Coccidiosis saga - advice please!

[Avfields]

Oh dear think there might be Capillaria in Sybil's poop. We already started the Flubenvet yesterday, on the vet's advice, will check when we can expect the lab results to confirm.

Might explain why the coccidiosis has hit so hard.

 

[azygous]

Oh, that's sure obvious. No test needed. Evidence is right in front of your eyes.

 

[Avfields]

Hi folks - sad news I'm afraid, Minnie didn't make it. She was so weak, she just started panting a few minutes after tube feeding this morning, couldn't keep it up, gasped a few times and that was it.

Sybil has been doing much better, she's gained a little weight, and is eating normal chick feed, preening, and keen to join the other chooks. Still keeping a close eye on her - she's panting a bit every now and then (vet mentioned passing the dead worms can be a bit stressful for them), and her poop still has quite a few (hopefully dead) oocysts in.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Avfields]

Hopefully a final update - Sybil is out with the other two, and seems to be scratching about & dustbathing pretty happily.

We finally got the lab results back - high numbers of coccidia (as expected) - no capillaria eggs found. May be that I'm wrong and it was just some gross poop, but I feel more like it is hard to spot capillaria eggs in amongst a sea of coccidia. I've wormed everyone in any case, and do another fecal test in a month or two.

The lab results also showed they have campylobacter, but I'm not sure this is surprising, especially given the two older birds are from a commercial organic farm. It shouldn't harm them, but there's a risk that it gives us food poisoning! Vet offered antibiotics but without much confidence they would do anything, and also suggested trying dosing them with 'Beryl's Friendly Bacteria' in an effort to out-compete the campylobacter - so we'll try that instead. But as ever - careful handwashing needed!

 

[Eggcessive]

Campylobacter is very common in chickens, and it usually is not that big of a problem to them. We can get food poisoning from them if we eat undercooked chicken or don’t wash out hands well enough after handling them. It causes bloody diarrhea and painful cramping, but it fairly self limited. It is the most common type of food poisoning. I am certain that I had it when I had baby chicks from a hatchery in a brooder.