Right now I have 14, 6 week old chickens, 4, 6 week old ducks and 2 11 week old ducks...
I have not ever fed them a medicated feed and no one has come down with Coccidosis that I have noticed and I watch my birds alot.
I do keep a antibiotic on the farm in case I notice anyone coming down with anything but have not had to use it.
I now have 25 new Jumbo Cornish chicks coming and while they will not be housed with my layer birds I am starting to wonder if I should be really worried about an outbreak of Cocci?
Does anyone know how long those organiziums (omg horrible spelling, sorry!) can live in the ground?
I do live on a 300 year old farm that was once used for poultry; turkeys and chickens. The property was last used for birds about 20 years ago before now, though the old farmers kept the birds in the 3 story barn/carriage house and we doubt that they ever had access to the outside (sad huh?), they were meat birds.
Now, I know some things about Coccidosis in dogs and cats but do not know if the dog strain is transmittible to poultry?
Show dogs were also raised on my property at one point and in dogs, once they contract Coccida even when it's cleared up, in times of stress or illness they can release the "bug" in their waste. I have 3 dogs of my own, two of which are confirmed as being immune to Coccida now but who can also still produce the "bug".
Anyway, what should I be doing at this point to make sure I do not run into a problem with this? I know cleanliness is a big thing. Right now my 14 chickens are turned out with my 6 ducks in an 8X8 pen (I know it's small but it's only supposed to be for the ducks!) while I wait for my DH to build the chicken coop and pen, hopefully this week if we don't run into any more health problems of the human sort (everyones been sick, that's why the chickens are in with the ducks, they got too big for their brooder but had no where else to go but in with the ducks while we got better and build the other pen!).
I worry with how dirty the ducks are that with all the poo building up in there they will come down with it. I have been letting the chicks and ducks out to range whenever I can and raking the pen to clean it up a little, I've even put down grass clippings in the bottom of the pen for now to keep them off the poo. I really should have put something down in the bottom of that duck pen before I put the ducks in it! Hindsight is 20/20... I need to put sand or something down in there, they are so messy!
In the meantime does anyone have any tips for me on how to keep this pen clean when it's becoming a mud pit?!
Sorry for the loooong post and all the questions!
Thanks for reading!
I have not ever fed them a medicated feed and no one has come down with Coccidosis that I have noticed and I watch my birds alot.
I do keep a antibiotic on the farm in case I notice anyone coming down with anything but have not had to use it.
I now have 25 new Jumbo Cornish chicks coming and while they will not be housed with my layer birds I am starting to wonder if I should be really worried about an outbreak of Cocci?
Does anyone know how long those organiziums (omg horrible spelling, sorry!) can live in the ground?
I do live on a 300 year old farm that was once used for poultry; turkeys and chickens. The property was last used for birds about 20 years ago before now, though the old farmers kept the birds in the 3 story barn/carriage house and we doubt that they ever had access to the outside (sad huh?), they were meat birds.
Now, I know some things about Coccidosis in dogs and cats but do not know if the dog strain is transmittible to poultry?
Show dogs were also raised on my property at one point and in dogs, once they contract Coccida even when it's cleared up, in times of stress or illness they can release the "bug" in their waste. I have 3 dogs of my own, two of which are confirmed as being immune to Coccida now but who can also still produce the "bug".
Anyway, what should I be doing at this point to make sure I do not run into a problem with this? I know cleanliness is a big thing. Right now my 14 chickens are turned out with my 6 ducks in an 8X8 pen (I know it's small but it's only supposed to be for the ducks!) while I wait for my DH to build the chicken coop and pen, hopefully this week if we don't run into any more health problems of the human sort (everyones been sick, that's why the chickens are in with the ducks, they got too big for their brooder but had no where else to go but in with the ducks while we got better and build the other pen!).
I worry with how dirty the ducks are that with all the poo building up in there they will come down with it. I have been letting the chicks and ducks out to range whenever I can and raking the pen to clean it up a little, I've even put down grass clippings in the bottom of the pen for now to keep them off the poo. I really should have put something down in the bottom of that duck pen before I put the ducks in it! Hindsight is 20/20... I need to put sand or something down in there, they are so messy!
In the meantime does anyone have any tips for me on how to keep this pen clean when it's becoming a mud pit?!
Sorry for the loooong post and all the questions!
Thanks for reading!