Meat Chicks and coccidiosis

[Helicopter Mom]

We have 30 Jumbo Cornish X chicks arriving this week. Last year we had a break out early on of coccidiosis and lost several birds before we got it under control. I had Corid and treated for a week straight. This year we purchased Purina medicated chick feed to help prevent it from even taking hold. Unfortunately, we can only find it in 5 lb bags and no surprise....it's not cheap.

However I have a few questions. To start with, I was thinking about giving the medicated feed along with the Corid (which I put in the water) for the first 2 weeks. Is this okay to do? I don't want to over-medicate and cause an issue. My other option is to just give the feed for 2 weeks and then switch over to the Corid in the water. Would this be a better option?

When the chick are 3-4 weeks old and have their adult feathers, they will be put out on pasture in a chicken tractor which will be moved onto fresh grass daily. At this time they start receiving meat bird crumbles and receive no more chick feed. Should I continue to give Corid in the water at this time or lay off? Obviously they'll be butchered at 8 weeks of age and I don't want the Corid or medicated feed to affect the meat since we do sell the birds. I did read somewhere to stop any medicated feed or water at 5 weeks, giving a 3 week withdrawal period. Would this be a sufficient withdrawal period?

Thanks for the help and advice!
PS - I wasn't totally sure where to post this, but I selected here since this was specific to meat birds and they are obviously managed very differently than laying birds. Hope that's okay!

 

[iwltfum]

If you're having problems with coccidiosis in your meat birds, it might be a good idea to start by looking at your bedding management.

Manure loading/capping, bedding that stays moist, brooding or grow-out spaces that are too small, water that sits dirty, etc can all be the cause of problems. Throwing antibiotics at the problem might work for a year or two until your local cocci become resistant, then it wont.

Corid is mildly effective in general, but won't eliminate a problem completely if there is one to be had.

Feeding medicated feed in the beginning and then switching off medicated can be an issue due to the birds having built up no antibodies or probios to fight off any potential cocci outbreak in the future.

A page out of my own management style:
I put a thin layer of healthy compost (preferably well aged) under the fresh shavings in my brooders and I think it's the reason I rarely have a bird die from coccidiosis raising 200-300 birds a year for the past couple years. They need to be exposed as early as possible to the microbiota that is in the soil to gain resistances to things like that. A sterile environment only works if it remains sterile for the duration. I don't used medicated feed or water ever. If I suspect coccidiosis, I will start by cleaning the brooder/coop (with a layer of compost again as the base).

To each their own and I'm sure there will be other opinions that pop up here, but coccidiosis is pretty much ubiquitous, it's in normal chicken poop from a healthy chicken. I'm my experience, it's when the poop is in too high of concentrations that the coccidiosis can take hold.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll copy something I wrote years ago on medicated feed and Coccidiosis. It might help in your decision making.

Check the label for which medicine is in your medicated feed. Feed for meat birds is where you are most likely to find medicines other than Amprolium. Cornish X are more prone to getting Coccidiosis because they poop so much it can stay wet. Wet bedding and dirty water gives the Cocci bug a place to thrive.

I'd be reluctant to feed medicated feed and Corid both. The dosage in medicated feed is a preventative (if it is Amprolium) while the dosage in Corid is a treatment. I would not be comfortable as to what dosage to use if I mixed them. The medicated feed will not totally prevent Cocci, especially if the water is dirty and their living conditions are wet, but it can help. Amprolium is a thiamine blocker. In short treatment mode, well you are desperate. I would not want to overdose for any length of time.

They cannot develop the immunity they need if they are not exposed to that bug. Since you had an outbreak last year it is in your soil.

There is no FDA withdrawal time in chicken meat or chicken eggs for Amprolium. There can be for other meat animals so you need to check before you use Amprolium on other animals. If Amprolium is the drug you are working with you can continue to feed it up to butcher.

To me the best control of Cocci is clean water and dry bedding. Since you've had an outbreak medicated feed for a few weeks after they have been exposed to the Cocci bug could be a good idea.

Now the write-up.

First you need to know what the "medicated" is in the medicated feed. It should be on the label. Usually it is Amprolium, Amprol, some such product, but until you read the label, you really don't know. Most "medicated' feed from major brands for chicks that will be layers uses Amprolium, but there are a few out there mostly for broilers that use other medicines. I'll assume yours is an Amprolium product, but if it is not, then realize everything I say about it may not apply. And it is possible that the "medicated" is Amprolium AND something else.

Amprol is not an antibiotic. It does not kill anything. It inhibits the protozoa that cause coccidiosis (often called Cocci on this forum) from multiplying in the chicken's system. It does not prevent the protozoa from multiplying; it just slows that multiplication down. There are several different strains of protozoa that can cause Cocci, some more severe than others. Chickens can develop immunity to a specific strain of the protozoa, but that does not give them immunity to all protozoa that cause Cocci. Little bitty tiny baby chicks can develop that immunity easier than older chickens.

It is not a big deal for the chicken’s intestines to contain some of the protozoa that cause Cocci. The problem comes in when the number of those protozoa gets huge. The protozoa can multiply in the chicken’s intestines but also in wet manure. Different protozoa strains have different strengths, but for almost all cases, if you keep the brooder dry, you will not have a problem.

To develop immunity to a specific strain, that protozoa needs to be in the chicks intestines for two or three weeks. The normal sequence is that a chick has the protozoa. It poops and some of the cysts that develop the protozoa come out in the poop. If the poop is slightly damp, those cysts develop and will then develop in the chick's intestines when the chicks eat that poop. This cycle needs go on for a few weeks so all chicks are exposed and they are exposed long enough to develop immunity. A couple of important points here. You do need to watch them to see if they are getting sick. And the key is to keep the brooder dry yet allow some of the poop to stay damp. Not soaking wet, just barely damp. Wet poop can lead to serious problems.

What sometimes happens is that people keep chicks in a brooder and feed them medicated feed while they are in the brooder. Those chicks are never exposed to the Cocci protozoa that lives in the dirt in their run, so they never develop the immunity to it. Then, they are switched to non-medicated feed and put on the ground where they are for the first time exposed to the protozoa. They do not have immunity, they do not have the protection of the medicated feed, so they get sick. Feeding medicated feed while in the brooder was a complete waste.

I do not feed medicated feed. I keep the brooder dry to not allow the protozoa to breed uncontrollably. The third day that they are in the brooder, I take a scoop of dirt from the run and feed it to them so I can introduce the protozoa and they can develop the immunity they need to the strain they need to develop an immunity to. To provide a place for that slightly damp poop, I keep a square of plywood in the dry brooder and let the poop build up on that. I don't lose chicks to Cocci when they hit the ground.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding medicated feed to chicks, whether the protozoa are present or not. It will not hurt them. They can still develop the immunity they need. But unless the protozoa are present, it also does no good.

If you get your chicks vaccinated for Cocci, do not feed medicated feed. It can negate the vaccinations.

 

[NatJ]

This year we purchased Purina medicated chick feed to help prevent it from even taking hold. Unfortunately, we can only find it in 5 lb bags and no surprise....it's not cheap.

You do not have to buy medicated feed.
Corid can be used in the water as a preventative, along with normal feed.
The package probably has two levels of dosing, one for prevention and one for treating an actual outbreak.

Medicated feed vs. medicated water: same idea, different method of getting the stuff into the chickens. Just choose whichever is more convenient or cheaper for you.