Long-term effects of Coccidiosis

[ElizabethF]

Hey BYC Peeps! I'm currently dealing my first bout of Coccidiosis with my 9 week old chicks. I'm not certain, but I'm guessing that mingling with my established flock has introduced some new type of Cocci to them and overwhelmed their systems. They have Corid water, I've already lost 2 out of 60. Most are active and not showing any symptoms. That all being sad, I was reading through The Chicken Health Handbook and it was mentioned that a Coccidiosis outbreak can lead to long-term effects of laying ability for chickens. Has anyone found this to be true? Or maybe it can be caught and treated before any lasting damage is done? I'm just trying to understand what is happening and what to expect for these birds. I'm about 5 years into chicken keeping and never had a flock-wide health issue.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If there is bad scarring in the intestinal tract that leads to inflammation of the egg duct, then yes, you could have laying problems later on.

However, you caught it early, which is hopeful. And you are treating, which is helpful.

My personal experience is that I have not had so much lasting laying problems as lasting digestive problems. Two birds I bought as pullets, and after careful isolation, clearly had coccidiosis. They always seemed to have intestinal problems afterwards. I often had to keep them on medicated feed just to keep them from pooing constantly big globs of poo.

Coccidiosis CAN scar the digestive intestinal tract so that birds don't absorb nutrition as well, which in turn can impact their laying.

When I had the flare up quelled, they laid reasonably well for their breed (Cream Legbar). When it flared, they didn't lay as well.

I have had one other incidence of it that I caught early and all in that batch seemed to recover and show no long term effects.

So I think it just depends.

My experiences
LofMc

 

[ElizabethF]

If there is bad scarring in the intestinal tract that leads to inflammation of the egg duct, then yes, you could have laying problems later on.

However, you caught it early, which is hopeful. And you are treating, which is helpful.

My personal experience is that I have not had so much lasting laying problems as lasting digestive problems. Two birds I bought as pullets, and after careful isolation, clearly had coccidiosis. They always seemed to have intestinal problems afterwards. I often had to keep them on medicated feed just to keep them from pooing constantly big globs of poo.

Coccidiosis CAN scar the digestive intestinal tract so that birds don't absorb nutrition as well, which in turn can impact their laying.

When I had the flare up quelled, they laid reasonably well for their breed (Cream Legbar). When it flared, they didn't lay as well.

I have had one other incidence of it that I caught early and all in that batch seemed to recover and show no long term effects.

So I think it just depends.

My experiences
LofMc

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it!! Today, I have just a few chicks who seem a little less active but I am hopeful for no more losses. Thanks again!