I feed them fermented feed, so I medicated the water for the feed too. They drink a full 3 gallon fountain of water just about daily. There is very little left the next morning. I paid for an online aviary vet and explained all the things I was doing and their symptoms. I have not wormed them, I was going to worm them right after I stopped the 5 day Corid treatment. The kind I have is Strike III, Type B Medicated Feed Poultry Dewormer. Large roundworms, cecal worms and capillary worms. My
tractor supply did not have anything else...just like the Corid, I had to buy the Bovine package, same strength as Chicken Corid, or maybe that is the only way it comes.
Anyway, this was Dr. Bob's answer:
Okay, thank you.
It sounds like you may be dealing with more than one problem. Coccidia are often seen together with other intestinal parasites, worms in particular.
The combination of the stress on their bodies caused by blood from the coccidia along with nutrient loss by worms in addition to the severely cold weather could well account for the deaths you're seeing. Worm them now and increase teh protein in their diets by feeding a handful of dry cat food for each five to six birds. Dry cat food contains animal sourced protein which is much higher quality than that found in poultry feeds. The warm oatmeal is valuable, as are other warm highly nutritious foods like pancakes, cornbread, and scrambled eggs. Furnishing a heat source (heat lamps, etc.) and keeping the birds away from drafts will also be very good steps to take to help reduce the stresses they're encountering.
Bacterial opportunists are quick to complicate situations such as those in your flock, so covering them with a broad-spectrum antibiotic would probably be helpful in preventing further losses. Remember to observe the withdrawal times on any antibiotic used as well as for the wormer if one is recommended on the package. My choice for this situation would be either Tylan (tylocin) or Gallimycin (erythromycin), either of which may be available from your local farm or feed supply stores. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Kind regards, Dr. Bob
So I have the pop door open and the main door. There is no breeze today and the sun is very warm, but it is still -2 degrees right now. So I did turn on the heat lamp, for an "area" for them to warm themselves. The worst ones are the leghorns and they are actually roosting on the front porch rail outside in the bright sunlight. The Doctor suggested heat, although it goes against everything I read. I am going to turn it off when I close them up for the night around 4:30. I did completely clean out all the old deep litter yesterday and started with 2 new 100lb bags of shavings yesterday, so everything is bone dry....do you think I should keep the light on through the night until they pull through?
I also did as he suggested and made more oatmeal, 6 scrambled eggs, 2 handfuls of cat food (thank goodness I'm cat sitting for my daughter while she is on a cruise) some layer pellets and the strike III dewormer. They gobbled it up. My
tractor supply did not have Tylan...I'm going to call my vet and see if he can call in a prescription to
walmart for erthromycin.
I did bring one chicken inside, put her in the dog cage, gave her medicated water and oatmeal. She is actively bleeding a lot, almost like a period, she was shivering, so ...thats why I brought her in. I covered the dog cage with a blanket so the dogs wouldn't stress her out. She is sleeping now.
I hope I'm doing everything right. I feel absolutely awful.
