Need Help - Possible Cocci in my Grow-Out Pens

NanaJune

In the Brooder
10 Years
Feb 25, 2009
52
0
29
Justin, Texas
I noticed some blood drops in one of my grow-out pens on Monday. It was not in poop, so I began looking for the injured chick - checking feet, legs, etc. I never found anyone with an injury, so I assumed I had overlooked someone. But I didn't find more than 2 drops of blood, couldn't find an injured baby, and let it go. Today, I got a call from a gentleman who bought 30 chicks from that pen on that same day (these are 5 week old chicks). He said one of the Barred Rocks he bought had bright red blood in the poop. I told him it must be Cocci and to get some Corid. He said he already has some and was going to put it in their drinking water at 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. I have rechecked all of my pens, coops, and chicks, and I have not found any blood or bloody poo anywhere since those other chicks were sold.

I have NEVER had Cocci or any other ailment in my chicks, chickens, etc., (except accidental rat poisoning last year). We have always raised all of our quail and chickens "all natural" - no vacs, no antibiotics, no hormones, etc. So, this is new to me and very scary! I hate using medications, but I don't want to lose any of my babies!

So first of all, is it 1 TEASPOON or 1 TABLESPOON of Corid per gallon of water? I thought Tablespoon. Secondly, how long do I add it to their drinking water? Is it a one-time treatment or use it for multiple days? Thirdly, should I treat all chicks even if they do not have symptoms? I had "sold" some of the chicks over the phone and moved them from this "now dirty" pen into my "sold" pen with other chicks (5 to 8 week olds). As I said, none have symptoms or bloody poo yet, but should I be safe rather than sorry and go ahead and treat their water? Also, should I treat my laying hens which are in the pens next to the chick pens? I have been walking back and forth from pen to pen without ever thinking about it (since we have never had any illnesses, it did not occur to me!). Are the older hens likely to get it? Lastly, what about the eggs? If I treat the laying hens, do I throw out their eggs for a period of time and if so, for how long?

We also bought some Novlasan Disinfectant to spray all of the grow out pens, disinfect all of the drinking waterers, feeders, coops, nesting boxes, etc. I was told to even spray the walls and dirt in the grow-out pens which we will do tomorrow. We are going to put each group in holding cages, spray down their areas, let it dry, and return them to their pens. I think once they have all been treated and cleared, we will repeat that process.

Is there anything else that might be necessary that I may be overlooking?

Thanks for any help y'all can offer!

** By the way, I am NOT selling any more chicks or eggs until this is cleared up! I will treat and hold the "sold" babies until they are finished with their treatments.
 
Cocci, short for coccidiosis, is a protozoa that lives in the soil. It is everywhere!

The bottle should have directions for poultry as it can be in different formulations. The bottle I had was 3 days at 1 tbs a gallon, and 5 more days at 1/2tbs a gallon if I remember right.

Stress from being moved to a new home can cause the protozoa to flare up and take over the chick's systems as it usually is in them as soon as they hit the dirt. Early exposure often allows for early immunity and no sickness.

Just treat the young ones if they are showing symptoms. They may already have a natural immunity and there is no need to treat. Your adults are likly healthy and have enough resistance that their parasite load isn't going to affect them.
 
Thank you so much! I went into Panic Mode immediately when the gentleman called me! I figured I was about to overtreat!

As I said, I don't have ANY chicks in my pens showing symptoms - only the one that the gentleman called me about that he took home.

I think as a precaution, I still will not sell any for a few days to be sure they are all healthy. I will continue to watch their poo! Thanks, again!
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The bloody version is the Eimeria tenella type. Give them a week, and if nothing, no need to treat. They will become listless before blood shows most of the time. Either way, to reduce the load in the soil and the load the birds end up ingesting before their new homes, keeping the pens cleaned and soil dry will help. Moist wet soil can contain enough cocci oocysts to make chicks sick in a few days alone. Since it reproduces inside the chicken, reducing the amount of dirty litter will reduce how much can be present.
 
Well, sadly I lost 3 girls this morning. About 3 more of the 32 seem listless. I haven't seen much more bloody poo today, but I went to the feedstore to get the Corid. The owner who also raises chickens didn't want me to buy the Corid. She only had the kind for calves, and it had no instructions for poultry. She sold me Sulmet instead. It said to put 2 tablespoons per gallon water. So, I put two medicated gallon waterers in each of two grow-out pens today. In the one pen, none of those chicks had any symptoms, but I had JUST moved out the sick ones from that pen and moved in the new chicks on Sunday. My first chicks began bleeding on Monday, so I assume they had it before I moved them out.

I felt like being safe rather than sorry was the best way to go. The customer who treated his chicks with Corid started treatment yesterday morning. He has not lost any chicks and there is no more blood in their poo. Another customer called me today. She bought 6 pullets from me on Sunday. 4 of them were dead yesterday morning. She is treating the other 2 with Sulmet. She said they seem better today.

I am hopeful that using the Sulmet will cure the sick flock and keep the others from getting sick.

I will follow your advice and rake and shovel out the pens and clean them up really well tomorrow. I usually shovel them out and put in fresh straw with each new batch of chicks. I am disinfecting their waterers & feeders with Nolvasan. I also am going to spray everything really well with Nolvasan Disinfectant (including the dirt!) once I can move them to another place safely. The vet said using Nolvasan was safe for them. It is a disinfectant used by vets and during surgeries.
 
Sorry for your losses.

The corrid should work just fine. They should be improving in about 2-3 days, but do finish treatment which I think is 2 or 3 days full strength and another 5 or 6 at half strength if I remember right. Disinfecting things are good to prevent secondary issues when they are taking the hit from cocci, and the raking will do the best for the cocci itself, but you can spray as much antibacterial anti viral solutions you want on the cocci protozoa in the soil and they'll just sit there in their egg form, as they sit dormant until eaten by a chicken (their host). If you can get the soil dry or increase dranage, that will decrease the viability of the eggs though, and prevent future problems. Another thing you can do is put a cup of dirt from your grow out pens into your brooder to get an early start on immunity as adults will almost always be immune unless they get sick for other reasons.
 
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Thanks again for all the info. Will the Sulmet work? That's what I bought. My feedstore owner would not sell me the Corid for poultry. She said it was for cattle only.
 
Sulmet will work just fine too. Both will get the job done. If you are alergic to sulfa drugs, just limit your exposure to it, including eating meat or eggs for a few weeks from treated birds.
 
Treat everyone. It's best to treat when they are still eating and drinking. I have one now, and I separated her and am treating everyone. It's in the soil. And only one type has blood in the urine.
 
I just talked to my guy at Texas Diagnostics Lab that tests our birds - he is SO GREAT! He said Cocci is going to be really bad this year because of how wet it has been. My Sulmet does not have directions for how many days to administer it, but I have been advised to administer it for 3 days, then rest for 2 days, then administer for 3 more days. He also advised us to treat everyone even if no symptoms are present.

Thanks so much to all of you for your help!
 

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