Over researched and made myself anxious about coccidiosis

[SourRoses]

Most people don't have serious issues with it. Those of us who do tend to have environmental circumstances, such as a very wet climate. Some strains can be more aggressive and/or more subtle.
I also struggled with well water being a source of contamination... Then I tried buying spring water for the chicks, and haven't had a batch get it since. Now we live at a different location and the water should be just fine, but I'm a little anxious too, so I keep giving them spring water until the chicks move to the coop.
One good prevention method is to keep the water clean. They will always apply their best effort to kick shavings in it, and when poop enters the water with it that gives the coccidia a place to breed.

The strain(s) we dealt with never caused bloody poo... It was always cold individual chicks to begin with. That seems to be the most consistent symptom everywhere, chicks that poof themselves up and sit away from the others.
At that point I found it helped to give them a little sugar with their medicine and offer additional heat (with a totally cool end available) because they have trouble regulating their temperature. Once they warm up their appetite picks up and you can get tempting mash and stuff into them. All the birds I lost to cocci seemed to pass from starvation and cold, rather than directly from parasite.
It eases my anxiety to have all the things on hand to treat it. Corid or Tolturazil, a dropper suitable for drench dosing, etc. And I try to encourage healthy digestive tracts by using a good probiotic and offering chick grit from the start. A study showed grit improved growth even when the feed was fully processed and with the same consumption volume, which points to improved digestive health, possibly due to greater surface area for beneficial bacteria.

It seems like people have two options for dealing with anxiety over real possibilities. You can either try to address every vulnerability, or "Oh Well" it. Maybe some folks can do both?

 

[Echelontheory101]

I wouldn't like to say for sure, maybe one of the educators or someone else will be able to give a better answer.

I think it partly depends on things like what age they're first put outside or exposed to it, when they're started on or taken off medicated feed, if they're already sick or just not very healthy,


I had to treat two chicks this year - I treated the whole group but only two were showing mild symptoms - for the first time ever, and that was largely my own fault for letting them have outdoor time in a high-traffic (from other chickens) area when they were still very young and hadn't had much time to build up much resistance. I think the time of year and recent weather might've played a part too as I've heard of a couple of other people locally having similar issues when they usually don't.

Am I right in thinking they need to be exposed to coccidia through contact with soil before coccidiosis is a risk, and they aren't in any danger while they're just in a brooder with some kind of soil-free bedding? That was my understanding but someone I'd expect to know about this recently tried telling me different.

Yeah there's so much conflicting information even in these threads on this site I saw medicated feed is a good preventative but then I saw that the medicated feed is useless if they don't actually have any exposure for the medicated feed to assist with so give them the sod in the brooder but then like you said others say dont worry about the sod and just wait till they go outside. Its hard to know who is right or if its all just anecdotal haha

 

[Echelontheory101]

Most people don't have serious issues with it. Those of us who do tend to have environmental circumstances, such as a very wet climate. Some strains can be more aggressive and/or more subtle.
I also struggled with well water being a source of contamination... Then I tried buying spring water for the chicks, and haven't had a batch get it since. Now we live at a different location and the water should be just fine, but I'm a little anxious too, so I keep giving them spring water until the chicks move to the coop.
One good prevention method is to keep the water clean. They will always apply their best effort to kick shavings in it, and when poop enters the water with it that gives the coccidia a place to breed.

The strain(s) we dealt with never caused bloody poo... It was always cold individual chicks to begin with. That seems to be the most consistent symptom everywhere, chicks that poof themselves up and sit away from the others.
At that point I found it helped to give them a little sugar with their medicine and offer additional heat (with a totally cool end available) because they have trouble regulating their temperature. Once they warm up their appetite picks up and you can get tempting mash and stuff into them. All the birds I lost to cocci seemed to pass from starvation and cold, rather than directly from parasite.
It eases my anxiety to have all the things on hand to treat it. Corid or Tolturazil, a dropper suitable for drench dosing, etc. And I try to encourage healthy digestive tracts by using a good probiotic and offering chick grit from the start. A study showed grit improved growth even when the feed was fully processed and with the same consumption volume, which points to improved digestive health, possibly due to greater surface area for beneficial bacteria.

It seems like people have two options for dealing with anxiety over real possibilities. You can either try to address every vulnerability, or "Oh Well" it. Maybe some folks can do both?

Exactly right on the anxiety I flip flop back and forth between well if it's meant to live it'll live if it's meant to die it'll die then flopping right back to but if I can prevent it.... i live in new England so while its rained a couple days this week its not soaking wet by any means and its 50s to 60s during the day and 30s to 40s at night.

I do also have well water I bought 2 gallon jugs just so I had something the right size for the sav a chick packs mixing but they've been on my well water for 2 days (which i drink daily for the last decade its potable) but maybe ill switch back to spring as well.

Like you said I think I've just worked myself up and am hearing hoofbeats and thinking zebras.

 

[kattabelly]

Yeah there's so much conflicting information even in these threads on this site I saw medicated feed is a good preventative but then I saw that the medicated feed is useless if they don't actually have any exposure for the medicated feed to assist with so give them the sod in the brooder but then like you said others say dont worry about the sod and just wait till they go outside. Its hard to know who is right or if its all just anecdotal haha

I think often there isn't One Correct Answer and every other way of doing things is wrong. Sometimes different things can work more or less equally well, maybe with different pros and cons, or certain things will be wrong for some people and right for others depending on their circumstances. I know that can be difficult to sit with if you're prone to anxiety though.

A lot of things are never guaranteed for certain when it comes to living creatures but having a basic understanding of the actual science behind things, and learning from others with similar circumstances (climate, housing setup, etc) to you, is probably the best way to make good choices that have a higher probably of working out well.

 

[SourRoses]

I think I've just worked myself up and am hearing hoofbeats and thinking zebras.

Do you mean because of the watery poo? That's most likely to be caused by getting too hot. Does their brooder have a sufficiently cool end now that they're a little older and starting to get their wing feathers in?

 

[Echelontheory101]

Do you mean because of the watery poo? That's most likely to be caused by getting too hot. Does their brooder have a sufficiently cool end now that they're a little older and starting to get their wing feathers in?

Yes there are 2 ecoglow heat plates with the back lowered and front higher and varying heights on both so they can choose their heat level and the brooder is one of those hexagon pop up tent material ones that is about 45 inches across and I have puppy pads down that I change first thing in the morning and before bed. I have a thermometer in there and the ambient temp is usually around 72 and right under the plate is now in the 80s that I've lifted it a bit. But they can get 3 feet away from the plates with the size of their brooder. It could also just be too much supplements, its been a week so not sure if its time to take them off the sav a chick packets and just do regular water or one waterer plain and the other with the packets etc. Im assuming youre correct as well as I haven't seen any other issues and the watery poo isnt every poo but theres 11 chicks so its hard to catch who left what

 

[SourRoses]

ambient temp is usually around 72 and right under the plate is now in the 80s that I've lifted it a bit. But they can get 3 feet away from the plates with the size of their brooder.

Sounds great! Excellent planning for a first time chick mom!

It could also just be too much supplements, its been a week so not sure if its time to take them off the sav a chick packets and just do regular water or one waterer plain and the other with the packets etc.

Yep, okay, that's it. The Sav a Chick is an electrolyte supplement, it's supposed to be used for short periods not as their constant water. So they have too much salt, that's making them thirsty, then they drink more water and wind up with the runs.
The feed already has a studied quantity of salt in it, so personally I don't even use electrolytes unless there's a stressor like a heatwave or shipped chicks. But those who do use it usually offer two water sources and discontinue the electrolytes after a while.
I remember way, way back when we first got chicks, I had no idea what was in those packets and thought more was better... Made them some orange water and wondered why the chicks wouldn't drink it

 

[Echelontheory101]

Sounds great! Excellent planning for a first time chick mom!



Yep, okay, that's it. The Sav a Chick is an electrolyte supplement, it's supposed to be used for short periods not as their constant water. So they have too much salt, that's making them thirsty, then they drink more water and wind up with the runs.
The feed already has a studied quantity of salt in it, so personally I don't even use electrolytes unless there's a stressor like a heatwave or shipped chicks. But those who do use it usually offer two water sources and discontinue the electrolytes after a while.
I remember way, way back when we first got chicks, I had no idea what was in those packets and thought more was better... Made them some orange water and wondered why the chicks wouldn't drink it

Yeah mine were shipped last week so I was like yes please drink all the electrolytes and probiotics and nutri drench thrive THRIVE so sounds like i need to chill with the additives for a couple days and see if poo improves. And honestly my anxiety loves nothing more than a plan, I can say if xyz doesn't work by xyz number of days THEN I can worry and that helps me tremendously until that point haha

Seriously thank you and everyone reading and replying here for humoring me. Im a perfectionist to an absolute fault so I tortured myself with so much information before even building the coop and ordering the chicks.

 

[Beau plus penny]

We've had it twice here and I've kicked myself because a good practice I learned, I completely forgot about, then they got it. That is, give them medicated feed for two weeks prior to putting them outside. The two times I didn't out of a dozen or so, those two times they got coccidiosis.

How I knew, the first batch had blood so bad I thought someone hurt their foot or something. The second time, nothing wrong with their poop, but they were acting off, starting to hunch up. I didn't lose any either time. Both batches were around six weeks old.

You'll see something's wrong, then you can handle it, but I sure wouldn't be worrying about it one bit!

yea i truely understand being afraid of cocci. i of all people know that a little too well but i learned from it and i can see the symptoms before it gets severe

 

[Beau plus penny]

yea i truely understand being afraid of cocci. i of all people know that a little too well but i learned from it and i can see the symptoms before it gets severe

unfortunetly it didnt happen to us until ours were 5 months old
i still miss them sometimes but ive learned to appreciate the beauty in the memories i was so lucky to share with those we lost. there was one in particular that we lost that was very difficult for me the first few months. HER NAME was BUNNY

she was a gorgeous splash cochin with heavily feathered feet my dad always said she was ready for winter because it looked like she had snowboots on. wish she could be here this winter. but i still carry her with me in my heart.

if im being totally honest bunny is the reason i got interested in poultry and chicken breeds. everything else is history. so long story she was the bird that changed my life in a way that might seem small to people whove never experienced this but in her own little way she changed my life forever and im forever grateful. if not for her i wouldve never found this amazing community. i also wanted to thank everyone who was there for me when it got heavy. i guess what im trying to say is death and greif can be scary. but its unpredictable. sometimes it opens your eyes. so just have fun with your babies and charish them instead of worrying about losing them.