Medicated versus unmedicated chick starter

[BirdBrain]

I will have the chicks in the brooder at my house (garage) for 3 weeks and then I expect Mom will have the chicks in their new coop for some weeks. I guess since Mom didn't know she didn't need a rooster to get eggs (I really gave her a hard time for that.....farm girl....my eye....must be "old timer's disease"....Mom just grinned and said it was a LONG time ago that she had chickens?) that she would not know what she was looking at if they got cocci. I guess my best bet is to start them on medicated feed and hope for the best. At what point is cocci not a problem for them....what age?

 

[silkiechicken]

Start them on medicated and let them have access to a dish of dirt from their future run. That dish of dirt will contain some cocci so they can become immune to it. They can get cocci at any age really, but the highest risk is within the first two months, or within a week of putting them onto soil if they have lived in a "sterile" brooder up till then. Older birds are likly to be immune, but if a wild bird brings in a different strain, or if they are sick/stressed for some other reason, they can become sick to it. It is always going to be in them at some low level, but not high enough to be bad.

 

[BirdBrain]

The dirt is on order and will come back from the ranch with my brother. Thanks for all the info. This has been most informative.

 

[SportTees]

Quote:
Were do you get the chick 2 and 1?

Edit:
Which brands of feed use Amprloium?

 

[speckledhen]

There are at least nine species of Coccidia known to infect Chickens. Every animal is affected by some species of Coccidia. All species of Coccidia are host specific. This means that Coccidia that are capable of infecting Chickens will not infect Turkeys and vice versa. Five of the nine species of Coccidia that infect Chickens can be very aggressive and cause permanent Intestinal damage if not properly controlled. Each of these species resides in a particular section of the Intestines. Emeria acervulina resides in the upper part of the small intestine and is usually found in birds that are eight weeks of age and older. Emeria necatrix usually found in the middle areas of the small intestine and is usually responsible for the intestinal bleeding often seen with Coccidiosis and it usually attacks young birds. Emeria tenella resides in the Cecal tonsil or blind pouches of the Intestine and usually causes what is call Cecal bloody Coccidiosis and is usually found in birds that are between five to eight weeks of age. Emeria brunetti does its damage in the lower small intestine and the Cloaca or rectum of the bird. Emeria maxima causes Intestinal damage in the middle to lower portions of the small Intestine.

The two species that cause intestinal hemorrhage and pullet death are E. tenella and E. necatrix. E. tenella is also the species that causes bloody droppings, along with mortality; it is often the easiest for flock supervisors to recognize due to the characteristic bloodfilled ceca of dead pullets.

According to the article below, eimeria tenella won't be eradicated by sulpha drugs (Sulmet) and that feeding medicated feeds will keep them from developing immunity to cocci. Interesting.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/coccidiosis.html#drugs

Some excerpts:

Drawbacks of using preventative drugs are their expense and he resistance that coccidia have developed. The drugs are not as effective now as when they were first introduced

Unfortunately, drugs used for prevention usually interfere with development of immunity to coccidia. On the other hand, using drugs for treatment only does allow immunity to develop. If signs of the disease appear, use drugs that are appropriate for coccidia’s late life cycle – only sulfonamides and amprolium. (Reid, 1990) When birds are getting sick, they lose their appetite. Therefore, soluble medication should be provided in the drinking water.

Sulfa drugs: An exciting discovery in the 1930s was that sulfa drugs would prevent coccidiosis – the first drugs shown to do so. Sulfa drugs also have some antibacterial action. However, a relatively large amount of sulfa was needed (10-20 percent of the diet) and could be tolerated by the bird for only a short time, since it caused rickets. (Reid, 1990) Sulfa drugs had to be used intermittently (e.g., three days on and three days off). Nowadays, comparatively small amounts of sulfamonaides, such as sulfaquinoxaline, are used. They work only against Eimeria acervulina and Eimeria maxima, not against Eimeria tenella. Sulfamonaides are used to treat coccidiosis.

This seems to indicate that Sulmet is not effective against the most common cocci we all seem to battle, the one that causes the intestinal bleeding at 5-8 weeks of age. And the article also says that some drugs are losing their effectiveness against cocci. This is what I'm battling now and have been for the last year. I feed medicated feed from the start but the moment they hit the ground, the chicks get cocci. I'm changing to non-medicated and just treating with Corid when it pops up from now on.​

 

[bantyhen'sfriend]

Speckledhen, is the Corid you use the powdered stuff feed stores sell for cattle, with Amprolium as the active ingredient?