Coccidia Concerns

[AVintageLife]

I have three BR and two EE pullets that will be a year old at the end of this month. My daughter wanted a few silkie chicks of her own and we have finally found a farm with some week old, assorted colors and hope to pick up four on Friday. I spoke to the owner of the farm and asked what she was feeding the chicks. She said medicated feed, which was good since I planned to feed the new chicks the medicated feed for six months (as I did with my current flock) as well as Braggs ACV in their water. During the conversation, she mentioned that she's "had coccidia" in the past but very healthy chicks this year. Now I'm a little concerned or maybe I shouldn't be and this is just something chicken owners have to contend with. I planned on keeping the new chicks completely separate from my flock for at least six weeks and assuming they are on the medicated feed containing amprolium and I practice the correct bio security (always tending to them AFTER my main flock), will everyone be OK? At some point I would give the chicks some clumps of grass/dirt from the yard to introduce current germs to them. I wasn't planning on completely integrating the two flocks until end of July/early August anyway but hoped they could be in the coop/run separated by hard cloth some time after quarantine. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I think you have a good plan. Unless your ground is particularly fowl-sick you should be OK doing what you outlined. Medicated feed, clean water, DRY bedding are the keys ot preventing coccidiosis.

 

[AVintageLife]

I think you have a good plan. Unless your ground is particularly fowl-sick you should be OK doing what you outlined. Medicated feed, clean water, DRY bedding are the keys ot preventing coccidiosis.

Thank you for the peace of mind, I sincerely appreciate it. DRY bedding does seem to be a key to this and since dry bedding is what keeps the odors down, I've always got dry bedding, lol. When we got our first chicks last summer, you should have seen the farm where they came from. So many chickens in the run that you couldn't see the ground, what seemed like a gazillion roosters, complete chaos. Being total newbie, I didn't think "what pests/diseases could these chicks have". Brought the chicks home and gave them best care possible, didn't lose any. Don't want to upset the apple cart and make them sick now. Thanks again.

 

[rbaker0345]

Quarantine is a very good idea. All chickens carry coccidia, it just becomes a problem, mostly in young chickens, when weather or sanitation conditions allow it to get out of control.

 

[Michael Apple]

Quarantine for at least a month is the recommended time. Coccidiosis is everywhere in the environment just like E. Coli.
Here's some reading about coccidiosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1138/coccidiosis-control

There's no reason to feed them dirt or grass to build immunity if they are outside picking and scratching. That's what the Amprolium in medicated feed is for. ACV is not a daily supplement. It is antibacterial, and some say helps with calcium absorption by breaking it down in the bird's digestive tract. Even then, how much actually depletes the bird of calcium if it breaks it down? Your chicks are nowhere near the egg producing stage, so why give ACV for that? Why would you acidify the drinking water with ACV while using amprolium laced feed? I never used ACV on flocks where birds were 10 years old. My current flock is 8 years old and rarely use it. ACV is merely another overrated supplement operating off of old wives tales. The same with DE.

 

[AVintageLife]

Quarantine for at least a month is the recommended time. Coccidiosis is everywhere in the environment just like E. Coli.
Here's some reading about coccidiosis:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1138/coccidiosis-control

There's no reason to feed them dirt or grass to build immunity if they are outside picking and scratching. That's what the Amprolium in medicated feed is for. ACV is not a daily supplement. It is antibacterial, and some say helps with calcium absorption by breaking it down in the bird's digestive tract. Even then, how much actually depletes the bird of calcium if it breaks it down? Your chicks are nowhere near the egg producing stage, so why give ACV for that? Why would you acidify the drinking water with ACV while using amprolium laced feed? I never used ACV on flocks where birds were 10 years old. My current flock is 8 years old and rarely use it. ACV is merely another overrated supplement operating off of old wives tales. The same with DE.

Thank you for your wisdom, you're so right about cocci, it appears that it is everywhere. Makes me feel like it will be OK. I don't have the new silkie chicks yet but they wouldn't get ACV for quite a while. My existing flock is a year old this month and I do give them ACV in their coop water, plain water available in the run. I use DE in the dust bin in the coop together with ash from the woodstove but not in the run. I think it's great in the winter when I can't get dirt to go with the ash for their dust bin. Aside from medicated feed, I like the natural approach, figure ACV can't hurt in moderation, but I guess there's no way to know if it's really helping either. It's in my pantry anyway, don't mind sharing with my girls. Appreciate all you experienced flock masters sharing your wisdom with us newbies!