how do you cure cocci or what do you give your chickens HELP!

[chickenboy1993]

i have a bunch of chickens and i dont know which one it is but theres blood in some of my poop out in the chicken barn any idea on what to give the chicks? the feed is medicated also

 

[dlhunicorn]

keep the chicks in a separate area to the adult ones... this way you will know if it is a chick producing that bloody poo (maybe one of the adults has cappillaria worms which is the most common thing to cause bloody poo in older birds.) spearate them and then you can observe them properly for symptoms
Albon, Corrid or sulmet are the meds for cocci (do a search of this forum... there are gobs of posts on this)

 

[threehorses]

Medicated feed is designed to *help* prevent infections, but not prevent the bird from exposure to cocci. It's in light enough dosages and designed so that the bird is exposed to cocci and develop a resistance to that particular cocci. (There are several different ones.)

Feeds that are medicated are called "Coccidiostats" because they are designed to control cocci blooms - not kill all cocci. (By the way, amprolium is the only med that medicates against cocci - others in the feed are likely antibacterial - so read your label and make sure it's amprolium.)

Chicks usually are exposed to cocci, ingest them, the cocci break up and multiply in the gut. That causes irritation which usually appears as diarrhea. Only when there is a severe case of coccidiosis will there be blood cause by coccidiosis. Ideally, the chicks get better before this stage and become immune to THAT species of cocci.

However, adults can and do get coccidiosis (though less commonly) if they're exposed to a different cocci than the one to which they've devleped an immunity. For that reason, I will keep a thing of Sulmet around for adult birds. (And because it also treats E. coli, a bacteria, which can irritate the digestive tract to the point of blood.) If you find your adult birds are shedding the blood, I'd treat with Sulmet.

If you find it's your chicks, I'd treat with Corid as the first choice, Sulmet as the second.

In ALL cases, because there was blood, I would use probiotics for all of your birds. Probiotics are an edible source of living beneficial bacteria. The essential beneficial bacteria of the gut help keep bad bacteria and yeasts/fungi controlled by competing with them. If the good bacteria decrease in numbers for any reason, the bad can more easily take over. So you want to replace the good bacteria at any time you see runny droppings, or a sick/weak/medicated bird. It's also a good maintenance measure as the bacteria help the food to be more readily absorbed as well as producing vitamins. etc etc.

So, all babies get yogurt or another probiotic (see below) at a rate of 1 teaspoon plain yogurt (no bits, no flavors) per 6 chicks, 1 teaspoon per 3 4 week old chicks, on up to 1 teaspoon per adult bird per day while there's an issue.

IF you medicate with a cycline or mycin drug, you must use another form of probiotic. Most common and inexpensive are the acidophilis capsules/tablets from the health food or grocery store vitamin section. Another very good form is a prepared livestock probiotic called Probios dispersible powder. For a small jar, it's around $8. At 1/4 a teaspoon per bird it's very very economical, even more so than yogurt! You can keep one small bottle in the fridge for months.

Once you decide who's dropping the blood (chicks or adults) then treat them.

If the adults are the ones, as DLUnicorn suggested I'd consider worming after treating for coccidiosis. Let us know if you need help with that aspect.

p.s. Wetness and warmth are triggers that cause blooms in cocci; try to keep the area around the feed and in the living areas as clean and dry as possible.