. I did had to treat my silkies for cocci wich I use sulmet since it will be good for any bacteria, corrid do not treat some kind of bacteria.Keep her out of mediacade feed and put her in regular feed for the time you give her the sulmet or corrid. If her droppings look normal then maybe a vitamin defficience ( wich happen to one of mine 7 orpington) I give her complex B12 liquid in the morning(2 drops) 1 vitaminD gel capsul(open the capsule and squeze in) at noon and 1 vitamin E gel capsule before bed within 1 week she was running and back to be herself again.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Update

Today my little red chick was a lot better. Perkier, curious and wanting out of the isolation cage. When I put her in isolation her crop was totally empty, I couldn't feel a thing in there. During the last two days, she was eating a lot and drinking the corid water. Today, in the afternoon I took her out and carried her around a bit. She seemed happy to be out of the box and was curious to what was going on around her. Then we went for a stroll and I let her fourage a little outside. She never ventured very far from me, and really warmed up to me, sometimes coming back to take a short nap on my knee. She also pooped while outside and it was a normal solid chicken poop. So I think we can now rule out coccidiosis. I don't think this would have cleared up so quickly had it been cocci.

She feels very, very thin. Bones, skin and feathers. I fed her some extra grain for the extra calories and my working theory right now is that because I hung the feeder from the rafters at the beginning of the week that she never figured out where the feed went and didn't eat for a couple of days,and it would explain why she is so thin. She seemed famished, kept eating until her crop was full and then immediately when it was a little bit empty she ate again. I'm going to keep taking her out by herself for the next couple of weeks to give her some really nutritious treats to get her back to the weight the others are. I have also hung the feeder a little bit lower so that I am sure she can look into it and identify the food. I will keep an eye on her that she is actually eating.

Thanks to all for the advise and I will hope that we've identified what the problem actually was.

 

[Chambertin]

If nothing else I hope my ramblings helped you calm down and get the right answer.
The little ones are a mystery at times.
Hope she pulles through and stays healthy.

 

[KaitlynnM]

Hi there! New to BYC
I have a silkie who is young maybe about 2 months or so? (i need to start writing it down) She is extremely thin, i just noticed this this morning as i couldn't tell by all her feathering, she is sluggish and won't move. I picked her up and she couldn't support her self. I am wondering if it is cocci, or if she is being picked on and therefore not eating. She is with a group of cochins who are all the same age as her and they are fine, and they are all with my older laying birds which are 4 months old.
The silkies symptoms are: weak, extremely thin,runny poos and very tired where she can't keep her head up.
I have order corid powder but it won't be here until the end of the month (in canada)
I gave her an egg for protein to give her some energy. Once i separated her she went right to the food and ate some of the egg and then went to sleep.
So is it cocci or maybe being bullied so she can't eat?