Enteritis

[Bkaye]

Seems like I have been having nothing but problems with my bantams for the last mo. Lost 2 to an impacted since the beginning of August. Since that time I have given corrid due to seeing blood in the poop and after the second got an impacted crop I wormed them to rule out anything. Exactly one week after worming them my little cockerel developed enteritis which thanks to @azygous hes back to his old self. We did a full 7 days of sulfa antibiotics and finished up the beginning of this week (You can see that thread here https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/lethargic-cockerel.1544916/#post-26080809 ) since treatment I have been giving them yogurt to try to get their gut health back good.

Fast forward to today. First thing this morning I noticed one of my Silkie pullets had the same poop as my cockerel did last week. There was a pile under the roost where she slept and I also saw her go. Changed out their water and started them back on the sulfa meds. Few mins ago I was sitting out watching them and saw another Silkie use the bathroom and it too had the same poop as the cockerel and other Silkie.

What is causing this? Do I need to deworm again? I did a 5 day treatment with safeguard when I wormed them the other day. Weighed each individual so I knew I was giving the right dosage. We did the paste and I did it orally, was not mixed with anything. Why am I having so many issues?!

So far no one is acting off. The Silkie that I noticed first thing this morning has been laying regularly but did lay a soft shell egg today.

Not sure what’s going on but it seems like as soon as I get one better someone else starts acting off or gets sick.

 

[azygous]

When this sort of thing seems to be forcing you into a game of "whack-a-mole", it's time to pay for a simple poop test to determine precisely what you're dealing with. In spite of the Corid and the Safeguard, there may be worms or parasites that aren't targeted by the meds you've used to date. Safeguard does cover most species of worms but a few aren't. Corid covers most strains of coccidia but may be ineffective against other strains.

Gather a few random fresh poop samples and take them in a clean sandwich zip lock bag to your vet and request a fecal float test to identify any and all parasites present. From that, you can then select a worming med that will target those worms, such as tape worm and cecal worm specifically. If there are coccidia present in higher than normal numbers, that too can be addressed with Corid plus a drench. If there is other types of protozoa present, such as Isospora, Cryptosporidium, and Sarcosporidia, then an anti-protozoan drug would be necessary.

The fecal float would cover all of these types of parasites and is relatively inexpensive.

 

[Bkaye]

Thank you, we are going to try to call around and see if we can find a vet that will do one for us. Hopefully we can and we can figure out what’s going on and get some answers.

 

[Bkaye]

So far we have been unable to find a vet willing to do a fecal float. Any other suggestions or things to try?

 

[Bkaye]

Just thought I would post an update. We still never found a vet willing to do a fecal float. However a couple days after my last post I found tape worm segments in one of the poops in the run. So I ran out purchases some equimax and treated. Repeated 10 days later.

Since that time everyone has been doing great. Had a Cochin decide to go broody yesterday with her sister following shortly after. So I am on the process of breaking them.

 

[Stephlorraine]

Hi, I have a chicken with suspected enteritis. I have been treating her with antibiotics and her poo started to come good. I took her off after the said time on the label, and her poo started to go back to bad (it’s very mucousy, coloured, but very jelly like). I started treating her again and her poo started to come good again, until today when I started letting her outside and hasn’t been drinking as much anti-biotic. Did your chickens poo eventually clear up on it’s own with enteritis? Or am I probably dealing with a different situation to what you had? She previously had a worm load and then developed sour crop. Her crop is better now, but I feel her intestines are damaged from the worms so trying to treat her for longer. I’m not sure whether to take her off the antibiotics and try a probiotic for a few days? I’m scared to take her off incase she goes down hill, but I know she can’t stay on them forever. The vet was useless and was no help.

 

[Bkaye]

Mine cleared up fine. I realized that some in my flock had tape worms and after I arrested that issue with them and treated them with the sulfa antibiotics I didn’t have any more issues.

What worms did you have and what did you treat them with? Also which antibiotic are you using?

There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum that will be along to hopefully help you out more than I can. Im still need to all of this. @azygous has helped me out numerous times including when I was having this problem.

 

[Stephlorraine]

Mine cleared up fine. I realized that some in my flock had tape worms and after I arrested that issue with them and treated them with the sulfa antibiotics I didn’t have any more issues.

What worms did you have and what did you treat them with? Also which antibiotic are you using?

There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum that will be along to hopefully help you out more than I can. Im still need to all of this. @azygous has helped me out numerous times including when I was having this problem.

Oh that’s good. My chooks had large round worms, and I used kilverm. I’m using the sulfa 3 antibiotic. I just stopped her on it last night to give her probiotics. That’s fair, I just thought there may be a few tips that you did that might help my little Chooky. Thanks heaps.

 

[Bkaye]

I hope yours feel better soon. I did a full week of the antibiotics for mine.

 

[Stephlorraine]

I hope yours feel better soon. I did a full week of the antibiotics for mine.

So far so good She’s starting to put some weight back on too. Strong little chookies you have!