Coccidia in Wyandotte Chicks or something else? - help

[KateJJ]

I'm a first time chicken momma and I'm terrified! Help please I'm desperate I have 14 day Old wyandotte chicks. I noticed 2 were very small, I saw yellow foamy-ish droppings and one girl lays slightly on her side and is a tad less active.

I suspect coccidia so begin corid 20% at 1.5 teaspoons per gallon. I began treatment 36 hours ago.

All chicks are eating and drinking. I have also been weighing my chicks for the last 7 days, all of which are gaining weight. Even the smaller girls, thank God.

My questions are:
1. How long before symptoms improve?
2. Is there anything else I can do?
3. Am I missing something? Could it be a different disease?

 

[coach723]

I usually see improvement in 1-3 days with Corid, it can vary depending on the strain of coccidia and how sick they are to start. You can also give them a direct dose, in addition to the medicated water, instructions for that are here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-oral-drench-instructions.1211991/
Any that you know are showing symptoms, I would do the oral dose to help get the meds in them.

 

[KateJJ]

I usually see improvement in 1-3 days with Corid, it can vary depending on the strain of coccidia and how sick they are to start. You can also give them a direct dose, in addition to the medicated water, instructions for that are here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-oral-drench-instructions.1211991/
Any that you know are showing symptoms, I would do the oral dose to help get the meds in them.

Thank you! Does anything else present the same as coccidia? Just wondering if I'm missing something or if I'm truly doing everything I can for my babies.

 

[coach723]

Coccidiosis is the most common ailment in chicks. Corid is very safe, so if in doubt, treating is the right thing to do. Have you seen any improvement in droppings or in behavior yet?

 

[KateJJ]

Coccidiosis is the most common ailment in chicks. Corid is very safe, so if in doubt, treating is the right thing to do. Have you seen any improvement in droppings or in behavior yet?

This biggest improvement I've seen is the weight gain. Prior to treatment my two smalls were only gaining about 0.1 ounce per day. 24 hours after treatment started they gained 0.5 ounce. At least I think I can attribute that to treatment?

Droppings are about the same - yellow foamy-ish but I do occasionally see them expel more normal droppings albeit smaller sizes than the droppings from our healthier larger chicks.

I'm still quite concerned with their lack of activity/sleepiness.

 

[coach723]

Try giving them the oral dose today as well, see if they improve. It can take some time.

 

[KateJJ]

Try giving them the oral dose today as well, see if they improve. It can take some time.

@coach723 another user responded in the corid thread with this :

"Cocci usually does not bother chicken chicks like they do peachicks. It is more likely a bacterial infection, I would give one drop of Baytril orally and repeat if no progress is made within a day."

Everything I've read states that chicken chicks can indeed be effected by coccidia ... Now I'm confused. Do you have any insight? Am I taking the right steps by treating these symptoms as coccidia or should I switch to the baytril as this other used suggested?

 

[coach723]

I don't know who said that, so don't know what they are basing it on. Chickens can and do get coccidiosis, chicks being the most vulnerable. I would do what you are doing. Could there be something bacterial? Yes. Do I have a way to tell that for sure? No. I'm going with the odds, coccidiosis being the more common and prevalent issue with chicks. Since treatment is pretty safe, I always say if in doubt, treat. The likelyhood of it doing any harm even if it was something else is very, very small.
With very small chicks, it can be very difficult to know anything for sure. It's possible that the two smallest have other issues either from incubation or hatch that are not obvious. Some chicks fail to thrive for no real known reason.
This has a very good, informative video on coccidiosis if you are interested (post #1), speaks mostly of industrial applications but the information is still applicable to anyone that keeps poultry:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coccidiosis-video-worth-watching.1262022/#post-20259051
For the future, I have not had an outbreak of coccidiosis in chicks in almost 8 years. I started giving my day olds a saucer (large plastic plant saucer) of dirt from my yard. The saucer makes it easy to dump, clean and refill with new soil. They scratch and peck and dustbathe in it. It exposes them naturally to the microbes in the soil gradually while their immune systems are maturing, same way a broody hen raised batch of chicks would. I do keep Corid on hand in case I need to treat, but my incidence has gone to zero (so far) since doing this with every brooder batch.

 

[KateJJ]

I don't know who said that, so don't know what they are basing it on. Chickens can and do get coccidiosis, chicks being the most vulnerable. I would do what you are doing. Could there be something bacterial? Yes. Do I have a way to tell that for sure? No. I'm going with the odds, coccidiosis being the more common and prevalent issue with chicks. Since treatment is pretty safe, I always say if in doubt, treat. The likelyhood of it doing any harm even if it was something else is very, very small.
With very small chicks, it can be very difficult to know anything for sure. It's possible that the two smallest have other issues either from incubation or hatch that are not obvious. Some chicks fail to thrive for no real known reason.
This has a very good, informative video on coccidiosis if you are interested (post #1), speaks mostly of industrial applications but the information is still applicable to anyone that keeps poultry:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coccidiosis-video-worth-watching.1262022/#post-20259051
For the future, I have not had an outbreak of coccidiosis in chicks in almost 8 years. I started giving my day olds a saucer (large plastic plant saucer) of dirt from my yard. The saucer makes it easy to dump, clean and refill with new soil. They scratch and peck and dustbathe in it. It exposes them naturally to the microbes in the soil gradually while their immune systems are maturing, same way a broody hen raised batch of chicks would. I do keep Corid on hand in case I need to treat, but my incidence has gone to zero (so far) since doing this with every brooder batch.

You

 

[KateJJ]

@coach723 you are my angel today, seriously THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I just finished my lunch break check on my chicks and all have gained 0.2 to 0.4 ounces in the last 24 hours. I'm taking that as a win and hoping it means we made the right choice to test for coccidia. I haven't seen any fresh droppings (none that I'm confident in evaluating as "current/new") but in terms of activity my little ladies seemed a tad more spunky at lunch.

Hallelujah, thank you thank you!