Necrotic Enteritis

[coach723]

Mucosal surface of small intestine of a broiler chicken infected with Clostridium perfringens (necrotic enteritis).

Courtesy of Dr. Billy Hargis.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/necrotic-enteritis/overview-of-necrotic-enteritis-in-poultry
This link has pictures of levels 1 -4 of severity: http://www.poultryhub.org/health/disease/types-of-disease/necrotic-enteritis/

 

[casportpony]

Just curious, if anyone knows....what does NE look like at necrospy?
Blackened(necrotic) intestines?
Sorry for your troubles @SloanC.

https://fieldcasestudy.com/2017/05/07/necrotic-enteritis/

 

[azygous]

I'd like to talk about where your chickens could be continuing to pick up this bacteria. Compost piles are a notorious source. That was where my chickens were getting it. This bacterium loves manure and rotting veggies at the bottom of the pile where it's relatively oxygen free. My hens were Cream Legbars, famous for their prowess at digging deep for bugs and worms. I had disposed of rotting squash in this compost.

Composting material not turned over regularly can harbor conditions that Clostridium thrives in. Insects get infected with it, the hens eat the insects even if they've avoided the rotting stuff, and get infected that way.

Coccidia comes in many different strains. If you've been walking around a farm or yard with different coccidia than where you live, you can bring home these other strains on your shoes. Your chickens might not be able to resist these foreign strains and become sick, even after you treated them for the strain endemic to your yard.

You can also import new strains of coccidia on borrowed garden implements or if you've loaned yours out. Bringing in manure or topsoil can import new strains.

Just things to be aware of.

 

[SloanC]

Just curious, if anyone knows....what does NE look like at necrospy?
Blackened(necrotic) intestines?
Sorry for your troubles @SloanC.

Im not sure what it looked like but my necropsy report stated that
"In the mucosa at this dilatation are two large (2cm x 1.5cm x 1cm deep) ulcers coated with yellow caseous material. There are a few (<20) small (1mm diameter or less) white nodules (serosal parasite nodules) in the wall of the ceca and jejunum. The jejunum is markedly distended 5x normal" It also said that the ulcers caused my bird the equivalent of peritonitis

 

[casportpony]

Where any types of bacteria mentioned?

 

[SloanC]

Thanks for the information on the Amoxicillin - thats interesting.. how do fish then get what they need if its just in the water? I have been administering it incorrectly clearly and at the incorrect dosage. If its just to treat one bird and shes separated from the rest of the flock I could just mix it with some food. But I have 15 birds and want to treat them all and makesure they all get the right dose needed. They are not the easiest to catch without stressing them out. Especially to give them 2 doses a day for 7-14days. However if that's what they need it will just have to be done. The soluble version would be a better solution for me but I'm unlikely able to get it from Canada. Is there another effective antibiotic that is also soluble in water that will treat NE??

 

[SloanC]

I'd like to talk about where your chickens could be continuing to pick up this bacteria. Compost piles are a notorious source. That was where my chickens were getting it. This bacterium loves manure and rotting veggies at the bottom of the pile where it's relatively oxygen free. My hens were Cream Legbars, famous for their prowess at digging deep for bugs and worms. I had disposed of rotting squash in this compost.

Composting material not turned over regularly can harbor conditions that Clostridium thrives in. Insects get infected with it, the hens eat the insects even if they've avoided the rotting stuff, and get infected that way.

Coccidia comes in many different strains. If you've been walking around a farm or yard with different coccidia than where you live, you can bring home these other strains on your shoes. Your chickens might not be able to resist these foreign strains and become sick, even after you treated them for the strain endemic to your yard.

You can also import new strains of coccidia on borrowed garden implements or if you've loaned yours out. Bringing in manure or topsoil can import new strains.

Just things to be aware of.

Thanks for the information, my 15hens are in a wooded area 50ftx50ft pen. The coop was new and I installed a rubber mat inside for easy cleaning. I clean it out every day. There is no compost heap in the pen. With the wet year we've had the soil has been a perfect environment for the bacteria and with trees I'm sure there are droppings from wild birds. Other than that I'm not sure what else.

 

[casportpony]

Is there another effective antibiotic that is also soluble in water that will treat NE??

Soluble tylosin can be used.

 

[coach723]

I would add a probiotic to your treatment. When I give antibiotics I give a probiotic also, which often seems to lessen the intestinal impact of the antibiotic, and I continue for a week or two following antibiotics. When I'm treating a single chicken I use a human capsule and mix it with the dose. When I'm treating more than one I mix it in the feed made into a mash with water for all to eat and use a powdered livestock one for that. The antibiotics will kill all bacteria, both good and bad, it can be very helpful to replace the good, which can help keep the bad at bay in some cases.

This is from the Merck manual linked above:
Prevention, Control, and Treatment:
Because C perfringens is nearly ubiquitous, it is important to prevent coccidiosis, especially E acervulina and E maxima infections, as well as changes in the intestinal microflora that would promote its growth. This has traditionally been accomplished by adding antibiotics in the feed such as virginiamycin (20 g/ton feed), bacitracin (50 g/ton feed), and lincomycin (2 g/ton feed), as well as ionophore-class anticoccidial treatments. The move to antibiotic-free feeds has also been associated with markedly increased use of coccidiosis vaccines, resulting in early circulation of mixed Eimeria infections that are associated with the resurgence in incidence of necrotic enteritis. Avoiding drastic changes in feed and minimizing the level of fishmeal, wheat, barley, or rye in the diet can also help prevent necrotic enteritis. When higher amounts of wheat, barley, or rye are necessary, use of enzymes for nonstarch polysaccharides in the feed has reduced the level of necrotic enteritis in flocks fed these cereals. Administration of selected probiotics or competitive exclusion cultures has been used successfully to both prevent and treat clinical necrotic enteritis (presumably by preventing proliferation of C perfringens).

Treatment for necrotic enteritis is most commonly administered in the drinking water, with bacitracin (200–400 mg/gal. for 5–7 days), penicillin (1,500,000 u/gal. for 5 days), and lincomycin (64 mg/gal. for 7 days) most often used. In each case, the medicated drinking water should be the sole source of water. Moribund birds should be removed promptly, because they can serve as a source of toxicosis or infection due to cannibalism.

 

[SloanC]

Where any types of bacteria mentioned?

The necropsy was only done on Thursday. Im waiting on results to come back from the Bacteriology and the parasitology. I will let you know the results when I get them.