Mutant Cocci? Woke to 5 dead chicks

[crystalchik]

I've raised chickens for 22 years, and I've never experienced anything like this. I noticed an unusual looking dropping yesterday morning 4/3, by the end of the day yesterday they were defecating pure blood, but acting ok. I put them on Corid water and electrolytes. By this morning 5 are dead. These chicks are 3weeks old today. And they just finished a Corid treatment less than a week ago.
I just pulled another group of chicks through this, they are about two weeks older. I almost lost them around the same age but pulled them through by tubing Corid 2x a day for 4days. They havent come in contact with any other chicken that has coccidia. I've never seen coccidia act like this before, it seems exceptionally deadly. It did not respond at all to Sulmet, which I've always used.
What's going on?? Any thoughts?

 

[lazy gardener]

What are you using for bedding? Where are you brooding them? I've never dealt with cocci. But, last season, I had shipped chicks. A couple of them had yellow, mustard - colored, foamy poo. They acted fine. I put them on fermented feed, and within 24 hours, their poo had completely cleared up. was nice and dry, well formed, no off color. All my birds get FF, but I had delayed starting this group on FF.

 

[orrpeople]

What is the concentration of corid to water that you are using? I have found the recommended dosage is often not strong enough if they are to the point where they are pooping blood. You may also need to "direct dose" them.
Also, is your corid package new or has it been sitting around for a while?

I'm really sorry you have lost your little chooks. It doesn't seem to matter how long we've been raising birds, it's always hard to lose them.

 

[chickens really]

I feed medicated feed to all chicks till 8 or 9 weeks.
Coccidiosis is too fast and kills quickly..
Best wishes..

 

[crystalchik]

What are you using for bedding? Where are you brooding them? I've never dealt with cocci. But, last season, I had shipped chicks. A couple of them had yellow, mustard - colored, foamy poo. They acted fine. I put them on fermented feed, and within 24 hours, their poo had completely cleared up. was nice and dry, well formed, no off color. All my birds get FF, but I had delayed starting this group on FF.

I had them initially on Pine shavings, and as they got older I moved them to Pine pellets for bedding. They are in my garage which has a nice constant temperature and low humidity.
That is a really interesting thought about the fermented foods. I am aware of the many health benefits for humans, and it must be similar for chickens. What type of fermented foods do you feed them?

 

[crystalchik]

What is the concentration of corid to water that you are using? I have found the recommended dosage is often not strong enough if they are to the point where they are pooping blood. You may also need to "direct dose" them.
Also, is your corid package new or has it been sitting around for a while?

I'm really sorry you have lost your little chooks. It doesn't seem to matter how long we've been raising birds, it's always hard to lose them.

I'm using the treatment dosage that is 2 teaspoons per gallon of the Corid 9.6 oral liquid. What do you use that you find effective?? And the Corid is a brand new bottle.
And thank you, you are certainly right. Even after all these years losing them is still heartbreaking.

 

[crystalchik]

I feed medicated feed to all chicks till 8 or 9 weeks.
Coccidiosis is too fast and kills quickly..
Best wishes..

They have all actually been on medicated food from day one. That's what's so scary! This blindsided me because I expected the medicated feed to be doing its job.

 

[crystalchik]

As of right now, I haven't lost any others. But one is looking like she may be on her way out. I have been tubing the Corid and electrolyte solution all day.

 

[dawg53]

Since you're feeding them medicated feed, I wouldve used sulmet or sulfadimethoxine right from the beginning.
If they were being fed non medicated feed, perhaps the corid mightve been effective, but I doubt it. Why? Because there are only one or two types of cocci out of the 9 types of cocci that causes chickens to excrete blood. I forgot which type(s.) Those one or two types are "bacterial acting" type cocci, but are actually still protozoa. Therefore a sulfa drug wouldve been effective. Anytime you see a tiny trace of blood in baby chick feces, use a sulfa drug immediately. You will have to give it orally to each chick to ensure they are properly dosed.
As mentioned previously by another poster, when you see blood in feces at the amount you saw, it's too late. With your experience, I know you keep feeders/waterers/litter clean at all times. However it would be best to disinfect everything with a water/ammonia mixture to kill cocci.
Sorry for your losses.
ETA: It is Eimeria Tenella that causes the cecal bloody type coccidiosis and Eimeria Necatrix that causes bloody intestinal coccidiosis.

 

[lazy gardener]

That is a really interesting thought about the fermented foods. I am aware of the many health benefits for humans, and it must be similar for chickens. What type of fermented foods do you feed them?

There is a FAQ article about the how and why of FF in my signature written by TikiJane. You will have to paste it into the search bar b/c I won't pay for the upgrade. It is super easy to make FF, and you can make it from any feed that you are using.