Disease?!

[dawg53]

@Wyorp Rock I have three 17-week olds that I had to move to new ground to get away from gapeworm and although the new area didn't have gapeworm, it had the e tenella/cecal coccidia in that area. The chicks never had any symptoms (I only found it by accident on a fecal that I do myself here). I rarely test the cecal stools so I can't be sure how long she had it, maybe 1-2 weeks. The other two started with it about 5 days after I found hers, so I did start them all on Corid and move them to concrete to get away from the infected soil. I currently have them in an area indoors where I can keep the bedding cleaned out so they don't reinfect themselves.

Your comment makes me wonder if it's okay to let them just have it, as long as there isn't any blood. She had quite a bit of oocysts on the sample. I'm actually not sure why she didn't have blood to be honest since it seemed like quite a load. They are on day three of the Corid today and so far I'm still seeing the oocysts but maybe half as many as prior to Corid. I'll finish out the treatment but if they still have it afterwards, is it okay to just leave them with it?? Is it possible to get immunity when they have so much on fecal? That's why I treated her to begin with bc of the amount. I can't imagine having that much wouldn't do some serious damage eventually. I had a young rooster two years ago with it and stopped seeing blood and thought I had gotten rid of it. But he ended up dying a few months later from both overload of capillaria and coccidia causing severe anemia and internal damage. I'm just not sure what to do since I don't always trust symptoms or lack thereof.

You're not going to completely get rid of the coccidia, it's impossible.
Do as @Wyorp Rock stated and finish the Corid treatment. Then gather a fresh sample and take a look under the microscope. I'm sure you'll still see coccidia on the slide, but not filling up the whole slide which wouldnt be a good thing. However if that's the case, that means you'll need to treat your birds with a sulfa drug since the Corid was ineffective.

 

[klbaker75]

There's only a couple of strains that present as blood, so likely you may not see blood.
What do you mean you think you should let them have it? Have what?

Are the birds even showing symptoms of being sick? Finish the treatment of Corid since you started it.

Hey thanks for responding! I value your opinion. This was found only in their cecal so I’m assuming it’s the e tenella and I’ve always seen blood with it. They did not show any symptoms at all. I only found bc I did a routine fecal. I meant if the Corid doesn’t get rid of the coccidia should I just let them continue with the coccidia and see if they can fight it off? I’m not well versed in coccidia so I’m a bit unsure what to do or think. I’ve seen it mentioned that they will get immunity eventually and I’m wondering what you would do if you were me. If you had some this age and saw on fecal that they had a good load of oocysts in the cecum but no symptoms otherwise (Acted normal and no blood) would you just let them be and see what happens? The next step if the Corid doesn’t knock it out is a sulfa and I’ve had bad luck with those bc they are so strong.

 

[klbaker75]

You're not going to completely get rid of the coccidia, it's impossible.
Do as @Wyorp Rock stated and finish the Corid treatment. Then gather a fresh sample and take a look under the microscope. I'm sure you'll still see coccidia on the slide, but not filling up the whole slide which wouldnt be a good thing. However if that's the case, that means you'll need to treat your birds with a sulfa drug since the Corid was ineffective.

Thanks for responding, Dawg. You have both been so helpful to me in the past so I appreciate it. If they continue to have some oocysts on the slide but not much then don’t worry with treating them further then?

 

[klbaker75]

Think l found my answer. Amprolium showed no significant change in fecal samples before vs after treatment, while sulfa did. I will finish day 4-5 of Corid and then if not gone I will switch to two days of sulfamethazine. I have that medication here already.

https://symbiosisonlinepublishing.com/veterinary-sciences/veterinary-sciences21.php

 

[dawg53]

Sulfamethazine works well but can be tough on the chickens system. I've used the Sulfamethazine 12.5 % liquid solution before, but has since been removed from store shelves. Dont use it for no more than 3 days max. Give your birds probiotics for a couple days after the final treatment.