Help, Coccidiosis

[cmccindy]

We really have a problem with out flock, I am pretty sure it is coccidiosis. We have 7 hens total, 1 is 2 years old, 4 are 1 year and 2 are about 22 weeks. We noticed a big bout of diarrhea about 2 weeks ago and a couple of the hens were really lethargic with 1 not coming for the worms or treats. We did some research and figured it was an outbreak of coccidiosis. We called a Mennonite family in our area who raise chickens and were recommended by the feed store in our area. They said to put them on Oxytetracyclin Hydrochloride soluble powder. We called the manufacturer to get the dosing info. We refreshed every day and kept them on it for 10 days. They all seemed much better, we discontinued 10 days ago and now we have a hen who is displaying the same symptoms again. Very frustrated, should we try and get the Corid? We cleaned everything really well. Stools had all gone back to normal. Now the one who is displaying symptoms has watery yellowish stools. At my wits end. Really worried we are going to start losing chickens.
Also, our Buff, the 2 year old has some kind of strange sneezing/cough thing going on. Not sure if it is related.

 

[cmccindy]

I forgot to mention that they have not been laying hardly at all since this all started. We are getting about 1 egg a day. The two little girls have not started laying yet. Just the other 5.

 

[spangleman]

The worm treats is where the coccidiosis came from.

 

[cmccindy]

We have been using meal worms since we started raising them, although with the gardening we have been doing, we have been throwing in the live ones now and then. Ugh, I had no idea they could cause a problem.

 

[MarcoPollo]

If you suspect coccidia then you need Corid ASAP! From what I understand, Corid is the only treatment that will kill all the types of coccidia, whereas other drugs may target only a few types. I had to go with a sulfa drug until I could get my Corid ordered and I fed some buttermilk and yogurt to my hens to soothe their gut. They were going downhill fast When I got Corid I dosed the hens immediately even though they had went through a treatment of sulfadimethoxine and were improving some.
If you can, take a stool sample from your flock to a vet clinic to see if you're dealing with something else too. My hens had coccidia and hookworms. They needed fenbendazole also. If one bird has a parasite problem (diarrhea), they all need to be treated again.
The sneezing/coughing hen needs to be separated so that you can watch her food intake and daily progress.
Can you get Corid?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The worm treats is where the coccidiosis came from.

Rather interesting assertion given that you provide no basis whatsoever and the worm treats are actually unlikely to be a source of cocci.

OP - if it is coccidiosis, the treatment you used is not an appropriate treatment and is why you saw no improvement. The only treatment for coccidiosis is corid/amprolium. That being said, if it was cocci I would be expecting to see pretty severe decline/death in at least some of your birds given that this has been another two weeks with (essentially) no treatment as it is unlikely that coccidiosis would have resolved on it's own (the improvement you saw).

 

[enola]

Chickens do not get coccidia from meal worms. Coccidia are in all chicken environments. Some sort of stress will lower a chicken's immunity allowing the coccidia to multiply and cause the chicken to become ill.

You may consider worming your chickens with Safeguard if you have not wormed them this spring. Repeat worming again in ten days.

Corid is not the only medication to use to treat coccidia, but it does the job most of the time. Do not give your chickens any vitamin supplementation while giving them Corid.

 

[TheJerzyHen]

I have been treating a sick buff orp for 2 days via syringe feeding with corid and a mix of probiotics and yogurt. I'm hoping not to lose her as she is quite sick, but as a side note...treating the other 3 at same time and they are doing beautiful.. Good luck!

 

[cafarmgirl]

I agree with Enola about worming them, if they've never been dewormed they could have a heavy worm load. Run a course of Corid first so you have that base covered, coccidiosis is lethal much faster then a worm infestation so you want to make sure that's taken care of. After that worm everybody with Valbazen or liquid Safeguard for goats. You can use Safeguard paste for horses, I just find the liquid easier to dose.

 

[cmccindy]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, I am beginning to think that Coccidiosis is not the problem, There was improvement with the antibiotic and then two of them became symptomatic again. I really agree that the mealworms are not the problem, we have been feeding them to our chickens for two years. I am puzzled and thinking they may need worming. I hate to medicate unnecessarily, we are really new to chicken raising, two years. It really takes a while to learn.

I am wondering also about the stress of adding the two new Orpingtons. We kept them separate for about 5 weeks, everyone seemed healthy and fine until this outbreak, we did not put them together until after the run of antibiotics and everyone seemed well. They are all finally adjusting and settling down. We did make the mistake of keeping them in a small coop inside the chicken yard. We did not realize that they needed to be kept completely separate. Perhaps the stress kicked this whole thing off. We were told that it would be ok, as long as they did not have close physical contact.

We will try the Corrid, just in case, and then worm them. Needing a worming seems to be a more likely culprit at this point. I have to agree if it was Coccidiosis we would probably have lost some of them by now.


We do use Diatomaceous Earth in their coop and in their food, to help prevent some pests. We also moved to the country in the fall, we are now on 12 acres and it is heavily wooded, the only chicken we moved with us was our Buff, her sisters were taken by a predator last summer while we had someone taking care of them, they forgot to close the coop. We added the 4 barred rocks after our coop was built in Nov. I really don't want to lose them, especially to my incompetence.