Coccidiosis in 6 day old chick?

[Henwig]

I received 17 chicks from Cackle on Friday and they all arrived healthy and active. On Sunday I noticed one black copper maran chick acting listless, with a pasty butt. I cleaned her up and have been feeding her Corid with a dropper but there has been no improvement. She won't eat and she has bloody poops. The other chicks are fine, one has pasty butt but we are watching her, and I added corid and probiotics to all of their water. Sick chick is separated within the brooder, breathing but listless. The chicks are indoors in a brooder. Is it possible for her to contract coccidiosis or could this be something else? Any advice?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your chick is having trouble.

Yes any chick can contract coccidiosis... since coccidia are in EVERY single chicken poo. But it usually takes 6 days for symptoms to appear. And ONLY one strain (out of 9 or 11) will appear as blood in the poo.

Do the probiotics you added have vitamins in them? What else are you feeding?

Don't WATCH pasty butt, clear it... it is deadly fast.

Yes, it could be something else... like failure to thrive or something internal, genetic that we can't detect. I have been hatching chicks like popcorn this year... and I just can't believe that a perfectly healthy looking chick can still seem to fail to connect with food... the way SOME do. I mean I will pick it up and drop pieces and the other chicks will be crowding around eating and there will be 1 who just seems too stupid to acknowledge the food. (I'm sure stupidity isn't the issue).

When I had one chicks who was starting to get lethargic from pasty butt... seems like it took a short wile to bounce back... it's backed up the whole system and if gone on for long enough causes total system failure. Also the first time I had to treat for Cocci, I didn't see improvement I expected right away.. So I took a float to the vet to confirm I was treating the correct thing. And I was, I just had to be patient. Are you sure you've got the dose correct... drench or treatment dose and not preventative? Are you able to post a pic of the poo or the chick?

Corid acts by blocking thiamine, a B vitamin... to starve out the coccidia and SLOW their growth, to allow the chicks immunity to build a little more resistance... since it's only an issue when they are overwhelmed by them. But it's important if you are treating with Corid that you aren't supplementing vitamins or other water source.

For shipped chicks, I always crush my feed a little extra... and start with poultry nutri drench in the water to help them get a stronger start.

For your listless chick... I would push fluids every 20 minutes until I saw improvement. And IF it isn't getting ANY feed... then I would likely ensure that the water had some sugar (I prefer brown for the micro nutrients but white is fine) in it for energy. No energy means too sleepy to eat or drink even. There may already be some in your electrolyte mix... but check the vitamin content. If it has vitamins and your pretty sure you are dealing with cocci (I'm not positive)... then I would discontinue and consider making a homemade electrolyte solution, recipes are everywhere.

@casportpony our resident dosage educator..

Hope your chicks pull through!

 

[Henwig]

Thanks for your help! She is on the treatment dose of Corrid and the probiotics don't have any vitamins. She is about the same as yesterday, laying on her side with very wet poo, though less bloody now. We are hydrating 1-2x per hour during the day. She can stand briefly after we pick her up to feed her. She still has't had any food, but is taking the water/med mix and I just added sugar. The other chicks have grown so much in one day compared to her!