New member here with some questions regarding Coccidiosis. I've had chickens for two years now and been blessed so far with zero problems. About 4 weeks ago I got a batch of Light Sussex and Cuckoo Marans from my dentist (that's where everyone gets their chicks from, right? LoL). They were a week old at that point. Being summer in Mississippi the weather outside was more than warm enough for them so I set them up in a 5'x5' pen with a heat lamp turned on at night. They were fine for a month, growing, feathering out, acting like regular chicks. Their first bag of feed I gave them was medicated but the second bag I bought wasn't. Probably my big mistake. Sunday evening I discovered two of them dead. I had not noticed any off behavior before that so I was lost as to what had happened. I looked over the rest of the chicks and noticed several acting lethargic and standing all fluffed up with heads drawn in. One chick was laying on her breast and wasn't able to stand fully upright. She died within 30 minutes. I came inside and madly starting searching online. That was the first time that I had heard anything about Coccidiosis. Being Sunday night there wasn't a store open anywhere so all I could do was pray I'd have a few chicks left alive in the morning. Thankfully all made it through and Monday morning I made a beeline to the co-op. I bought a bottle of both Corrid and Sulmet. A few different posts I read here and there mentioned Amprolium being the better of the two meds so I started the Corrid Monday morning. 9.5ml per gallon of water. The chicks are 5 1/2 weeks old at this point.
This is day 4 of the Corrid now and while some chicks are fairly normal acting (they mostly were before the Corrid though), others are still very "off" acting. Lethargic, standing with head drawn in, wings hanging a little low and just overall not acting like healthy chicks. I've been keeping their water fresh and clean (only water source is the medicated water), keeping their heat lamp on at night and moving their cage every day or so, so they aren't grazing in their own poo too much. After more reading today though it seems the cocci is in the soil, no matter if there's poo in it or not so I may not be doing any good by moving their cage periodically. Also seems some may be more immune than others so that probably explains why some went so fast while others remained fairly normal.
What steps do I need to take at this point to try and get everyone back to a healthy level? Or is it likely the chicks that are still sickly will never regain total health? Tomorrow is day 5 of the Corrid, should I continue it through the weekend for a 7 day course or will that help? I read something about giving the chicks yogurt to help build back up their healthy bacteria levels. Do I put them back on the medicated feed after the Corrid or again will that not help at this point? I also read about taking them off soil completely but I'm not sure if I could figure out a way to do that. I only have one hen house and my 9 Buff Orpingtons come and go in it. I couldn't close them out of it. Should I look at putting the chick pen on the concrete driveway and laying down shavings?
Please someone with experience in this area lay out a guideline for me and help me save as many of these babies as I can.
This is day 4 of the Corrid now and while some chicks are fairly normal acting (they mostly were before the Corrid though), others are still very "off" acting. Lethargic, standing with head drawn in, wings hanging a little low and just overall not acting like healthy chicks. I've been keeping their water fresh and clean (only water source is the medicated water), keeping their heat lamp on at night and moving their cage every day or so, so they aren't grazing in their own poo too much. After more reading today though it seems the cocci is in the soil, no matter if there's poo in it or not so I may not be doing any good by moving their cage periodically. Also seems some may be more immune than others so that probably explains why some went so fast while others remained fairly normal.
What steps do I need to take at this point to try and get everyone back to a healthy level? Or is it likely the chicks that are still sickly will never regain total health? Tomorrow is day 5 of the Corrid, should I continue it through the weekend for a 7 day course or will that help? I read something about giving the chicks yogurt to help build back up their healthy bacteria levels. Do I put them back on the medicated feed after the Corrid or again will that not help at this point? I also read about taking them off soil completely but I'm not sure if I could figure out a way to do that. I only have one hen house and my 9 Buff Orpingtons come and go in it. I couldn't close them out of it. Should I look at putting the chick pen on the concrete driveway and laying down shavings?
Please someone with experience in this area lay out a guideline for me and help me save as many of these babies as I can.
