Help!!! My chick is sick.

[dizzle's chicks]

After doing research I think one of my chick has Coccidiosis. She started pooping blood on Sunday morning. What do I need to do to heal her? She doesn't do much except to sleep and graze the grass a little bit and her eyes are droopy. I noticed the other chicks eating her poop. Thanks for the help.

 

[ALRwild]

REMOVE HER FROM THE OTHER CHICKS. Coccidiosis is EXTREMELY hard to get rid of. I'm sorry, but I think your sick chick will be a goner. There is medicine you could get from the vet to help her, but it takes a lot of time and might not work in the end anyway. As much as you may feel bad for the sick chick you have to begin to worry about your other chicks. Remove them from their brooder and put them in a box. Take there brooder and soak it in boiling water for AT LEAST ten min. This may be hard to do, so I suggest buying a new one. If your chicks are free range, make sure that they STOP eating the sick chicks poo, or else they will get sick too. I would say that you should probabally just put the chick to sleep (unless you want to use the meds). Good Luck.

 

[Erica]

I would immediately get some coccidiosis medicine from a pet shop, vet or feed store and dribble the appropriate amount in this chick's beak. Don't squirt it in and don't put the dropper in the back of the throat, just dribble bit by bit onto her lower beak and wait till she swallows. Don't bother isolating her unless she's being attacked.

Also treat the other chicks, though not by beak, just in the water should do it. But as this girl's not eating or drinking she won't get her share that way.

Lastly change the bedding every 24 hours for a few days. That will stop any reinfection (cocci oocysts take about 48 hours after being dropped to become infective when eaten) while the birds handle this bout.

It may take her insides a long time to heal, but she should look better quickly if you've acted quickly enough.

Sorry for your little ones, cocci is very hard.

Incidentally lightly soured milk seems to have some benefits as a preventive.

Coccidiosis is practically everywhere. There's no point isolating one chick. They have to be exposed to it sooner or later, unless you want them to live in wire cages. However there are differences between ground that's heavily seeded with coccidia and ground that's relatively clean. You want to manage so that you're not putting chicks on heavily seeded ground until they've had small exposure gradually as they grow.

As for the brooder, a good clean can be a help, as can airing it in hot sunlight for a time.

Best wishes,
Erica

 

[GardenState38]

Try not to panic, even though you've been given such doom and gloom scenarios (sheesh!) It is not ALWAYS fatal and doesn't always wipe out an entire flock. There are several strains--some worse than others.
There is hope--You just need to act on it as promptly as possible, with the medications that are available to you.
So that you know what you're looking for: There is a medication named Corid (Amprolium-a more concentrated dose than what is found in medicated chick feed and comes in powder or liquid) or another called Sulmet (which, I've been told is harder on the gut).
I only have access to Sulmet, so that's what I'm using in their water --2T per gal. water for 2 days, then 1T per gallon for the next 4 days.

I agree that there's no point in isolating the chick, especially at this point, if the others have had access to its droppings already.

Take it from me--someone utterly meticulous about brooder cleanliness and dryness--anyone can get it. I have had my 5 week-old chicks outside only 3 times--one day for 1 hour, another for 2 hours, and this past Saturday for 4 hours.
Never been any other chickens on the soil before, and they must have picked up cocci. Unfortunately I had no way of knowing how prevalent cocci might be in my suburban backyard.
One pullet passed bloody droppings yesterday. Also, I had them on medicated feed from the day I got them (thank goodness!)
At least mine are all active and have appetites, so I've either caught it early, or it's a mild case (possibly thanks to the medicated feed).

Also, Pro-biotics (in the form of yogurt or kefir) help the chicks' gut while they're on the medications. It helps keep their intestinal flora balanced. My chicks have had a daily ration of yogurt for several weeks--I'm wondering if that has also helped lessen the severity of the outbreak.

 

[dizzle's chicks]

thanks for the advice. I went to the local feed store during my lunch and picked up some Sulmet and went home to add it to the water. When I saw her she was tired with droopy eyes

So hard to see her like that. But I picked her up and brought her over to the waterer I put in the coop and force her beak into it. She started drinking alot which is good I hope

. Hopefully, I caught it soon enough. Saturday night they were all fine and didn't notice and blood in their droppings then Sunday morning was when I saw it. She was fine during the day with the others outside in the backyard garzing on grass. Then she started getting tired and finding places to sleep. Let's Pray and hope for the best!