coccidosis help needed

[Taylorbrood]

I have a hen that appears to have this, I need to know what can she eat feed wise while being treated for this through her water. and do I need to treat the rest of the flock as a precaution they are about 22-24 weeks of age, 4 are laying, two not looking so good, but this one is the worst. and can we eat the eggs during this time? do I keep them on layer feed or go back to finisher grower? and should I just put a water container with corrid in it for the whole group? need help fast and any advice

 

[Leihamarie]

what are you treating her with? If it's Corid (Amprolium), you can continue to eat the eggs, as there's no withdrawal period.

It's advised to treat the whole flock, especially since not all of them will show symptoms until the damage is great.

As far as food, the easiest to digest is best. If you're feeding a mixed flock, I'd go with grower/finisher crumbles or mash and put oyster shell free-choice for the layers. Stay away from wheat, as it tends to exacerbate the coccidia.

Make sure to use the right dosage of Corid and for a long enough period of time. During the treatment, avoid ALL other additives like vitamins and especially vitamin B-1 (Thiamine) and Vitamin K.

When they are done with the treatment start feeding them lots of probiotics and vitamin k to rebuild their system and healthy gut flora.

Further reading: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coccidiosis-advice.1189538/#post-18794589

 

[coach723]

Your hen can eat her regular feed. Corid is a thiamine (vitamin B1) blocker, so you don't want to give any vitamin supplement that contains thiamine until treatment is complete as it might reduce the effectiveness of the medication. Here is the correct dosing for a severe outbreak:

• Powder dose - 1.5 teaspoons per gallon for 5 days, then 1/3 teaspoon per gallon for 7-14 days. Make a fresh batch daily.
  
• Liquid dose- 2 teaspoons per gallon for 5 days, then 1/2 teaspoon per gallon for 7-14 days. Make a fresh batch daily.

You can also give a drench to any really sick bird to give them a jumpstart on the medication. You give that in addition to the corid water. Correct dosing for that is:

Liquid Corid drench is 0.02 ml undiluted Corid per 100 grams orally. Give once a day for 1-3 days in addition to medicated water.

Powdered Corid drench. Mix 1/2 teaspoon powder with 10 ml of water. Stir well and give 0.07 ml per 100 grams orally once a day for 1-3 days. Give in addition to medicated water.

It is usually a good idea to treat the entire flock as they have all been exposed. Corid is generally considered to be very safe and will not harm them even if they don't have coccidiosis. There is no egg withdrawl period for Corid, it is safe to eat the eggs.

 

[Taylorbrood]

Your hen can eat her regular feed. Corid is a thiamine (vitamin B1) blocker, so you don't want to give any vitamin supplement that contains thiamine until treatment is complete as it might reduce the effectiveness of the medication. Here is the correct dosing for a severe outbreak:

• Powder dose - 1.5 teaspoons per gallon for 5 days, then 1/3 teaspoon per gallon for 7-14 days. Make a fresh batch daily.
  
• Liquid dose- 2 teaspoons per gallon for 5 days, then 1/2 teaspoon per gallon for 7-14 days. Make a fresh batch daily.

You can also give a drench to any really sick bird to give them a jumpstart on the medication. You give that in addition to the corid water. Correct dosing for that is:

Liquid Corid drench is 0.02 ml undiluted Corid per 100 grams orally. Give once a day for 1-3 days in addition to medicated water.

Powdered Corid drench. Mix 1/2 teaspoon powder with 10 ml of water. Stir well and give 0.07 ml per 100 grams orally once a day for 1-3 days. Give in addition to medicated water.

It is usually a good idea to treat the entire flock as they have all been exposed. Corid is generally considered to be very safe and will not harm them even if they don't have coccidiosis. There is no egg withdrawl period for Corid, it is safe to eat the eggs.

I read on another chicken lady site the powdered is 1/2 tsp per gallon of water. initiallly I did 1/2 tsp in a quart until I read that. it is the powdered stuff. I gave her .5 mil of nutridrench and since she was panting vet-rx. she is pretty much off her feed weighs in around 4.5 pounds. we did coax her to eat abit of scrambled egg with a hint of molasses in it and damped the feed with some of the corid water. her last stool was small but foamy yellow. she is resting inside, and I am now also worried about my ducks and how to deal with them. also gave her de-wormer pea size

 

[coach723]

The doses I gave you are for a severe outbreak, which is what it sounds like you have.
They are the doses I use, and have been successful in treating my birds. Honestly, a little too much would do less harm than a little too little, if it is coccidiosis you are dealing with. There are a lot of threads with dosing info here, and here is a link to one explaining with the math why the 1/2 tsp dose for powder is incorrect: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-ampromed-and-amprol-doses.1059818/#post-16175593
I do not have ducks, but my understanding is that Corid is safe for them. I don't know if ducks and chickens are affected by the same strains of coccidia. Here is an old thread on that question for ducks: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/corid-safe-for-ducks.548906/
Hope this helps.

 

[Leihamarie]

@coach723 is correct, trust me... I am dealing with a confirmed coccidiosis outbreak myself. If your flock has it you want to treat for severe and you want to treat quickly.

You can give up to 8x the Amprolium recommended dosage without adverse effect. I'm not recommending you to do that, but to illustrate that a little too much Amprolium is far better than too little.

Also, you'll want to stay away from any nutrient boosters like Sav-a-chick, molasses or nutridrench while you're treating for Coccidiosis. I know it's tempting because they look so sick and you're desperate to help but you're feeding the coccidia with them, not the chicken.

As @coach723 mentioned, Amprolium is a Thiamine (vitamin B-1) blocker. The way it works is by mimicking thiamine which is what the Coccidia feed on. They eat the Corid instead of the real Thiamine and starve to death. If you put more real Thiamine in the chicken during treatment, you're giving the Coccidia food.

Keep your sick hen hydrated with clean, fresh Corid water, and give her easy to digest food like her regular pellets/crumbles and keep her warm, dry and under your observation.

Is there a vet that you can take a stool sample in to tomorrow? Do you know for sure that it's Coccidia? What are the symptoms you are witnessing?

 

[Taylorbrood]

@coach723 is correct, trust me... I am dealing with a confirmed coccidiosis outbreak myself. If your flock has it you want to treat for severe and you want to treat quickly.

You can give up to 8x the Amprolium recommended dosage without adverse effect. I'm not recommending you to do that, but to illustrate that a little too much Amprolium is far better than too little.

Also, you'll want to stay away from any nutrient boosters like Sav-a-chick, molasses or nutridrench while you're treating for Coccidiosis. I know it's tempting because they look so sick and you're desperate to help but you're feeding the coccidia with them, not the chicken.

As @coach723 mentioned, Amprolium is a Thiamine (vitamin B-1) blocker. The way it works is by mimicking thiamine which is what the Coccidia feed on. They eat the Corid instead of the real Thiamine and starve to death. If you put more real Thiamine in the chicken during treatment, you're giving the Coccidia food.

Keep your sick hen hydrated with clean, fresh Corid water, and give her easy to digest food like her regular pellets/crumbles and keep her warm, dry and under your observation.

Is there a vet that you can take a stool sample in to tomorrow? Do you know for sure that it's Coccidia? What are the symptoms you are witnessing?

this is todays poop x 2 after a soak just doi

ng what I can to keep her alive till itill i can get her to a vet tomorrow. this is a huge change from the foamy yellow I was seeing yesterday

 

[Taylorbrood]

@coach723 is correct, trust me... I am dealing with a confirmed coccidiosis outbreak myself. If your flock has it you want to treat for severe and you want to treat quickly.

You can give up to 8x the Amprolium recommended dosage without adverse effect. I'm not recommending you to do that, but to illustrate that a little too much Amprolium is far better than too little.

Also, you'll want to stay away from any nutrient boosters like Sav-a-chick, molasses or nutridrench while you're treating for Coccidiosis. I know it's tempting because they look so sick and you're desperate to help but you're feeding the coccidia with them, not the chicken.

As @coach723 mentioned, Amprolium is a Thiamine (vitamin B-1) blocker. The way it works is by mimicking thiamine which is what the Coccidia feed on. They eat the Corid instead of the real Thiamine and starve to death. If you put more real Thiamine in the chicken during treatment, you're giving the Coccidia food.

Keep your sick hen hydrated with clean, fresh Corid water, and give her easy to digest food like her regular pellets/crumbles and keep her warm, dry and under your observation.

Is there a vet that you can take a stool sample in to tomorrow? Do you know for sure that it's Coccidia? What are the symptoms you are witnessing?

I wish I had been able to confirm but this started friday night and no chicken vets. several other people called in at the place where I got them with the same issues going on as mine. she won't eat her food, i have to pretty much hand feed her along with getting water down her.
friday her comb shrunk in a two hour time frame, she was in and out of the nest box and went in the coop before the normal time they go in, she didn't put up a fight when I reached in to get her like she usually does, all puffed up, not responsive to food or water just layed there, saturday the panting kicked in, checked her on friday night for all the usual, sour crop, impacted crop wounds, feather issues, mites, lice etc., (this is a normal practice for us) gave her electrolytes on friday while trying to figure out what was going on, but not alot. so we have currently done corid, dewormed her and then came the icky foamy yellow poop and some yellow which looked like undigested pellets in it. I have followed advice on giving nutri-drench 1 ml in the event it's not coccidia, and rx, and soaking, one vet office said it sounded like a blockage to them but they don't treat that. I am sure there is more but I am running on little sleep. last night she did eat abit of scrambled egg with olive oil in it, and today could only get her to take a tsp of yogurt, nothing more

 

[Leihamarie]

Oh my, I am so sorry you and your girl are going through this. I know the sleeplessness and panic of having sick flock members. I was just there last weekend when Coccidiosis hit hard and fast and I lost a chick less than a day from showing the first symptom, even though I had started treatment.

So... IF it's Coccidiosis, it's normal for them to be disinterested in food and water. From the stool picture you posted, it's clear she's not been digesting food, which in this case is because she hasn't been eating.
I would STRONGLY advise against ANY nutri-drench right now if you're giving her Corid.

Foamy yellow poop can indicate worms, Coccidiosis, an internal issue, Marek's or a few other things.

Since you've wormed, soaked and nutri-drenched her without improvent, the only remaining thing that you can do right now is treat for Coccidia.

I would recommend a concentrated dose of Corid given orally, with no vitamins. Can you weigh out .5 grams of the Corid powder and then add 5ml of water to it? Draw up 1ml twice a day and syringe it into her beak slowly, giving her time to swallow every few drops. Here's how I arrived at those numbers: The Corid dose for treating severe outbreak is 20mg/kg. Each gram of Corid powder has 200mg of Amprolium. A bird weighing just over 2kg (you said she was 4.5lbs) should have right about 40mg/day. If you can weigh out .5 grams of corid powder, add 5ml water, you now have 100mg of amprolium in that 5ml of solution, so each 1ml has 20mg. If you give her 2 of those a day, she'll get her 40mg for the day.

It sounds like you are doing everything you can to keep this little girl alive until you can get her to the vet. I was just in your place last weekend and know first hand how frustrating and heartwrenching it is to not know what you're up against. I thought I was dealing with necrotic enteritis or possibly e-coli, but treated for coccidiosis just in case. Turns out... It was coccidiosis alone. I was seeing perfectly healthy stool (although a little loose which I attributed to our heatwave) one day and pure blood the next. A lot of coccidiosis cases never see blood at all though. It's diarrhea and/or foamy yellow poop, with lack of interest in food/water, isolation, ruffled feathers

Please keep us updated on what the vet says tomorrow!

 

[Taylorbrood]

Oh my, I am so sorry you and your girl are going through this. I know the sleeplessness and panic of having sick flock members. I was just there last weekend when Coccidiosis hit hard and fast and I lost a chick less than a day from showing the first symptom, even though I had started treatment.

So... IF it's Coccidiosis, it's normal for them to be disinterested in food and water. From the stool picture you posted, it's clear she's not been digesting food, which in this case is because she hasn't been eating.
I would STRONGLY advise against ANY nutri-drench right now if you're giving her Corid.

Foamy yellow poop can indicate worms, Coccidiosis, an internal issue, Marek's or a few other things.

Since you've wormed, soaked and nutri-drenched her without improvent, the only remaining thing that you can do right now is treat for Coccidia.

I would recommend a concentrated dose of Corid given orally, with no vitamins. Can you weigh out .5 grams of the Corid powder and then add 5ml of water to it? Draw up 1ml twice a day and syringe it into her beak slowly, giving her time to swallow every few drops. Here's how I arrived at those numbers: The Corid dose for treating severe outbreak is 20mg/kg. Each gram of Corid powder has 200mg of Amprolium. A bird weighing just over 2kg (you said she was 4.5lbs) should have right about 40mg/day. If you can weigh out .5 grams of corid powder, add 5ml water, you now have 100mg of amprolium in that 5ml of solution, so each 1ml has 20mg. If you give her 2 of those a day, she'll get her 40mg for the day.

It sounds like you are doing everything you can to keep this little girl alive until you can get her to the vet. I was just in your place last weekend and know first hand how frustrating and heartwrenching it is to not know what you're up against. I thought I was dealing with necrotic enteritis or possibly e-coli, but treated for coccidiosis just in case. Turns out... It was coccidiosis alone. I was seeing perfectly healthy stool (although a little loose which I attributed to our heatwave) one day and pure blood the next. A lot of coccidiosis cases never see blood at all though. It's diarrhea and/or foamy yellow poop, with lack of interest in food/water, isolation, ruffled feathers

Please keep us updated on what the vet says tomorrow!

what she has resembles coccidosis, but its respritory, passed through the egg from her parents, waiting for lab conformation on this. vet was surprised she was in as good of condition as she was, and had actually brought me the paperwork for a nercropsy before even seeing her. Guess she has dealt with alot of it lately from what she was saying. She asked what I had done and so I gave her the list. Told her we treated for everything the resemble what she might have just to be on the safe side. She agreed with that philosophy since avian dr.'s are hard to find. she is currently on doxycyline 3 tabs mixed in a liter of water as are the rest of the crew as it is highly contagious and no eggs can be eaten for 37 days. she dropped to 3.5 pounds overnight despite syringing food and med/water in her at 1/2 to 2 cc's every half hour, of course I wore the majority of it. Tonight she showed interest in a piece of pork I was eating so I let her have 6 very small pieces and then she pecked at a few bits of crumbled feed. I will take what I can get at this point. she loves yogurt but the vet said none while on the meds. so we shall keep doing our best and keep praying for her to make it.