Diarrhea in some chicks

[KatefromMaine]

Hello, I just brought home 6 Barred Rock pullets 9 days ago and was feeding them non-medicated chick starter for the first week. Then on day 6 one chick started to look lethargic. It was just standing there, eating and drinking a minimal amount and was dead when we checked on her the next morning. She had diarrhea, but I didn't see any blood in it. I ran out to the feed store where I was told to put then on medicated feed, thoroughly clean the coop and disinfect everything (we have been regularly cleaning the brooder box on a daily basis before the chick got sick).I have also been reading that we should put water-soluable corid (amprolium) in their drinking water to prevent more infections of coccidia (or to help the birds who may still have it). My question is this: since the chicks are eating medicated feed now, should I hold off on adding corid to the water until we switch back to the unmedicated feed? I don't want to overdose my chicks with amprolium! If anyone has experience with this same problem or advice I would appreciate hearing from you. Many thanks!

 

[mnferalkitty]

I don't use antibiotics in the water unless absolutely neccessary... Here is what I would do I would put electrolytes in the water(this helps with stress) and sprinkle probiotics on the food.

 

[CSisley]

Hello, I just brought home 6 Barred Rock pullets 9 days ago and was feeding them non-medicated chick starter for the first week. Then on day 6 one chick started to look lethargic. It was just standing there, eating and drinking a minimal amount and was dead when we checked on her the next morning. She had diarrhea, but I didn't see any blood in it. I ran out to the feed store where I was told to put then on medicated feed, thoroughly clean the coop and disinfect everything (we have been regularly cleaning the brooder box on a daily basis before the chick got sick).I have also been reading that we should put water-soluable corid (amprolium) in their drinking water to prevent more infections of coccidia (or to help the birds who may still have it). My question is this: since the chicks are eating medicated feed now, should I hold off on adding corid to the water until we switch back to the unmedicated feed? I don't want to overdose my chicks with amprolium! If anyone has experience with this same problem or advice I would appreciate hearing from you. Many thanks!

If you don't have chicks with obvious blood in their poo then I wouldn't give them medicated chick feed and amprolium in their drinking water. You may see bits of pinkish red stuff in the poop that sort of looks fleshy but that's normal, just a bit of intestinal lining being shed. The pasty butt was likely just from stress which could have been for any number of reasons. Chicks with coccidiosis will have poop that is extremely bloody. I would just keep them on the medicated chick feed and provide them with clean bedding and clean water. If I think my chicks or adult birds are stressed I'll usually give them some supplements in their water, I personally use Avia Charge 2000. That or I will sprinkle a pinch of Avia over a hand full of chick feed and wet the food completely with warm water. They seem to really like the food being moistened and it's an easy way to get them their vitamins. I prefer this over putting it in their waterer because they usually don't drink it fast enough and it makes the waterer smelly and gunky. If I have just one chick that needs special attention, I'll give them a couple drops of polyvisol(without iron) down the throat once a day.

 

[KatefromMaine]

I have heard that mixing some plain yogurt in the water helps with the probiotics, maybe I should give this a try? What do you add as far as electrolytes go? Many thanks for your suggestions. This is all new to me and I really want to keep our remaining 5 chicks healthy and happy.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Corid (amprolium) is not an antibiotic. It does not function the same at all. Amprolium is simply a thiamin blocker, it creates an environment that is unfavorable for coccidia to overgrow. It does not kill off all the coccidia, it does not kill off good/bad bacteria in the gut like antibiotics will. By creating this unfavorable environment for it to exist but not overgrow your chick is then able to develope it's own immunity as it grows. That is the point of medicated feed.

There are nine different varieties of coccidia, you will not always see bloody poop. By the time you do see bloody poop the coccidia has done so much damage to the intestine that you are unlikely to save the chick at that point.

Here's the thing about coccidiosis. If that is what your chicks do have then you have very little time to fix the problem. It moves fast and it is lethal. You have already lost one. By the time you see symptoms the bird is very sick and you may not be able to save it.

Medicated feed has a very low dose of Amprolium, it is not sufficent to cure an outbreak of coccidiosis. You will need to get the Corid and treat them all. I use the 20% water soluble powder. It also comes in liquid form. WIth the powder you dose them at 1/2 tsp per gallon of water for 5 to 7 days. It works very, very well.

It is well, well worth treating your chicks if you even suspect coccidiosis. There is no harm in the treatment whatsoever but if you don't treat and they do indeed have coccidiosis you could easily loose the whole batch. It doesn't matter which feed you give them while they are on the treatment either. Coccidiosis is just not something to mess around with if you even half suspect that's what they have, and at their age that would be my #1 suspicion.

 

[CSisley]

I've mixed plain yogurt in with a small amount feed but never in their water. I don't see why that wouldn't work, I've just never tried it and I prefer to mix things in with their feed because I don't like messy waterers. I just recently read that buttermilk is a good probiotic/immune system boosting alternative to yogurt, supposedly it's better, but I can't speak from experience.

I've used Quik Chik in the past, which has vitamins and electrolytes, but I haven't used it in a long time so I can't say much about it. Buttermilk and Yogurt actually have electrolytes in them (sodium and potassium) so if you plan to give them one of those I don't see why you would need to buy them something special for electrolytes.

 

[ValleyPoultryFarms]

Take preventive measures by treating for cocciodis.

 

[CSisley]

cafarmgirl is probably right about treating with Amprolium in the water, it can't hurt and it will probably give you peace of mind knowing you've done everything you can. They can have coccidiosis without having blood in the poop, which I didn't realize until now, but coccidiosis outbreaks do not usually occur with backyard poultry keepers that maintain clean dry environments."we have been regularly cleaning the brooder box on a daily basis before the chick got sick" This is why I did not and still do not believe you have a coccidiosis outbreak. I found the following reading very helpful when revisiting this topic http://poultrykeeper.com/digestive-system-problems/coccidiosis-in-backyard-chickens. I've been there done that with a batch of chicks I was sure had coccidiosis after doing some internet research, I read similar scare stories and did the kneejerk reaction of running out to my nearest TSC to buy CORID 20%. Nowadays I don't get so wound up when one dies or one looks lethargic, it's not always some lethal disease waiting to wipe out your whole flock. I've learned that clean water, clean food, clean bedding, supplements, healthy treats go a long way in disease prevention. Not that medication doesn't have its place, I'm not just as kneejerk as I used to be.

 

[KatefromMaine]

Thanks everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it. I added the Corid to their water and the chicks are drinking it. We'll keep an eye on them and follow your suggestions. These chicks will have a good home if we can keep them healthy!

 

[cafarmgirl]

I don't honestly consider myself a knee-jerk reaction type person either. However, when there is a possibility that you are dealing with something as nasty as coccidiosis and the treatment is easy and safe your much better off to treat and rule it out. The scare stories exist because it does have the potential to wipe out a batch of chicks in a very short amount of time. Whereas with other health issues you may have time to try different approaches and see how it goes, with coccidiosis you do not.

I keep a very clean environement here but this spring I lost a 3 year old hen to coccidosis, apparently a strain they hadn't been exposed to, brought in with some fill dirt I used to fill in some holes in the pasture. I never even thought about it, the whole flock came down with it and my favorite hen died a terrible death. So yes, coccidiosis scares me and if I even suspect it I treat for it. I'd rather go that route then lose a bunch of chicks or hens and have to ask myself why I didn't treat them.