Corid and Hard Water

[KsKingBee]

It wasn't the best situation that I had to move the peachicks out to the grow out pen before the normal recommend twelve weeks to be sure that they had developed their immune system but that is what I had to do. The oldest was twelve weeks and the youngest was six or seven weeks.

Knowing that I have had problems with Coccidiosis in the past I decided to start them on a medicating routine that would include a rotation of Safeguard, Corid, Safeguard, and Corid. I also did an Ivermec pour on for lice because of the close proximity of chickens to the pen.

After the rotation of treatments, every one starting on a Monday, I started seeing the classic respiratory problems with the swelling of the eyes, runny noses, coughing, and sneezing so I started a round of oxytetrocycline (sp). Late in that week we were observing the flock of chicks when one that I was concerned about but did not show respiratory symptoms let out a poo that was OMG!

bloody squirts! I gathered him up with my precious SweePea, collected stool samples from both of them and took the samples to the vet for a fecal examination.

The vet said that she had never seen so much cocci in an exam before. After much discussion she determined that our problem must be the water hardness. Now I don't fully understand the how and why but what I took away from the discussion is that the high level of sulphites in the water changes the chemical composition of the drug making it useless.

So, what to do? Yes there is another drug that is off label but I want to treat the birds TODAY. Well since the vet told me to quit fermenting their feed I had been making a wet mash for them morning and evening, they absolutely love it! Solution; put the Corid in the wet mash! With the help of Casportpony we figured out the weight of the birds, both chicks and adults and did the math on how much to put into the mash. Lucky for me I had been feeding them the mash and know how much to make up so it's all easy peasy.

I have got to say that with all I have been through with the sickness and trying to figure out why all the different meds were not working for me that this really is a relief to know not only why they were not working but how to administer the meds when needed.

Oh, and the hard water? We now use the filtered water from the house.

Thanks Kathy, you as always were a great help!

 

[new 2 pfowl]

So sorry to hear about the recurring health problems,

but it is great that you have gotten to the bottom of the water problem.
Let us know how everyone is doing (especially your special sweetie SweePea).

Where would we be without Kathy?

 

[Trefoil]

I could be wrong, but I don't think a filter will affect water hardness.

 

[DylansMom]

I could be wrong, but I don't think a filter will affect water hardness.

Perhaps they have a filter/softener type set-up. That's what we have because our water tested too high in bacteria for human consumption. We have a whole system of filters and UV lights and a softener, but I still buy bottled water for drinking because it just had me so freaked out that I haven't gotten over it. And come to think of it, all the water we give our chicks comes from the house taps simply because they are closer than the barn taps which do not have all that fancy equipment to purify it.

 

[KsKingBee]

I could be wrong, but I don't think a filter will affect water hardness.

I think you are right about that. What we have rigged up for the house is two whole house filters, the first being a 25 micron and the second one a one micron carbon filter. Then the water goes through a Zeta Rod which is a device that gives the water a positive electrical charge that keeps the particulate in suspension. The Zeta Rod keeps the minerals from accumulating in the pipes and fixtures and removes the stink from the sulfur. Then our drinking water goes through a reverse osmosis filter. All that takes our hardness down from the high 2500's to around 300 and is really ok for well water in this neck of the woods.

Again, I did not really understand about the water affecting the meds but I think she was saying that the particulates latch onto the meds and sink them to the bottom of the waterer and changes the chemistry enough to make them not work. She said that it was a discussion that a vet forum she reads was discussing.

 

[Trefoil]

Perhaps they have a filter/softener type set-up. That's what we have because our water tested too high in bacteria for human consumption. We have a whole system of filters and UV lights and a softener, but I still buy bottled water for drinking because it just had me so freaked out that I haven't gotten over it. And come to think of it, all the water we give our chicks comes from the house taps simply because they are closer than the barn taps which do not have all that fancy equipment to purify it.

I had that done when I built my house and they told me just to pour bleach into the well and test again, being careful to not touch the collection bottle to anything.

 

[KsKingBee]

I had that done when I built my house and they told me just to pour bleach into the well and test again, being careful to not touch the collection bottle to anything.

Since we were also building our honey processing plant into our basement when building our home we knew that we would have to be inspected by the State and recertified yearly. Before we ever ran water through the house system we tested and found bacteria, not uncommon for new wells. The cure is fairly simple, you pour about six gallons of bleach down into the casing and pump it up and back down for about a half hour, recirculating the water, then running it through the house plumping until the chlorine smell is gone, that sanitizes the whole system. When retested it came back clean and should stay that way unless the cap is taken off and something falls into the well contaminating it.

Mindy, when you get tired of lugging all the salt bags or if your softener system goes south, consider a Zeta Rod, it's like Blu-Emu, it will fix your problem and your water won't stink. And if you sanitize your system like we did you don't really need the UV lights unless you have ground source contamination.

 

[DylansMom]

Since we were also building our honey processing plant into our basement when building our home we knew that we would have to be inspected by the State and recertified yearly. Before we ever ran water through the house system we tested and found bacteria, not uncommon for new wells. The cure is fairly simple, you pour about six gallons of bleach down into the casing and pump it up and back down for about a half hour, recirculating the water, then running it through the house plumping until the chlorine smell is gone, that sanitizes the whole system. When retested it came back clean and should stay that way unless the cap is taken off and something falls into the well contaminating it.

Mindy, when you get tired of lugging all the salt bags or if your softener system goes south, consider a Zeta Rod, it's like Blu-Emu, it will fix your problem and your water won't stink. And if you sanitize your system like we did you don't really need the UV lights unless you have ground source contamination.

I am fairly certain we have ground source contamination. Our well wasn't a new one, it was about 30 years old when we had it tested. Right up the road a building lot failed to pass as acceptable water could not be found. Our water had an odor before all the fancy equipment, so we have never drank it and frankly I don't mind buying the gallon jugs of water. I hate the softener, everytime I go away on a trip to a place that doesn't have one I actually have some good hair days.