HELP! Months-long battle with coccidiosis

[birdlawexpert]

I am new to owning chickens. The majority of mine are now 18 weeks old. I have an olive egger rooster who has been large and healthy. He was the first to start crowing, but stopped the week after. That week I lost two chickens with only a few hours' warning suddenly to coccidiosis. They were around 9 weeks. I started treatment with corid immediately. 2 tsp/gal for 5 days, then 1/2 tsp/gal for a week. After they were off the preventative dose, some were acting "off" so I put them back on again. Recently, I took the olive egger roo to the vet because he was too light and he was also diagnosed with coccidiosis. However, he was still very lively. At that point, I put them on 2 tsp/gal for 7 days, then on 1/2 tsp/gal until tomorrow, which will be another 7 days. We also treated him with Panacur (de-wormer) for 5 days as a precaution. Yesterday I noticed he stayed in the coop all day which was unusual and his tail was down and he was kind of hunching. At night, he was totally weak in the legs, couldn't even jump a foot, with his poop mostly water. His appetite was good. I switched them to a new medicated feed yesterday (should have mixed it but I didn't have enough left to). I also gave him a few drops of Nutri-drench. I also put him in front of AC unit because it's been so hot here (side note, coop is concrete sand and we have an A/C unit in there which keeps it around 80 degrees). He was able to jump on a chair with some effort, so I put him back out to sleep with flock. This morning, he wanted to graze outside but stumbled over the door frame leaving the coop. He was just sitting in the grass. HELP! I don't know what to do at this point. I'm so sad. Do I up his corid dose again?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would be a little concerned that he could have some problem with immunity or possible Mareks disease. Were your chicks vaccinated? I would try feeding some wet chicken feed and a little buttermilk or plain yogurt for probiotics until they get used to the new dry feed. Scrambled egg is usually a good treat. Try to get him eating. Some strains of coccidiosis are resistant to Corid, so your vet may be of help to prescribe a sulfa antibiotic, such as bactrim, sulfadimethoxine, or SMZ-TMP. You may find Sulfadimethoxine for pigeons online, but it might be too late to get it in shipping. Sorry for your loss. Here is a link for meds:
https://globalpigeonsupply.com/collections/cocci/products/sulfadimethoxine-12-5-powder

 

[birdlawexpert]

As far as I know, none of the chicks were vaccinated, but I did get them from NPIP certified hatcheries, for what that's worth. His appetite seems to be fine. My vet is prescribing a sulfa so I'm hoping that works.

 

[birdlawexpert]

I would be a little concerned that he could have some problem with immunity or possible Mareks disease. Were your chicks vaccinated? I would try feeding some wet chicken feed and a little buttermilk or plain yogurt for probiotics until they get used to the new dry feed. Scrambled egg is usually a good treat. Try to get him eating. Some strains of coccidiosis are resistant to Corid, so your vet may be of help to prescribe a sulfa antibiotic, such as bactrim, sulfadimethoxine, or SMZ-TMP. You may find Sulfadimethoxine for pigeons online, but it might be too late to get it in shipping. Sorry for your loss. Here is a link for meds:
https://globalpigeonsupply.com/collections/cocci/products/sulfadimethoxine-12-5-powder

I just had my vet order him SMZ and we gave it to him a couple hours ago. Fingers crossed!

 

[Avfields]

Probably a bit late here, but I've had a similar problem - long running battle with cocci, amprolium (corid) helping a bit, but not clearing the infection. Baycox (proper name toltrazuril) plus a course of Tylan seems to have them on the mend though.

 

[birdlawexpert]

How do you dose it? Where do you get it? Is a Rx required?

Probably a bit late here, but I've had a similar problem - long running battle with cocci, amprolium (corid) helping a bit, but not clearing the infection. Baycox (proper name toltrazuril) plus a course of Tylan seems to have them on the mend though.

 

[Avfields]

How do you dose it? Where do you get it? Is a Rx required?

Probably depends where you are. In UK, both are vet prescription only.

If your local vet isn't sure about chickens, you can quote the BSAVA Manual of Backyard Poultry Medicine and Surgery - it says the recommended treatment is to control the coccidiosis with toltrazuril or amprolium, and to control any secondary bacterial growth with tylosin or amoxicillin.

Some of those have egg withdrawal periods, just so you know.

Good luck!

 

[karenm52]

I am new to owning chickens. The majority of mine are now 18 weeks old. I have an olive egger rooster who has been large and healthy. He was the first to start crowing, but stopped the week after. That week I lost two chickens with only a few hours' warning suddenly to coccidiosis. They were around 9 weeks. I started treatment with corid immediately. 2 tsp/gal for 5 days, then 1/2 tsp/gal for a week. After they were off the preventative dose, some were acting "off" so I put them back on again. Recently, I took the olive egger roo to the vet because he was too light and he was also diagnosed with coccidiosis. However, he was still very lively. At that point, I put them on 2 tsp/gal for 7 days, then on 1/2 tsp/gal until tomorrow, which will be another 7 days. We also treated him with Panacur (de-wormer) for 5 days as a precaution. Yesterday I noticed he stayed in the coop all day which was unusual and his tail was down and he was kind of hunching. At night, he was totally weak in the legs, couldn't even jump a foot, with his poop mostly water. His appetite was good. I switched them to a new medicated feed yesterday (should have mixed it but I didn't have enough left to). I also gave him a few drops of Nutri-drench. I also put him in front of AC unit because it's been so hot here (side note, coop is concrete sand and we have an A/C unit in there which keeps it around 80 degrees). He was able to jump on a chair with some effort, so I put him back out to sleep with flock. This morning, he wanted to graze outside but stumbled over the door frame leaving the coop. He was just sitting in the grass. HELP! I don't know what to do at this point. I'm so sad. Do I up his corid dose again?

i believe my olive-egger had coccdiosis too! gave CORID - now all 3 have gnarly tail feather issues. extensive research indicated the CORID could have caused a vitamin D deficiency. check Merckvetmanual.com - it may help you. i am searching for a good supplement plus amino-acids. best