Coccidiosis will not leave my flock.

[jake underwood]

I have done everything possible to get rid of this crap. I've used corrid, I've disinfected coop, I've even taken some to the vet. The only information you find on the Internet is treating young chicks. My problem is from pulley to laying hen age. It's been a miserable year with coccidiosis. Trust me when I saw I keep everything clean. I treated them with corrid, and they still get it. What else is there left to do? I am almost thinking it is an environmental thing that is no fixing.

 

[Pork Pie]

Yeah, from what i read it can be a sod. I am currently treating my flock for cocci, but there's quite a few strains of cocci, so one may successfully treat one type, only for another to crop up. I also read that wet weather provides a great breeding ground for it, which is a pain since i live in the tropics, so rain and warm weather is a double whammy i guess.

Its a tough one for sure!

CT

 

[MungoSummer]

Sorry to here you are having trouble. I had a bird with coccidiosis after being really careful, using disinfectant etc. I'm in UK and we are only able to buy antibiotics with a prescription from a vet. I had 35 birds at the time (number has since crept up), and I contacted our vet who does not keep the necessary medication. Long story but I would need to go to a large animal vet who will only supply treatment for 100 birds (cost about £100). My own vet suggested I sent off a poo sample to see if it was definitely cocci. In the meantime I went to the local feed merchant and bought probiotics to add to water and herbal tonic. Affected bird was very poorly, completely bloody stools, droopy etc. So, we syringed probiotic orally and fed mash by hand and she perked up remarkably quickly. I gave all birds probiotics (Protexin) as a precaution and have been ever since (this happened in July after a very wet spell, bird was 16 weeks). I tried cutting probiotics down to weekends only but noticed the odd bloody poo so now give it daily) I didn't use the poo sample kit at the time as all was well (I had to pay for the kit and analysis up front). I was due to worm the flock last week so thought I'd use the poo test kit first to see if it was necessary. The results were completely free from cocci and all other worms! I couldn't believe it. I will definitely keep up the probiotics now. If you can't buy probiotics where you are then perhaps fermenting their feed would have the same effect.

 

[Pork Pie]

Sorry to here you are having trouble. I had a bird with coccidiosis after being really careful, using disinfectant etc. I'm in UK and we are only able to buy antibiotics with a prescription from a vet. I had 35 birds at the time (number has since crept up), and I contacted our vet who does not keep the necessary medication. Long story but I would need to go to a large animal vet who will only supply treatment for 100 birds (cost about £100). My own vet suggested I sent off a poo sample to see if it was definitely cocci. In the meantime I went to the local feed merchant and bought probiotics to add to water and herbal tonic. Affected bird was very poorly, completely bloody stools, droopy etc. So, we syringed probiotic orally and fed mash by hand and she perked up remarkably quickly. I gave all birds probiotics (Protexin) as a precaution and have been ever since (this happened in July after a very wet spell, bird was 16 weeks). I tried cutting probiotics down to weekends only but noticed the odd bloody poo so now give it daily) I didn't use the poo sample kit at the time as all was well (I had to pay for the kit and analysis up front). I was due to worm the flock last week so thought I'd use the poo test kit first to see if it was necessary. The results were completely free from cocci and all other worms! I couldn't believe it. I will definitely keep up the probiotics now. If you can't buy probiotics where you are then perhaps fermenting their feed would have the same effect.

Thats good advice - thanks. Shame we did not have this discussion yesterday as I'm returning to the UK and could have bought you some antibiotics for cocci with me (they cost 9 quid for treatment up to 100 birds). Next time...

Cheers
CT

 

[MungoSummer]

Goodness, what a difference in price!
Kind offer, thank you.
Have a safe trip.

 

[Pork Pie]

Many thanks

CT

 

[dheltzel]

I have done everything possible to get rid of this crap. I've used corrid, I've disinfected coop, I've even taken some to the vet. The only information you find on the Internet is treating young chicks. My problem is from pulley to laying hen age. It's been a miserable year with coccidiosis. Trust me when I saw I keep everything clean. I treated them with corrid, and they still get it. What else is there left to do? I am almost thinking it is an environmental thing that is no fixing.

I think you have a basic misunderstanding of how coccidiosis works in birds (and mammals). Low levels of the parasite (it's a protozoa, I believe, not that it makes a difference in treatment) are present at all times in adult birds. The only "treatment" is to reduce the levels for a while to allow the bird to develop a natural immunity. It is not natural (or needed/desirable) to reduce that level for the long term.

Young birds getting their first exposure are the most susceptible because they have not had opportunities to build their own immunity, so you want to keep the level of the parasite low in their environment. The best way to do that is to keep them clean and dry, cocci breed best in wet conditions and feces are the source. I have battled it often with my chicks until learning this and working harder at keeping the brooders dry.

Corid (Amprollium) is all you need, give it to a sick bird orally as soon as you see the listless, "frumpled" appearance, and put it in the water if you see any bloody feces or if anyone shows physical symptoms. Also, clean the brooder more. I have never had a case of this with chicks on a wire floor, but I believe their "quality of life" is better on litter.

 

[aart]

I have done everything possible to get rid of this crap. I've used corrid, I've disinfected coop, I've even taken some to the vet. The only information you find on the Internet is treating young chicks. My problem is from pulley to laying hen age. It's been a miserable year with coccidiosis. Trust me when I saw I keep everything clean. I treated them with corrid, and they still get it. What else is there left to do? I am almost thinking it is an environmental thing that is no fixing.

Welcome to BYC!

How did you apply the corid?
What indicators/symptoms are you seeing that leads you to believe they still have cocci?
Have you had any fecal exams done by a vet?
If so, what were the counts?....cocci occurs naturally, so numbers will never be zero.

More info would help folks help you figure out how to solve the problem.

 

[aart]

Sorry to here you are having trouble. I had a bird with coccidiosis after being really careful, using disinfectant etc. I'm in UK and we are only able to buy antibiotics with a prescription from a vet. I had 35 birds at the time (number has since crept up), and I contacted our vet who does not keep the necessary medication. Long story but I would need to go to a large animal vet who will only supply treatment for 100 birds (cost about £100). My own vet suggested I sent off a poo sample to see if it was definitely cocci. In the meantime I went to the local feed merchant and bought probiotics to add to water and herbal tonic. Affected bird was very poorly, completely bloody stools, droopy etc. So, we syringed probiotic orally and fed mash by hand and she perked up remarkably quickly. I gave all birds probiotics (Protexin) as a precaution and have been ever since (this happened in July after a very wet spell, bird was 16 weeks). I tried cutting probiotics down to weekends only but noticed the odd bloody poo so now give it daily) I didn't use the poo sample kit at the time as all was well (I had to pay for the kit and analysis up front). I was due to worm the flock last week so thought I'd use the poo test kit first to see if it was necessary. The results were completely free from cocci and all other worms! I couldn't believe it. I will definitely keep up the probiotics now. If you can't buy probiotics where you are then perhaps fermenting their feed would have the same effect.

Antibiotics will not treat cocci...maybe you know that and didn't mean it way, but that's impression I got.

What is this 'poo test kit' you speak of?

 

[MungoSummer]

Hello aart should have read 'antibiotics etc' as I was not able to buy Corrid etc either, apart from through a vet with prescription.

The 'poo test kit' was through:

www.chickenvet.co.uk

This kit contains gloves and packaging and instructions on how to take a faeces sample. The sample is then sent for testing for worms and coccidia infection. Faeces are sent from
a representative sample of the birds. As I said my results came back with 0% count of all worm eggs tested and coccidia oocysts. I was very surprised as the blurb which came with the results suggested that normally there would be some eggs, but below a certain level did not need treating!

I hope they didn't forget to fill in the number of eggs/oocysts on the email! Lol

Perhaps I should email them to check!