lathargic, not eating, bloody stool????

[chickencity]

i just went out and checked on her and she was laying down with her bottom up in the air. after i turned the light on she walked over to her feed a pecked at it for awhile but did not get any water. she has used the bathroom twice since 8pm one is just watery and the other is bloody. should i start her on the antibiotics in the morning just incase? im pretty sure that the feed store has ivomec eprinex but shouldn't i treat her for the cocci first since she is already showing signs of it? can i put the wormer and antis in the same water? or do they have to be given separate?

 

[dlhunicorn]

the med for the cocci (sulmet or corrid/amprolium) will be given in the waterer... the wormer (ivomec Eprinix >be sure to check the photo out at the site I gave you to make sure it is the right product as ivomec makes several) will be given as a "spot-on" ( drop onto the neck and is absorbed thru the skin). If you already have the sulmet (cocci med) then start that immediately.

 

[Texas Willie]

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would weigh in on this, since our girls became infected with an outbreak of Coccidia.

Background: The wife and I went on a cruise to Alaska and left our girls in the care of my in-laws. They came in to our place twice a day (morning and evening) to care for our hens. They brought in "treats" for the girls from their small farm and took great care of them for us.

About two or three days after we got back, I noticed one of the girls exhibiting symptoms (not eating, lethargic). Shortly after that, I began seeing bloody stools from her. After a few days of trying to figure out what was happening to her, more of our hens started showing symptoms.....PANIC TIME!

By this time, I had figured out they probably had coccidia and I tried to locate GOOD medications locally to no avail. So, then I began calling local Vets and being referred to one clinic after the other, before finding one that would and could deal with the girls. At this point, I felt it was a very real life and death situation and immediately took the one girl (out of the five now infected) to the vet.

She was way under weight and her stool sample confirmed my diagnosis and the Vet prescribed Albon (a prescription antibiotic). The Vet also advised getting a bag of Medicated Chick Starter to feed the sick hens and to mix 50/50 with the layer feed the others were getting. I should note that our girls were just shy of 18 weeks and so there was no problem with giving the chick starter to them, since they are not laying. I feel fortunate, because my coop and run design allowed for the hens to be "quarantined" to the run easily.

The Albon is administered with a small syringe orally and the dosage depends on the weight of the hens. We were giving 1mil every 12 hours for 3 days, then 1mil once a day (as of this posting, we are two days away from completing the regimen). We also purchased Sulmet from the feed store and treated everyone's water for 3 days (we limited this, because of the many precautions on the label and other sites).

Last evening, we felt comfortable enough with the progress of the girls to reintegrate them with the rest of the flock. But beforehand, while we were administering their daily dosage, I marked the top of their heads with a magic marker to make it a "no brainer" to pick them out from the rest of the flock for the final dosages.

I have to tell you, I was scared to death we were going to lose at least a few of them. But Thank God they are all doing VERY well now.

I hope this will help someone in the future and I would also urge anyone who sees symptoms of "Lethargy, Butt In The Air, Disinterest in food" to take immediate action. If you wait to see bloody, yellow stools, you are pushing the envelope.

TW