Coccidiosis treatment- I need to know if I am covering all of my bases-Need experienced help please!

[luvaduck88]

I have 20 chickens, 1 chick, 5 ducks and 12 ducklings on the property. My 9 older hens (just over a year) and rooster free range and my ducks usually do as well. At this time only my two drakes are out right now with the chickens because my ducks have ducklings that they hatched recently-Ducks and ducklings have access to coop and an enclosed run to keep them safe. I have 1 lonely chick that my ducks hatched for me and I took it into my care as soon as it hatched. She lives in a tote in my bathtub currently, but I take her outside daily to walk around and explore with me. My other 9 chickens are pullets and cockerels around 14 weeks of age and they have their own coop and temporary fenced in area. Two weeks ago I saw blood inside their coop and after checking them all over thoroughly for injuries, I saw one cockerel poop out pure blood. I took a fecal sample to my vet the next day (it was a Sunday when I saw it and collected it). It came back the following day as a moderate coccidiosis infection and I was instructed to treat them with corid as follows:

3/4 teaspoon (corid powder) /gallon of water for five days straight. Vet told me that if they stay in the same run, to follow up with another three days of the same dosage after a month has gone by. She also told me that my other birds did not need to be treated if they didn't have access to the younger birds run because they likely have built an immunity to cocci at this point in their life.

It has been one week today since the fifth and final day of corid treatment in this group. Even before treatment, my birds were seemingly happy, healthy and active and did not seem to be ill in any way. I did notice that they were a little skinnier than they probably should be, but not to the point of it being concerning. I am now noticing sneezing, but no nasal discharge. They are eating readily and drinking as normal.They are still active, but don't seem to be gaining weight as I expected them too.

I read in another post on here that the dose is supposed to be 2 teaspoons/gallon of water minimum and this alarmed me. That is WAY more than I gave them and I am wondering if I didn't give enough corid in their water? How should I go about cleaning their coop and run thoroughly to prevent reinfection? It is temporary fencing and can be easily moved, but if I do move the fence to a clean patch of grass (there is still grass in their run now) will my other birds be exposed to cocci by walking on and grazing where their old fence was? When should I move the fence during treatment? Should I be treating all birds on the property even if they are not exhibiting signs of illness?

Advice is greatly appreciated as this is my first time dealing with this issue and I want to make sure I get rid of it for good!

 

[coach723]

The dose I use for 20% Corid powder is 1.5 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days, then 1/2 tsp per gallon of water for 7 days. Made fresh daily.
(The 2 tsp amount is correct for Corid liquid which is usually 9.6 % rather than 20%).

If you are a week out from treatment with no symptoms then your dose probably worked. Often times 5 days is enough, the lower second dose time is kind of insurance, to make sure it's gone.
Cocci can survive pretty much forever in the soil. It is really not possible to eradicate it. Your birds will build immunity and be less susceptible to infection. If you have another health issue in a bird that weakens their immune system they can get the infection again.
If you introduce new birds, they are susceptible to the cocci in your soil, and new birds can bring in new strains that your current birds may not have resistance to.

I have cocci and have occasional outbreaks, usually after really rainy wet periods where the ground stays wet for a while. If you have places that tend to stay wet, I'd try to remedy that. Make sure droppings don't build up, and feed and water is clean. Otherwise I just keep Corid on hand, and monitor my birds health on a daily basis. Anybody looks lethargic or fluffed up they get looked at closely and I treat the flock if neccessary. Corid is pretty safe, and if I suspect it's coccidiosis I treat. Having said all that, it is not a huge panic, just something to be aware of. Younger birds and chicks are much more susceptible than older birds (unless new). Also, not every strain of cocci will produce blood in the droppings. So any runny or unusual dropping is cause for investigation.

If your birds are not gaining weight then worms would be a question. Have they ever been wormed?
Lots of opinions on worming on this forum......
My birds are wormed every 3-4 months with Safeguard and Valbazen (alternately), because of my climate and environment.
Every 6 months may be adequate where you are. You can have a fecal float test done to confirm. Lots of worms are not visible in droppings.

Hope that helps.

 

[luvaduck88]

Thank you so much for your response it helps a lot! As I said before, they weren't really showing any symptoms of illness other than the bloody stools which I knew was a red flag. What other symptoms should I be looking for in them besides ruffled feathers and lethargy?

My three dogs eat the free range birds poop constantly while they are outside so that is a big concern of mine as well as my other birds contracting it. I have yet to let this cocci treated younger group free range because they are still smaller than my established flock and my older girls are not very welcoming to new comers. Also I obviously want to make sure they don't continue to spread this around my entire property.

Is there something I should use to disinfect their coop at the very least? I have taken out their old bedding, but I feel like it should be scrubbed down and hosed out?

I had purchased 6 of the 9 birds 7-8 weeks ago and then added 3 new ones in around a month ago. I usually always quarantine, but I wanted to add the new ones to the group asap to avoid fighting. I wonder if these three brought something with them maybe. Their fenced in yard doesn't have any wet spots and is all grass although it needs to be moved soon because they have eaten it down pretty low and feces is starting to build up some.

I have a few hens who have been concerning me lately, but I am unsure if this is related or not. Since you said any kind of unusual droppings should be investigated I wonder if they are showing signs just without the blood. I have one hen in particular that has been drinking insane amounts of water in the past month+ to the point of her overflowing when she bends over and it comes out her mouth. She also has had really watery stools that come blasting out of her like a super soaker... There are formed stools in it, but the majority of it looks like straight water. She has had messy bum feathers that I have cleaned for her several times and I am starting to see some of my other hens are starting to have watery stools now too. Obviously something is going on with them, but I just don't know what it is. This hen that drinks a ton is 15 months old and still has never laid an egg for me...

None of my birds have ever been officially dewormed. I have only used an herbal mixture dewormer once and I have added the "rooster booster -multi wormer triple action Type B medicated feed concentrate & vitamin supplement" to their feed in the past, but I don't remember doing it recently. I am not opposed to deworming, I guess I just didn't really know which ones to start with so I appreciate the suggestions and I think I will try to purchase both the safeguard and valbazen and give them a whirl. Do you have the dosages for these dewormers on hand? I had a mixed sample of many different poops in my hen house tested at the vets last fall, but it may be time to do it again. They didn't tell me there was anything else that came up positive in the bloody sample that was tested recently from my younger group though I don't think deworming them would be a bad idea.

Do you think I should follow the vets advice and dose the young ones again with corid in 3 weeks?

Thanks again!!!!

 

[luvaduck88]

Also, can I use safegaurd and valbazen for my ducks as well? Id like to just deworm everyone at the same time if at all possible.

 

[coach723]

I don't have ducks so am not sure, but I think you can use both safeguard and valbazen in ducks also. Please verify that with someone who does ducks though!
Dosages with both meds are by weight. For Valbazen the formula is : weight in lbs/2.2 X 20 mg /113.6
So plug in a 10 lb bird and the dose would be .8ml. For my standard size chickens I just do .5 ml and repeat in 10 days.
Safeguard (liquid goat wormer) dosages I use are .75 ml for large breeds, .5 ml for standard and .25 for bantams. Again it's by weight, and also redose in 10 days.
It's important to redose after 10 days. That will get any newly hatched worms that escape the first dose, and break the reproductive cycle.
There are other wormers which you can find dosing for on here, these are what I use because of availability and they are effective against most of the common worms. It's a good idea to alternate wormers to minimize any resistance build up. There are some specific cases that need different dosing, like tape worms, which you can look up if you ever need it. Wazine only works on roundworms and because of how it works I would not recommend it for a first worming. It kills the worms off all at once and that can be too much for the bird. Safeguard and Valbazen work differently and don't put as much dead worm load on the bird all at once.
How often you need to worm is very dependent on your climate and environment. Some people have little to no problem and for others it's chronic. I've used herbals, etc. and have not found them effective, and when it's mixed in feed there is no way to know they actually got the appropriate dose.
My most common symptoms of a wormy bird are runny, watery droppings, dirty butts, weight loss, and less active.

For the dogs, my understanding is that they CAN pick up coccidia from the droppings, and spread it. I don't know if that applies to all strains or not. Puppies are more at risk of getting sick than adult dogs, or dogs with weaker immune systems of course. More likely they become carriers and spread it around. The symptoms of a sick dog would be the same, runny, mucousy, or bloody stools. Having said that, my dogs are around the chickens all the time, and have never become ill. Probably more something to be aware of than to worry unduly about. But I would discourage the eating of droppings.

The ruffled feathers, lethargy, not eating, and runny, mucousy, or bloody stools are the most common symptoms in birds. And in some cases it can progress really quickly to death, especially in chicks.
Sometimes it's difficult because most of those are really common symptoms in birds sick with any number of things. Also, there are about 9 strains of cocci that affect chickens and not all of the strains present bloody droppings.

The only thing I personally clean my coop with is vinegar. There really isn't much that will totally eradicate cocci that I am aware of. Keeping things reasonably clean, dry, and if possible rotating your outdoor run areas are the best way to manage it. I power wash things once or twice a year, other than that it's just the daily vinegar wipedown, and general cleaning. I use the deep litter method in my covered coop and run and it does fine. I've had outbreaks, but in the last 5 years I've only lost one bird to coccidiosis. I don't hesitate to treat. Keeping your birds as healthy as possible and being observant are best. Survivors do build resistance to the cocci.

I've never done a repeat treatment of the Corid after 3 weeks, but I wouldn't tell you to disregard your vets advice either. May or may not be neccessary, but very unlikely to harm your birds by doing it. I would follow up treatment with vitamins (make sure it contains B1/thiamine) and probiotics.

There are lots of things that can cause loose, watery, runny droppings. Cocci and worms are two, also heat stress, or other internal snafu's. I've never had a bird drink tons of water like that before, so don't have a specific guess for that. If you can get a fecal on that bird, it would probably be a good idea. You can also provide electolites and probiotics and see if it helps.

I hope I hit most of your questions, and it helps some.

 

[luvaduck88]

Thank you again for your time and information I really appreciate it! I will check into whether or not I can use the wormers on ducks, but my chickens are currently my priority.

I have heard of using white vinegar to clean the coop with and I want to try that. Do you dilute it at all? Does it need to be rinsed off?

I will follow the vets instructions to be safe and I will move their run again to give them a fresh space. I had previously sprayed down their yard to break up the feces, is that ok to do? I know cocci likes warm wet areas, but I felt like there is enough drainage in that area and enough sunlight to dry it out.

I will also bring in a fecal sample from my hen who is having the watery stools. Can't hurt to see if the vet can find something I am missing. It is not likely that it is because of heat because it has been a fairly mild spring here in Vermont with exception of one week of very hot temps. I started them on ACV and cayenne pepper in their water to see if that helps at all. I will alternate probiotics and electrolytes tomorrow.

 

[coach723]

I use white vinegar, undiluted. I know some people use ACV. I put in a spray bottle, spray down what I'm cleaning, wipe and let dry. I don't rinse. The vinegar smell disappears once it's dry and there are no harmful fumes or residue that could harm the birds. I clean roosts, poop board (after scraping), walls, etc. this way. I use it to clean feeders and waterers periodically also, and those I do rinse and dry.
My grass runs get raked up periodically and it goes in the compost pile. Whatever the rain doesn't wash away gets raked up. The larger the area they have to roam the less you have to do that, and depending on how many birds in the space.
Best of luck with your hen, I hope she gets better.