Coccidia Outbreak

[fourfeathers]

Well, I have a coccidia outbreak with my outdoor chickens. Maybe my experience will help someone else know the signs before it is too late. Noticed blood in someone's poo yesterday which alerted me. BUT, I have had one hen that has been lethargic, droopy, feathers ruffled looking and Not bloody poo-but Very Smelly and Runny. Took her to the vet today and had a fecal done which confirmed coccidia. Am treating them all with Corid 9.6% solution, 1 t. per gallon of water. From all the posts on here that appears to be the correct dosage and also what my vet said. He said between 1 1/2 teaspoons per gallon. Since she had it so bad, my vet wants me to treat for 7 days instead of 5. I feel so bad that I didn't know that the runny, smelly poo was coccidia because there was no blood. In reading, I guess it doesn't always present with blood. I hope they can recover.

Been having a bad time of it this past week. Lost my Favorite Rooster of 9 years, Pepper, to an infection/abscess near his crop. He probably had the coccidia too, which may have weakened his immune system. He was droopy, no diarrhea though and had been losing weight. I attributed that to his age. Then, on 2/27 I noticed an abscess above his wing that extended to his crop. Went to the vet and they tried to lance/drain it. He ended up aspirating and dying in surgery. So sad to lose him.

Question.....the chickens with coccidia are Outside. I have a pet pheasant Inside who is never exposed to the outdoor ones. The only exposure that could happen would be my wearing my boots/shoes indoors, which I try not to do. Should I treat her preventatively (unsure if pheasants differ in whether they can have Corid or not, or just keep an eye on her?

Also, is Corid a good treatment for the chickens? It seemed relatively safe from what I have read.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
I am still treating my flock for a VERY BAD Coccidia outbreak that took 10 of my flock. They went FAST. Most of them were the younger chickens, which I kept in a ginormous brooder long after I stopped giving them medicated feed. I put 'em outside in their grow out coop, then two weeks later they were set free to mingle, and within a week they were sick. I forgot the fact that the medicated feed needs to be given to chicks in order to build up their resistance, which means they must be exposed to it...

I'm treating with Corrid V in everybody's water, plus some water soluable, powdered vitamins specific for poultry. After the first day, there was dramatic improvement and only a couple more chickens died.

I can't answer the question about pheasant, but it is my understanding that coccidia is species-specific. I don't know if that means "birds" or "chickens versus pheasant, turkey, quail, etc."

Good luck! I felt like the worst chicken keeper in the entire world, losing so many so quickly from something I probably could have prevented had I managed their feed correctly.

 

[chickengrl]

gryeyes,
so the medicated feed should be fed to them for a period of time after they are introduced to the outside? I am a little fuzzy in this. Thanks

 

[NanaJune]

Well, I have a question about Cocci, too. I have a flock of Light Sussex that are a year old. None of them appear sick, and they live in a covered pen. But I let them outside to roam and free range in the backyard. Today, I noticed bloody poo on one of the roost poles beside the nesting boxes. There were some worms in it, so I was going to deworm with Wazine - I attributed the blood to worms. We dewormed last September with Wazine, as well.

Will the worms cause the bloody poo? The worms were long and skinny and white. There weren't A LOT of worms; only a couple. So, is it possible that the blood is from the worms, or should I worry about Cocci, too?

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Hopefully what you saw was intestinal lining that sometimes has blood in it and is occasionally excreted and is normal. Take a look at the poop chart and you'll see a couple of examples:
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
Sounds like you're dealing with large roundworms. Usually if you only see a couple, it means you have hundreds infesting your chicken and laying thousands of eggs. Wazine will get them, but you should follow up in 14 days with another wormer to kill the worms that were missed the first time.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
I am still treating my flock for a VERY BAD Coccidia outbreak that took 10 of my flock. They went FAST. Most of them were the younger chickens, which I kept in a ginormous brooder long after I stopped giving them medicated feed. I put 'em outside in their grow out coop, then two weeks later they were set free to mingle, and within a week they were sick. I forgot the fact that the medicated feed needs to be given to chicks in order to build up their resistance, which means they must be exposed to it...

I'm treating with Corrid V in everybody's water, plus some water soluable, powdered vitamins specific for poultry. After the first day, there was dramatic improvement and only a couple more chickens died.

I can't answer the question about pheasant, but it is my understanding that coccidia is species-specific. I don't know if that means "birds" or "chickens versus pheasant, turkey, quail, etc."

Good luck! I felt like the worst chicken keeper in the entire world, losing so many so quickly from something I probably could have prevented had I managed their feed correctly.

gryeyes,

Do not give vitamins while treating for cocci. The amprolium prevents absorbtion of thiamine, which is needed by the cocci oocytes to multiply. So when you supplement with vitamins which generally include thiamine, you are boosting the amount of thiamine they can absorb.

Does that make sense???

 

[gryeyes]

pips&peeps :

Do not give vitamins while treating for cocci. The amprolium prevents absorbtion of thiamine, which is needed by the cocci oocytes to multiply. So when you supplement with vitamins which generally include thiamine, you are boosting the amount of thiamine they can absorb.

Does that make sense???

Sure does. THANKS!

(In all honesty, I forgot about the vitamins and only added them for the last two days; I'll stop that now. I will be doing the Corrid V treatment for another three days, total of 7.)​

 

[fourfeathers]

Would you all suggest Corid or sulfadimethoxine as being more beneficial/effective in treatment? Have read that sulfadimethoxine (Not Sulmet) is effective but can be hard on kidneys and Corid more safe, but may not treat as well. Any thoughts?

 

[NanaJune]

Quote:
Hopefully what you saw was intestinal lining that sometimes has blood in it and is occasionally excreted and is normal. Take a look at the poop chart and you'll see a couple of examples:
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
Sounds like you're dealing with large roundworms. Usually if you only see a couple, it means you have hundreds infesting your chicken and laying thousands of eggs. Wazine will get them, but you should follow up in 14 days with another wormer to kill the worms that were missed the first time.

Thanks so much! That last picture of the intestinal lining is exactly what it looked like. I've never noticed that in any of my chickens before, but most are free range during the day, so I don't always see their poo! I will use the Wazine this week. I've never wormed with anything else, though. What would I "follow up" with besides Wazine? I was told at one time you can use Safeguard Goat Wormer (which we have for our goats), but I don't know how much to give chickens!

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

a help for cocci is dry milk in the feed, (whole) it coats the intestine and helps it heal, don't go nuts with it just dust the food, kinda like powdering a donut. it's an old fashioned treatment for before meds.
I have used it and it does work, I don't use meds, dry milk only, I have very little problem with cocci.