This is a thread to help people know if their birds have coccidiosis (aka: cocci) or not.
I read about this, or heard about it so many times. To be honest it always seems to come up in the "Whats wrong with my bird?" replies.
The problem to me is that so many people misdiagnose this. Meaning the real problem continues and the medicine theoretically looses effectiveness.
First, here is what you are fighting against: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccidia
So here's how you can tell if your birds have Cocci.
YOU CAN'T!
Check out the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccidiosis
"Most animals infected with coccidia are asymptomatic; however, young or immuno-compromised animals may suffer severe symptoms, including death."
There are some subtle clues that you can find, but for the most part a healthy chicken doesnt even know until its too late, and only then its because of blood in the droppings. Most likely you and your chicken will be looking at each other in the morning pointing at the same bloody poo scratching your head saying, "***, that cant be mine / yours."
Coccidiosis is a parasite that lives in the guts. Most often it lives at sustainable levels (wont hurt nobody) and the host wont even know. However every so often the parasite decides to go bonkers and over multiplies. In my experience this seems to happen with the first infection and only to the birds you really really like. This disease hits like a hammer or is never noticed, so be ready for that. The best thing you can do is react quickly and try to prevent it from building up.
Your best defense and the only defense you'll ever need are a broom and maybe a mop with a disinfectant.
Best and simplest way to avoid cocci is to sweep the coop out regulary. If they can see poop and eat poop they will build up cocci. Everything has the stuff, dogs, birds, pigs, hell people probably do too. The only difference is how much.
Ok the next part: Looking for clues.
Asymptomatic is asymptomatic. Runny poops happen, red poops happen, strange stringy poops happen. Dont get alarmed over strange poop. Poop has many colors and surprises, it really is a perfect way to see how your birds are reacting to their diet.
I learned a lot about poop watching my chickens and turkeys as we have a large number of wild birds visiting our balcony and they poop and my chickens eat it. I was always looking for cocci and other things.
Even with all that watching, there was almost no way to tell a major outbreak was impending. To be honest I shouldnt have been watching, I should have been sweeping.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, NOTHING, until one night. I saw some watery and odd poop. The 3 before this one were fine. Solid, Solid, Cacel with snow (the chocolate pudding ones with white sprinkles before bed that STINK), then kablam this from the hen:
It was different, but at the time I didnt think much of it. I took a picture only because there was a second one from the rooster in the morning. You will notice the much denser ura and the odd lining like strings. On their own not a big problem, but together this is the only warning you will get with cocci.
24 hours later it was confirmed, the ONLY way you can confirm cocci unless you break out a slide and microscope. Blood in the fecies. Trust me that blood in the poop is unmistakable. It's blood and obvious. Vampires would ask for a shot of it its so obvious. Before blood there is nothing, no trickle, no specks, no rusty runny poo, its nothing then blood. My chickens even had healthy poop in between the warning squirt and the blood.
If you want to treat early then buy the medicine when you see poop like the above
So here was what I saw the next afternoon:
Confirmed, it is coccidiosis. We ordered the medicine right away and it got here in time to make a big difference. However it was too late as it had spread into the chick area before we even knew we had it. In less than one day every bird was pooping bloody.
The most confusing part about this disease is that the bird goes back to perfectly normal poops in less than 4 hours. As you can see:
It even passed the sniff test by our dog. Its slighty reddish in the sniff check picture, but well within normal paramaters. Then the next morning was a bloody mess. So if you get caught by cocci dont feel bad about not noticing it, just get on the proactive list and clean more often.
Coccidiosis is a cleaning disease, or really bad luck. Still I think its all about cleaning. Now with 24 chickens and 2 turkeys we havent had a repeat and thats after the new 14 met the old 10 who still have some cocci parasites somewhere in them or the dark corneres of the coop. We're much more active in the cleaning and it shows in bird health.
What do do if you see blood?
Get meds and hope for the best, the faster you can kill the parasite the faster the bird can repair the damage. You will see blood even after the parasite is gone, but dont worry it shouldnt get worse and these tough poulty can bounce back. Our largest two wernt even phased by it and they lots the most blood by far.
Recap of the photos:
WARNINGS
Results
The casulty of war
He was much larger, and going to be a rare pure white feathered Black Phoenix Silkie.
Zhimahu (jer-ma-who) You will be remembered
I hope this story helps people to know more about coccidiosis and make the right decision on when and why to use treatment. The medicine is hard on the bird and should only be used like wormer, when you have the parasite.
EDITS: Spelling and a couple other mistakes
I read about this, or heard about it so many times. To be honest it always seems to come up in the "Whats wrong with my bird?" replies.
The problem to me is that so many people misdiagnose this. Meaning the real problem continues and the medicine theoretically looses effectiveness.
First, here is what you are fighting against: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccidia
So here's how you can tell if your birds have Cocci.
YOU CAN'T!
Check out the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccidiosis
"Most animals infected with coccidia are asymptomatic; however, young or immuno-compromised animals may suffer severe symptoms, including death."
There are some subtle clues that you can find, but for the most part a healthy chicken doesnt even know until its too late, and only then its because of blood in the droppings. Most likely you and your chicken will be looking at each other in the morning pointing at the same bloody poo scratching your head saying, "***, that cant be mine / yours."
Coccidiosis is a parasite that lives in the guts. Most often it lives at sustainable levels (wont hurt nobody) and the host wont even know. However every so often the parasite decides to go bonkers and over multiplies. In my experience this seems to happen with the first infection and only to the birds you really really like. This disease hits like a hammer or is never noticed, so be ready for that. The best thing you can do is react quickly and try to prevent it from building up.
Your best defense and the only defense you'll ever need are a broom and maybe a mop with a disinfectant.
Best and simplest way to avoid cocci is to sweep the coop out regulary. If they can see poop and eat poop they will build up cocci. Everything has the stuff, dogs, birds, pigs, hell people probably do too. The only difference is how much.
Ok the next part: Looking for clues.
Asymptomatic is asymptomatic. Runny poops happen, red poops happen, strange stringy poops happen. Dont get alarmed over strange poop. Poop has many colors and surprises, it really is a perfect way to see how your birds are reacting to their diet.
I learned a lot about poop watching my chickens and turkeys as we have a large number of wild birds visiting our balcony and they poop and my chickens eat it. I was always looking for cocci and other things.
Even with all that watching, there was almost no way to tell a major outbreak was impending. To be honest I shouldnt have been watching, I should have been sweeping.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, NOTHING, until one night. I saw some watery and odd poop. The 3 before this one were fine. Solid, Solid, Cacel with snow (the chocolate pudding ones with white sprinkles before bed that STINK), then kablam this from the hen:
It was different, but at the time I didnt think much of it. I took a picture only because there was a second one from the rooster in the morning. You will notice the much denser ura and the odd lining like strings. On their own not a big problem, but together this is the only warning you will get with cocci.
24 hours later it was confirmed, the ONLY way you can confirm cocci unless you break out a slide and microscope. Blood in the fecies. Trust me that blood in the poop is unmistakable. It's blood and obvious. Vampires would ask for a shot of it its so obvious. Before blood there is nothing, no trickle, no specks, no rusty runny poo, its nothing then blood. My chickens even had healthy poop in between the warning squirt and the blood.
If you want to treat early then buy the medicine when you see poop like the above
So here was what I saw the next afternoon:
Confirmed, it is coccidiosis. We ordered the medicine right away and it got here in time to make a big difference. However it was too late as it had spread into the chick area before we even knew we had it. In less than one day every bird was pooping bloody.
The most confusing part about this disease is that the bird goes back to perfectly normal poops in less than 4 hours. As you can see:
It even passed the sniff test by our dog. Its slighty reddish in the sniff check picture, but well within normal paramaters. Then the next morning was a bloody mess. So if you get caught by cocci dont feel bad about not noticing it, just get on the proactive list and clean more often.
Coccidiosis is a cleaning disease, or really bad luck. Still I think its all about cleaning. Now with 24 chickens and 2 turkeys we havent had a repeat and thats after the new 14 met the old 10 who still have some cocci parasites somewhere in them or the dark corneres of the coop. We're much more active in the cleaning and it shows in bird health.
What do do if you see blood?
Get meds and hope for the best, the faster you can kill the parasite the faster the bird can repair the damage. You will see blood even after the parasite is gone, but dont worry it shouldnt get worse and these tough poulty can bounce back. Our largest two wernt even phased by it and they lots the most blood by far.
Recap of the photos:
WARNINGS
Results
The casulty of war
He was much larger, and going to be a rare pure white feathered Black Phoenix Silkie.
Zhimahu (jer-ma-who) You will be remembered
I hope this story helps people to know more about coccidiosis and make the right decision on when and why to use treatment. The medicine is hard on the bird and should only be used like wormer, when you have the parasite.
EDITS: Spelling and a couple other mistakes
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