I might have lost a six week old chicken to Cocci and now I'm worried about my meaties, which brood in a separate cage (but in basically the same area). I know I could feed medicated and eliminate this, but part of the goal was to raise healthier birds. So how do people handle cocci in meat birds? I'm looking for suggestions so that I don't have to worry about waking up to more dead birds.
I personally have never used medicated food. I've had chickens for five years now, and we did have an episode with cocci one time, with some chicks. I noticed that there was blood in their droppings. This was during an extremely hot, wet summer and that's the perfect environment for cocci to grow and spread. If that happens, as soon as you see bloody droppings you need to buy Corid, which is a powder advertised for cows, and you add that to their drinking water. You can use Sulmet, but it's harder on their systems. Bascially, keeping their area as clean as possible and dry, will keep the cocci from invading your flock. Back when we had the cocci, my chicks didn't even seem sickly, because I treated them so quickly. Their run had dirt as the base. I had to throw bleach over the dirt and not use it for quite some time, until the dirt had totally dried up. Then I put a very thick layer of sand over the dirt. I've never had that problem again. I do rake my chicken runs almost every day though, I pick up the poo with a kitty litter scoop, or I rake it up, and dispose of it. I hope this helps and good luck with your meaties, Sharon
I use medicated starter and I don't worry about it. The modern medication is vitamin based. It should be well out of their system by butchering time. However, for a few pennies, you can order chicks who have been vaccinated.
Don't be like me: I did this "for a few pennies" and I have three dead birds as of this morning from Cocci. There are nine strains of cocci and the vaccine only works on a few of them. I'll know next time, and start with medicated. The dead birds are not my meaties, they are spare roos, but obviously it's likely my pullets have it too. I've learned my lesson.
You can treat your hens w/ Corid. I would use the prevention ratio. I doubt the ones you lost were from cocci. It usually takes much longer than 6 weeks to kill, and that's assuming they had it since day one. A bird with cocci will deteriorate very slowly from lack of nutrition and will have feathers sticking out and look sick.
The one that died this morning left bloody poop all over (never saw a single trace of blood before), and I have two more that the more I look at them, the more I think their feathers are in fact puffed out. These were the small ones - I have 23 healthy ones, but I have corid now and will treat them. Live and learn, I guess (me, not the ones that died)
In your situation, I'd switch to a medicated feed for a bit. There should be slaughter information on the tag for the feed to advise withdrawal times. I don't feed medicated, but I've not had an outbreak. If I did, I would feed medicated for a bit. It's simply not something I would risk hoping against. Of course, you are going for "healthier", but dead chicks aren't very healthy. I feel it's better to medicate livestock when they need it or the environment warrants it - it's the middle ground of non-stop preventative medication or high losses due to no medication. Good luck!
Unpasteurized ACV(Bragg's is one brand) is all you need. It's healthy and will work on the common bacterias that cause cocci and other intestinal bacterial infections. Please read the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...osis-and-other-poultry-diseases-in-chicks-acv Been using this method for years upon years and have never had cocci or any other disease in my flocks or to affect my chicks in any way. Raised 20 meaties a couple of springs ago on ACV and had 100% survival. The ACV will not only prevent disease, it will replace the good bacteria in their bowels so they won't be having those horrible, stinking, yellow poops that is pretty much standard with this breed. In doing so, it will also keep those valuable electrolytes lost in this manner of diarrhea inside the bird instead of shooting out their backside, insuring they won't keel over so easily under stress or heat. You can also take this one step further by fermenting their feed ration, which gives them a continual dose of probios of the same kinds found in the UP/ACV. To ferment, just soak your feed ration overnight someplace where it's at least 72 degrees...like your kitchen or another room in your house. Feed as per usual the next day....this increases the protein levels of your feed, while also keeping their bowels healthy. They will absorb more nutrients with healthier bowel performance and will not be prone to organ failure as per usual. They will require less feed and be healthier...can't go wrong there.
