HELP! Bloody Stool/Poop - but no other symptoms...

[keeko]

I found a mysterious poo this morning on the poop boards under the roost...it is normal size and shape, with white crest, but it also has a good amount of blood on it. Since it was on the poop board, I have no idea of knowing WHO it is. All of the girls are eating, drinking, walking around and sunbathing as normal. There appears to be nothing wrong, and everyone is acting normal. They look great.

Other info: They're from McMurray, and vaccinated for Marek's and Cocci. They are just starting to lay, and out of 12, I have 9 laying. Some of their first eggs were this week. One of the eggs had a little blood smear on it, but that was it. Could the bloody stool be related to the blood on the egg? Is this normal??

If something's wrong, I want to address it ASAP! HELP!

 

[usschicago1]

Yes Your Fine. Dont worry. It is common chickens will shed intensinal Lining when they poop. Mine do it once in awhile, especially when there juveniles or just stop or start laying. If you ever get liquid blood in little puddles or it is not a Normal looking poo then you should worry. But it doesnt sound like that at all.
So Goodluck and keep an eye out. But dont worry too much

Mark

 

[keeko]

Hmm... OK, well I found two more bloody stools. But again, it's the same situation: the poo is normal looking other than the blood (which is bright red, definitely the first time I've seen it), and all the hens are acting fine. They're up, moving around, no one's listless or limp. I have one RIR with a pale comb which is usually bright red, but that's it.

Should I take a fecal sample to a vet to determine if it's cocciodiosis? If it is cocci, can I get a medication for it from TSC or Southern States or something? I know there are something like 9 strains, so I don't know how to proceed if my vet can't tell me which particularly strain it is.

 

[usschicago1]

Could you take a picture for me ?
This is normal Poop

(intestinal Lining)
This is not

( Coccidiosis)
Copied from : http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
You should be able to tell generally from those photos. Ive gotten up to four a night from 6 juveniles.
Mark

 

[keeko]

Hmmm...it's definitely not the first, where the intestinal linings are almost pink. It's bright red, and definitely blood in this stool. There's not nearly as much blood as there is on the second photo however - it's just a crest of blood, like a white crest. I'll try to take a picture before I take this sample to the vet. Unfortunately, I already cleared out the other two from the coop/run because I didn't want any more contaminants!

The RIR that has a pale comb and wattle did have a bit of blood smeared on her egg a few days ago...but I didn't think anything of it. (And I could be entirely wrong, it could be my OTHER RIR - only have two). Could all those things be related?

 

[usschicago1]

Its really tough. Since your birds are older the chance of cocci goes down, but its still very possible. What else is also tough about it is that they just started laying, and thats when there working out all the kinks in there system. So its really tough to give you a definite answer.

Goodluck
Hope it turns out good

And I pray no more bloody stools tomorrow.

 

[keeko]

Thank you so much Mark!
Yes, it is definitely a tough call - I've been struggling with it all day. On the one hand, I know that none of my girls are showing symptoms, but I also know that chickens in particular will hide when they're feeling ill. And of course it's my FAVORITE chicken who I suspect to be sick! Such is life. On a normal day, I'd attribute something like that to being young laying hens, figuring it all out...but after seeing the second two stools, I couldn't just brush it off.
After much research, I've decided to forego Sulmet as a treatment because of the warning label. It indicates to not give to laying chickens or turkeys, and says no more than that. A couple members on here have brought to my attention that the Sulmet may very well remain in their systems even after those 21 eggs have passed, and continue to seep into the eggs for the rest of the hens' lives. I'm trying Collodial Silver in the meantime as a holistic remedy. I know it seems that the jury is still out on C Silver, but I have to give it a shot. I just couldn't see poisoning all of my girls with medication if I'm not even 100% sure it's cocci. >sigh<

Anyway, thank you very much for your help! Fingers crossed tomorrow morning looks better than this morning...

 

[keeko]

Hey Mark,
So I just felt compelled to update you on the final result as to the bloody stools...the next day I found 5 more and decided they needed a vet visit STAT. $90 later, the vet confirms that it's coccidiosis, and they need to be treated or I would definitely lose birds. UGH. And keep in mind, my girls are 25 weeks old AND have been vaccinated for cocci through McMurray's where I got them.

I decided against Sulmet because it clearly says on the label "NOT FOR LAYING CHICKENS OR TURKEYS." After doing a bit more research on here, and other sites, I concluded that sulfur based drugs like Sulmet were not the way to go - especially since there is no research proving that it doesn't remain in the chicken's body for the rest of her life...therefore indefinitely effecting your eating eggs. So I went with Corid (which is for calves, not tested for, or recommended for chickens), but has 9.6% amprolium which is essentially the same as Amprol. So I did the corid treatment for 5 days, and it looks like it cleared up. Bloody stools cleared up after 2 days, and entirely by the 3rd day. I suspect only 2 birds of the 12 were actually sick...one that I took to the vet, and a RIR. I determined this by recording where they were roosting the night before, and found their bloody stools. I could really only confirm one though, since she was taken to the vet. A couple of the others had pale combs/wattles, and that's all the evidence I could see of them having cocci. If I hadn't found those bloody stools, I might never have known!

Anyway, thought someone could learn something from my cocci story with pullets...in all my research on BYC, I haven't found older birds who have contracted and/or survived cocci.

Thanks for your help!!