Do you think she can recover ....?

[cackleberrylinda]

I have been dealing with Cocci for over a week now, it's all a blur so I'm not sure how long I have been doing this. I have two chicks in the bathroom for personal attention and care. I feed them medicated feed soaked in water with Rooster Booster and Corid for now till I can get some Sulmet which I am pretty sure I need to complete treating this dreaded infection. I lost about 7 chicks. One of the 'bathroom chicks' is doing very nicely. Pulled her out of the brooder box in time, I guess. But the other chick has that stiff leg and floppy head problem. Do you think there is any chance she will ever be able to stand and be normal? She eats by herself but I have to hold her. It seems she has a neurological thing going on. I have worked with her and held her head so she would drink and she has come a long way. I do hope she can fully recover and live to be the gorgeous white Ameracauna she was was hatched to be. The other recovering chick is an Ameracauna also. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[MotherJean]

Something is very wrong here. You should not be continuing to have problems after a week of dosing with Corrid unless:

a. You got the dosage wrong? (it's 1 tsp. per gallon of water, mixed fresh daily, for 5 consecutive days) - In order to be sure that your birds are getting the proper daily dosage, it works best to mix only as much as they will drink in a single day. Any chicks that aren't drinking well may need to have the medicated water forced on them with a syringe for a couple of days.

b. You've been supplementing the diet with additional protein or vitamins? Protein and vitamins greatly diminish the effectiveness of Corrid. During treatment for cocci, give nothing but chick crumbles and medicated water. Once the 5 day treatment is over, you can then begin building up the chicks with supplements like yogurt and a good multi-vitamin - they particularly need vitamins A & K.

c. The Cocci has stressed their immune system and they have a secondary bacterial infection? The chick with the stiff leg and floppy head makes me suspect this is the case. Treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic like Tylan added to the water OR switch to Sulmet instead of the Corrid. Sulmet is a broad spectrum sulfa antibiotic which will treat both Cocci and bacterial infection. Corrid is simply a thiamine inhibitor.

d. The problem has been misdiagnosed? There are other diseases that have similar symptoms to Coccidiosis. Corrid is not an antibiotic, so if Cocci is not their problem, the Corrid would have no effect.

My advice is to stop the Corrid and treat with Sulmet for the next 7 days. If everyone is not back to normal you can treat for an additional 7 days. If after 14 days of antibiotics your chicks are not significantly improved, you'll need to consider the possibility that there is a much more serious (incurable?) disease at work here.

Good luck.

 

[cackleberrylinda]

Hi,
Thank you for responding so quickly. I did get the dosage right. And I only diagnosed it myself. It really could be anything. When I talked with the Doctor at the County Extension Avian Labs, she also suggested Sulmet and I do intend to do that. All this has caught me up short and short of cash. Tomorrow I am starting them on Sulmet. I haven't been giving them any vitamins other than Rooster Booster. I will get some of that tomorrow also. I guess I better send off one of the little dead chicks to have a post mortem check done to see just what I am dealing with. I have 2 sets of eggs coming from eBay purchases and I sure need to get this taken care of first.
Do chicks with the leg and floppy head ever recover? I know it would be dependent on what the problem is, but in some cases do they come back?
Well,again thanks,
I'll let you know how this goes

 

[MotherJean]

You're right, recovery is dependent upon what the underlying disease/condition is. In the case of the one with the bum leg and floppy head, it could be something as simple as a riboflavin deficiency which attacks the nervous system. If caught and treated early enough, these chicks can quickly recover. But, once nerves are severely damaged, there is almost never a recovery.

Wishing you all the best. I know how difficult this has been for you and hoping the Sulmet with bring some happy results. BTW - save your money and don't buy the Rooster Booster tomorrow. You shouldn't give them ANY vitamins until after the treatment with antibiotics. The only exception might be to try giving the one chick with the leg/head issues Polyvisol (no iron) and no antibiotics for a few days to see if that one improves. That one might be a special case.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I haven't heard of Coccidiosis causing leg paralysis or a floppy neck?? But maybe it can?
I think Marek's can cause leg problems--You could use 'Search' feature on here to look up info & see if that might be the problem?
Best wishes!

 

[PoultryPedia]

Quote:
I'd never heard it was bad to give antibiotics and vitamins at the same time--What would the reason be?

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
I'd never heard it was bad to give antibiotics and vitamins at the same time--What would the reason be?

My guess is since the common cocci medication is a thiamine inhibitor (cocci needs thiamine to continue its life cycles) would the added thiamine in the vitamin supplement be too much for the inhibitor to be as effective? I don't know the answer off the top of my head and would recommend a search before being absolutely sure that is true.

 

[MotherJean]

Giving vitamins can decrease the effectiveness of some antibiotics - and some more than others. Since we're not Vets or pharmacists and don't know which antibiotics shouldn't be taken concurrently with vitamin supplements, it's best to just wait until the antibiotic treatment is finished and then provide the nutritional boost of vitamins after. In the case of Corid, the vitamins can actually prevent it from working altogether, but Corid (as I said) is not an antibiotic. It is a Thiamine (B1) uptake inhibitor.

 

[cackleberrylinda]

Okay MotherJean, I got the Poly-vi-Sol. How much should I dose little Angel with? She is about the size of ... hmmm, well, she's about 6 weeks but hasn't grown much for 2 weeks and i think she might be a Banty Ameracauna. Should I just slip it in thru her beak. I have not successfully put any fluids down a birds gullet very often. I think I have drowned more birds than I helped acutally. So, I quit that practice. Maybe a drop or two at a time? Over the course of a day when she has her food?
Thanks for your help

 

[MotherJean]

Yep, that's a good start. Just a drop or two.