I noticed this morning that my 4 week old (5 weeks on Thursday) pullets poop is tinged with red blood. They are still acting perfectly normal, so I don't think it is cocci. Breed : EE and RIR Food: For the first two weeks of their life they were eating layer crumbles, due to a mistake with the feed store. After I releized this I switched them to chick crumbles and now they are on chick mash. Symtoms: Normal poop tinged with blood. We did give them some ham last night for a treat.. Could this have something to do with it? Any help would be appreiciated as I don't want to lose my future layers.
It honestly sounds like cocci. Check with your local feed store for Corrid. I believe it is for cows but it works on chickens too. If you PM dawg53 I know he knows how much to mix in with the water.
Here's the poop chart to help you determine what it is. http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0 You dont want to feed your chicks nothing but chick starter/grower. It could be that they have shed intestinal lining (see poop pics in link for examples) which might contain some blood. This is normal. Cocci symptoms in chicks are; puffed up/lethargic/not eating, pooping blood which is in the final stage of infection. If you decide to treat them, as dsgard stated...treat them with corid 9.6% liquid solution. Dosage is 9.5cc per gallon of water x 7 days OR 4.75cc per 2 quarts of water x 7 days. You should change it and make a new solution daily or as needed if they poop in the water. Good luck.
I gave them some Sul-Met. Since the box is contaminated, what I really need to do is move them to a new box, but I don't have one on hand. drat.
I found some poop in the chick box that had some thick red liquid in it - otherwise it was a regular grey-brown. I looked at the chart and I'm guessing it's just shed intestinal lining... At least I hope so.
