Coccidia Info Needed

[ScavengerBird]

Our two month old chicks have been eating medicated chick starter since we got them at 2 days old.

Today one of them started acting lethargic, broody, and was pooping blood so we took them to the vet and it was confirmed she has coccidia. It's not a very severe case, apparently we caught it right as it was beginning to start, so we are starting to medicate them with Corid today.

My question is can they still be eating the medicated chick feed or should we be feeding them something else because I believe I've read before that one will cancel out the other.

I also would like to know is it going to be okay if we go ahead and medicate everyone else, including our big birds that are in a separate coop.

 

[DobieLover]

You don't need to treat the adults kept separate from the chicks.
I would stop feeding the medicated feed and switch them over to an All Flock or Flock Raiser type of feed and just keep them on that.
I would treat using the severe outbreak dose as amprolium is very well tolerated by chickens.

 

[ScavengerBird]

We have some adults in the same area as them, they're in separate pens, but they're all only about three feet apart... I'm more worried about shoes or clothing or anything like that having it on it that we may have carried it to the ones in the big separate coop.... Would it hurt them if we went ahead and dosed them? Just as a sort of precautionary?? The others are all right at 5 to 6 months old, except for my rooster who is about 5 or 6 years old.

 

[ScavengerBird]

.

 

[Mosey2003]

Corid water and medicated feed don't cancel each other out, but it ends up being more amprolium than necessary. You can grab a small bag of unmedicated chick feed.

If you want to treat the whole flock, you can. Corid won't hurt them, and the eggs are safe to eat. But it shouldn't be necessary. Carrying the oocytes to the other pen really isn't a concern - trust me, the other pen is already full of them. Everywhere is full of them, they live in the soil. The older birds just don't get sick because they've built up their tolerance. Now, had you been at someone else's farm and they had chicks with coccidiosis, I would absolutely say wash and disinfect your shoes, etc because there are different strains, and that can be problematic.

 

[ScavengerBird]

We went to a sale barn about a week ago and some people did have chickens there, I'm worried that it could have possibly have come from there..... I've never had a bird be diagnosed with it so I'm not sure how to handle it, luckily I had corid on hand just in case.

I'd like to dose them anyway as a precautionary, they're all under 6 months, so do I do it for the 5 days at two teaspoons per gallon or do I need to do it for less?

 

[Mosey2003]

Dose the chicks at the full treatment dose and then the step-down dose. I'd do the adults at the preventive dose for 5 days. I don't have the little graphic on hand that gives all the doses, it will depend on whether you have liquid or powder Corid.

You didn't bring coccidia home. They're literally everywhere. It's just a thing that happens with chicks. Some years, you can raise chicks any which way you like and they'll never have an issue. Other years, you can do everything "right" and still lose some from coccidiosis. It just varies. Wet years are especially bad.

 

[ScavengerBird]

Okay makes me feel a little bit better to think that we didn't bring it home somehow so thank you.

We've looked up the dosages for liquid corid and we'll just keep them on the five-day preventative just in case. I'm going to separate the worst from the flock and the chicks with her and treat them with the full dosage. She's got a slow crop on top of it and we're trying to make her throw up what's in it so we can get her start eating again.

 

[Mosey2003]

Now, you do want to worry about sale barns though. Or any other place you visit with chickens. Best practice to immediately change your clothes (put them in the washer), shower, and scrub and bleach your shoes. Some people go so far as to disinfect their tires. The worries there are more things like respiratory diseases you can bring home. But not coccidia, you simply can't escape that.