help, I have three dead chicks

[etztaylor]

My 4 week old chicks have bloody stool. I have lost 3 chicks yesterday.
I believe that they have cocci. My vet did not have amprol, so I am treating them with
Sulfadimethoxine in the water. This is the second day of treatment. When should I see the bloody stool stop? Has anyone purchased the spray on vaccine for cocci, if so where can I purchase it?

Do I need to worry about my chickens that are older getting this from the babies? How far apart do I need to keep the infected babies from the older chickens?

I am so stressed out. I cant stand to see my baby's sick.

Thanks for the help!

 

[mypicklebird]

If you have a vet, have them check a fecal/stool sample. The coccidia are easy to see- then you know what you are dealing with. (though you could have cocci and something else).
Most of the medications do not kill the organism directly, they just make it unable to reproduce. So giving these medications do not work instantly- it takes time. The chicks picked up the organism from feces/soil, and can reinfect themselves. The goal of the medicated chick starts (which contain anti-coccidial medications) is to keep the disease in check until the chicken's immune system can do it. Chicks and adult chickens get sick when they get exposed to large amounts of cocci from the environment before their immune systems are immune. The vaccine will not help your current chicks- if they survive- they will have created their own immunity. (getting a flu shot doesn't help you get better faster if you have the flu, and giving a dog a distemper vaccine doesn't help it if it is dying from distemper).
If you have proven coccidia in your chicken coop, and most of us who have chickens on dirt/ in the dirt have it, feeding your new chicks medicated starter will be VERY helpful- and keeping them on it for some time after they have been introduced into the contaminated area.

If you have an appropriate anti-coccidial medication for mixing into water- it will help only if you mixed it correctly- check your math, and if they are actually drinking it. If they feel really bad, they may not be eating/drinking. Ask whoever gave you the medication if it is a coccidial STAT drug or coccidiocidal. If you only have a few chicks- you can get your sulfadimethoxine (albon) in an oral form (not the mixing in water form) and give it individually- then you know they are getting the appropriate amount. Your vet will have this.

Your chicks likely got the cocci from your older birds- it is in the soil, it got there from fecal contamination. Any where they poop, it is. If they came with coccidia from where ever you got them, and your older birds have never been exposed, they can get it, and will likely have similar symptoms- but almost all back yard flocks are exposed and immune already. Anyway- when you bring in new chicks - you should ALWAYS quarantine them for a few weeks from your other bird, there are lots worse things out there than coccidia.
good luck, Jess

 

[etztaylor]

Thanks for the help.
I have not been using medicated starter feed. I am going to have to start doing that.
I have another bird on the way out.

Are they dying becasue they are not eating and drinking?

 

[sammi]

the cocci depletes the system of nutrition..plus effects the desire to eat or drink..

you might have to give the medicated water directly by drops on beaks, at least for a few days.
if they aren't drinking, they aren't getting the med.

medicated feed does HELP prevent cocci..but they can still get it..especially when chicks are exposed to other chickens.
the strain they have been exposed to your other birds hopefully have built a resistance to..and the chicks that survive this round..will build an immunity to it also.

but all sick birds should be isolated from others.