Coccidiosis - what to do with the run/coop

[Stephine]

Argh, I think we have coccidiosis. One of my pullets had a yellow poop two days ago - I chalked it up to what they ate (yoghurt), when I saw everyone running around happy and acting normal. Then the next day another yellow poop and it looked like mango smoothy, whipped. Hm. Then at night, mealworm time, when I call them all into the coop, they were already roosting (I was a bit late), but this hen was the inly ine not jumping off the roost to fight for the worms. She just watched. Not like her - she is a Welsumer and they are always first to go for treats here. I tossed some worms close to her and she slowly walked around and ate them. I saw her featgers looked a bit scruffy. Great. So I put Corid in their drinking water. Now what? It most likely happened because their run was too wet. We have had temperatures around 100 here last week and had to turn on the mister to keep them from getting too hot. We only turn it on when it's over 90 but it was on for hours a day and the soil got a bit muddy in that part of the run after a few days.
And of course I couldn't give them ACV in that heat either...

So, how do I manage this now? I just asked about deep litter in the run and was going to set that up. I have fresh shavings and oat hay to throw in their run (they just moved out there two weeks ago and so far it was just bare soil).
Do I just put a thin layer and clean out daily until this has passed?
They have rice hulls in the coop and everything is super dry there. Should I keep them cooped up for a few days? Temps have come down to highs in the eighties so that is an option.

 

[Stephine]

Hmmm. Just went down to greet my chickies and give them their morning treat and everyone is chipper. Maybe I overreacted? But, I have given my chicks a lot of greens and yoghurt since they were tiny (14 weeks old now) and have never seen such foamy yellow droppings before...
I guess I'll keep treating them and just prepare their run for deep litter now like I was planning to do anyway. What do you think?
Also, should I move the mister away a few feet so it doesn't drip into the run? will it still help cool the air enough?
Thanks!

 

[Stephine]

No one?

 

[heatherlaw]

If your run has been wet they may have worms. The foamy yellow poo sure sounds like it. I had the same issue last summer. I live in California and temps run way past 100 for sometimes weeks. I left a mister on for a while and ended up with a bad case of worms. I'd just finish the corid treatment them give them a round of wormer. If you need more info about that I can give you the type and dosage.

 

[Stephine]

Thank you! I will consider worming them when we're done with the Corid and something still seems wrong. Would they get affected by them this early? They just went out into their coop and run two weeks ago. They did get weeds from the garden before though, while still inside, with roots, soil and the occasional bugs, snails and slugs... Would be fitting that the Welsumer got it since they are good foragers and have always been the first to try whatever I brought in...
Today she was fine and behaved just like the rest of the bunch. Tonight she's up on the roost again and not coming down for mealworms and a refill of their range feeder. Sigh.

 

[heatherlaw]

You'd be surprised how fast worms can take over. Also, they can get worms from snails as well as the soil. See how their poo looks after the corid treatment. If it looks normal no worries, if not I'd worm them. I use a preventative herbal wormer. It won't fix it if you have a bad case, but it's worked great for mild cases and keeping them drone getting it in the first place. It's from Molly's herbals if you want to try it. You can eat the eggs while they are on it so it's better than chemicals if you can get away with it

 

[Stephine]

You'd be surprised how fast worms can take over. Also, they can get worms from snails as well as the soil. See how their poo looks after the corid treatment. If it looks normal no worries, if not I'd worm them. I use a preventative herbal wormer. It won't fix it if you have a bad case, but it's worked great for mild cases and keeping them drone getting it in the first place. It's from Molly's herbals if you want to try it. You can eat the eggs while they are on it so it's better than chemicals if you can get away with it

Thanks, yes, I will do that!

An interesting thing is that some of the pullets have more color in their faces than before I started them on the Corid. It changed in less than 24 hrs. I wonnder if they've all been having a mild case of cocci for a little while... The change is quite striking. Or could they be close to lay and it's a coincidence? But they are only 14 weeks...

 

[heatherlaw]

That's interesting about the color. I wouldn't be surprised if they are getting closer to lay. Mine started getting red and growing combs a full month before I got any eggs. I guess watch their activity level. If everybody becomes more active then it looks like you had a case of cocci

 

[Donna R Raybon]

Hope all are OK. When I have suspected coccidia I always treat those showing symptoms with a couple drops of liquid Corid in a couple cc's applesauce. This thicker mixture will trigger swallow reflex better than mixing with just water. Often the bird showing symptoms might not drink enough water fast enough to help. The rest of group that still acts OK will be active enough to drink plenty of water. Remember to change water daily.

 

[Stephine]

That's interesting about the color. I wouldn't be surprised if they are getting closer to lay. Mine started getting red and growing combs a full month before I got any eggs. I guess watch their activity level. If everybody becomes more active then it looks like you had a case of cocci

I looked at them closely again this morning and almost all of them have so much more color (interestingly the Welsumer with the yellow foamy poo still looks a bit pale) - even the brahmas, who are slower to develop and probably won't start laying in a while. Even the roos have a bit more color, so I am more inclined to think it is the Corid. Unless getting an armload of fresh garden weeds every morning is starting to show its effect - but they have been getting them for a couple of weeks before I started the meds already.... They get loads of wild mustard and radish greens among the weeds, which help fight worms, so that might be another angle? But really it would be quite a coincidence for that to all of a sudden show in their color after 12 hours or so on Corid...
Gauging their activity level is a bit tricky because it has been so hot and they spent the first ten days or so after they went to live outside just trying to stay comfortable. Now it's much cooler (hurray! ) and so they'll probably run around a bit more just because of that.
I haven't seen any more yellow droppings and everyone looks bright and happy so I'll probably just go for a natural or homemade wormer. I read up on that in the chicken Health book. Thanks for your help!