New chicks with bloody, loose poop but seem fine

[HappyChickChick]

Hi! I got two brahma chicks two days ago. They seem healthy when observing them, scratching, eating, drinking etc, but one has consistently runny, bloody poops. The other has solid yellowish poops.

Obviously I am thinking coccidiosis. I am a little confused on how to treat though. I am already feeding them medicated chick food, I saw corid is a treatment you can put in their water but it looks like the active ingredients in the food and corid are the same? I know the goal is for them to develop their own immunity, should I just wait and see since they seem healthy?

Bonus question, I have 5 hens in my established flock, and I don't know if they have been exposed to coccidiosis or not. Should I preemptively medicate their water when I integrate them?

Thanks!

 

[azygous]

It would be helpful to see a photo of this suspect poop. What appears to a lot of people as blood, is harmless intestinal lining. Also, how old are these chicks? How long ago did you bring them home? Have they been on your soil yet?

The amprolium in chick starter is a very low dose, not nearly enough to kill off coccidia.

 

[HappyChickChick]

They are around 3-4 weeks old and I have had them for two days. I did take them out in a pen in the grass while I was doing yard work yesterday.

Here are two pics of the same poop.

 

[HappyChickChick]

I will also add that the lady I got them from had her chicks separate from her chickens but in the same yard/grassy area.

Also, after observing them some more this morning I think the one with the poop issues might be eating and running around a bit less than his sister. He wants to go under the warming plate more, but he still is scratching for food and drinking etc.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for those three very important pieces of information. Now we know that the poop does have blood in it, the chicks are old enough to have been exposed to coccidia, but they haven't been with you long enough for them to have picked up the coccidia on your premises.

When blood is present in the stool, it is wise also to treat with an antibiotic since the possibility of intestinal inflammation is high and therefore so is bacterial infection on top of coccidiosis.

If you are in a city, call around to pet stores and try to locate pigeon sulfa. It should come in powder form and can be added easily to the Corid drinking water.

Or order the sulfa here. https://jedds.com/products/trimethoprin-sulfa-medpet?_pos=1&_sid=83dcb7a2a&_ss=r

Meanwhile, get the chicks started on the amprolium. Buy liquid Corid at your local feed store. Mix at a rate of two teaspoons per gallon of water. As an added precaution, give the sicker chick a straight dose of undiluted drench dose of Corid .1ml directly into the beak once a day for three days. Do so likewise with any chick suddenly acting sick. This is in addition to the Corid water.

When you get the sulfa, add it to the Corid water and have all the chicks drink it for the next five days. Wait a week, then treat for another five days, minus the drench dose.

I might add, this is a good time to expose these chicks to the coccidia in your soil. Let them go out to play each day. They will be exposed and hopefully develop resistance to the local coccidia and you won't need to got through this again.

 

[townchicks]

Start them on Corid. Medicated food will not treat an active case of coccidiosis. You probably don't need to treat your adult hens, they will have already built up resistance to the strain you have in your yard. I do recommend keeping an eye on them just to be safe.

 

[HappyChickChick]

Thanks for those three very important pieces of information. Now we know that the poop does have blood in it, the chicks are old enough to have been exposed to coccidia, but they haven't been with you long enough for them to have picked up the coccidia on your premises.

When blood is present in the stool, it is wise also to treat with an antibiotic since the possibility of intestinal inflammation is high and therefore so is bacterial infection on top of coccidiosis.

If you are in a city, call around to pet stores and try to locate pigeon sulfa. It should come in powder form and can be added easily to the Corid drinking water.

Or order the sulfa here. https://jedds.com/products/trimethoprin-sulfa-medpet?_pos=1&_sid=83dcb7a2a&_ss=r

Meanwhile, get the chicks started on the amprolium. Buy liquid Corid at your local feed store. Mix at a rate of two teaspoons per gallon of water. As an added precaution, give the sicker chick a straight dose of undiluted drench dose of Corid .1ml directly into the beak once a day for three days. Do so likewise with any chick suddenly acting sick. This is in addition to the Corid water.

When you get the sulfa, add it to the Corid water and have all the chicks drink it for the next five days. Wait a week, then treat for another five days, minus the drench dose.

I might add, this is a good time to expose these chicks to the coccidia in your soil. Let them go out to play each day. They will be exposed and hopefully develop resistance to the local coccidia and you won't need to got through this again.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!

Should I do anything for my adult hens, now or in the future when I integrate?

 

[azygous]

As @townchicks suggested, keep an eye on them. While your adult chickens are resistant to the local coccidia, they may not be to the coccidia in the chicks' poop. That can spread to your adult chickens. One way to mitigate this concern is to treat your adult chickens with the preventative dose of Corid while you are treating the chicks with their own Corid water at the higher dose.

After the Corid treatment, the flock should be all set. Meanwhile, as long as you are treating the adult flock, there shouldn't be any problem letting the new chicks integrate with the current flock.