Coccidia is killing my flock one by one- tried everything

[Jarsheart]

I have spent hundreds of dollars at the vet. My silkie chickens are dying one by one of coccidia. I had gone several weeks without a death, then had a sudden death today. He died at the vet in my lap. I have used corid, sulfamet, sulfatrim and still he died. I did not use the two sulfa drugs back to back of course. Any other ideas ? I am down to eight chickens, and can't take much more of this.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am sorry this is happening to you and your chickens, alot of people on here have silkies, maybe Pm someone with experience in Silkies, one person I can recommend is Bat Cave Silkies, hope this helps.

 

[SilkieTime]

So sorry, Did you do 1 1/2 tea. to 2 qt. for 5 days then two weeks do it again?

 

[silkiechicken]

What kind of coop are they in? Might help if you get them off the soil up into wire cages without floors. Eliminating or greatly reducing their contact with soil/poop will stop cocci from re-entering their digestive tracts. The drugs can only control what is gong on in the bird, does nothing for the cocci that is consumed.

 

[SilkieTime]

What kind of food do you have?

 

[PepsNick]

Disinfect a new area, and move them in. Cocci always stays in the soil, and can't go away. Same with the location. It's a lot easier to treat early on. If all of them die, I would recommend vaccinating your next flock for cocci from 1-3 days old.

 

[Harrietsmum]

I used 'Baycox Piglet' for mine. Give .5 ml per kg of body weight orally once a week for three weeks. Easy to administer and works almost immediately. Because it administered straight into the bird's mouth, you can guarantee that each bird is getting the correct dose.

 

[Jarsheart]

Quote:
I have two coops. Both have wooden hen houses that are raised off of the ground, with runs that are 8 ft long, 3 ft wide, and 3 ft tall on the ground. The runs have dirt in them, a combo of dirt that was on the ground mixed with playground sand and topsoil. The coops are only a few feet away from each other, but so far my older coop is the one with all of the deaths. I have allowed the chickens from both coops out into the same area, but not at the same time. I have never let the chickens from one coop into the other. I wanted the runs to be on the ground because it seemed better for the chickens, so they could scratch around and dust bathe. I also did not want their feet to have pressure sores from wire...I was told it was better, and as a kid that is how we kept our chickens with NO problems. Now my little flock of 12 is down to 8, the first one died in September. Some show symptoms, some don't. This one died within 3 hrs of showing symptoms of distress. I have a hen who has been sick for weeks, but is still hanging in there for now. She is now a house chicken, and is being taken care of by my mother 24/7.

 

[Jarsheart]

Quote:
What do I use to disinfect, and where do I get it ? If they all die, I am DONE DONE DONE with this. Having them gives me so much joy, but losing them is crushing me. My head feels like it is in a nut cracker, and the number of tears I have cried is a number too great to count.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Baycox! Or Marquis (the horse paste) or clinacox. The active ingredient should end in -uril (ponazuril, toltrazuril, diclazuril). If your vet is already working with you on this, they can help you find the tiny portions you need. They may need to contact a compounding pharmacy but it's available and possible. You can buy portions from larger farms in the area as well, if you can find someone willing to break up a pack for you.

The big problem with the first-line defenses by vets - usually corid or albon - is that they only depress the coccidia. Usually that works because the animal can get the upper hand and recover, but for a strain that is harder to fight off corid and albon can be basically useless. The -urils will kill the coccidia.