Coccidia in fecal test

[The Cave]

Thought you guys might find this cool, I’m a vet tech so run my own fecals at the clinic.

I ran some assorted fecals from my brooders 3 weeks old and 6 weeks old. Both were positive for mild coccidia. The 6 week old chicks were on medicated feed until 4 weeks old. They also had no outside time or chicken visits with any older chickens. My brooders are scooped out and re bedded before placing new chicks. I got a couple chicks from another breeder and moved 3 of them from one brooder to the other when they started picking on my one chick, so I believe it came from maybe one of them but it’s hard to say.

Coccidia is actually super common, especially in 3 week and older chicks. I’m interested to run more fecals from my older chickens apparently a lot have it in low numbers but build immunity to certain strains. I am medicating all of them currently but aside from one bloody stool no other symptoms. I only found 2-3 eggs per high pass field so really not a cause for concern but definitely don’t want it getting any worse.

 

[sloanbychoice]

I’ve heard from several vets that almost all chickens will test positive for it. A lot of people, on finding a positive, start treating, thinking it’s an issue. Apparently, it really isn’t always.
I would be interested in checking mine for curiosity’s sake.

 

[The Cave]

I’ve heard from several vets that almost all chickens will test positive for it. A lot of people, on finding a positive, start treating, thinking it’s an issue. Apparently, it really isn’t always.
I would be interested in checking mine for curiosity’s sake.

Exactly, if I didn't have some blood in stool I would not have treated. I was so stumped at first because everything I read on the internet relates coccidia to lethargic, puffed chick/chickens and fatalities, yet all my chicks are happy, eating, drinking and running around like normal. I also learned that the mucus you see in relation to coccidia stools is the chickens body trying to protect the intestinal lining, which truly shows how equipped chickens are for these situations.

 

[The Cave]

Update: We are a few days after our first treatment and no more bloody poops. Doing our second dose on Wednesday Doing another fecal test on probably Thursday and then next Tuesday to ensure we are in the clear. Everyone is still thriving, no signs of weak or sickies.

Food for thought- we had a late pinkish poop on Saturday only from the brooder that was on medicated feed for weeks 1-4 of their lives....I am very intrigued by that!

 

[bhawk-23]

Update: We are a few days after our first treatment and no more bloody poops. Doing our second dose on Wednesday Doing another fecal test on probably Thursday and then next Tuesday to ensure we are in the clear. Everyone is still thriving, no signs of weak or sickies.

Food for thought- we had a late pinkish poop on Saturday only from the brooder that was on medicated feed for weeks 1-4 of their lives....I am very intrigued by that!

What's the verdict? Still had trace amounts or was your flock completely clear of it?

My thoughts: If it's common and we want the chicks to get immunity wouldn't treating a very small amount in fecal samples clean out the system and they would then have to aquire more immunity to it as the coccidia builds up again?

 

[Kirmi8]

Update: We are a few days after our first treatment and no more bloody poops. Doing our second dose on Wednesday Doing another fecal test on probably Thursday and then next Tuesday to ensure we are in the clear. Everyone is still thriving, no signs of weak or sickies.

Food for thought- we had a late pinkish poop on Saturday only from the brooder that was on medicated feed for weeks 1-4 of their lives....I am very intrigued by that!

Hi! What did you end up treating with?

Just did a fecal on my girls (reason for getting it done was some of them have messy bums). And they found similar amounts that you did. He said nothing to be alarmed about if there were no symptoms.