I wonder why some folks never have a problem with this ? This needs to be figured out and perhaps we can find a way to stop this , just wondering out loud.
Folks are told to keep the wee peas off the ground for the first 4 months and keep them on medicated feed and still some get sick no matter what they do, it is just heart breaking
I put my babies in a ground brooder at 2 days of age and turn them loose as soon as the last ones are big enough so a snake does not eat them, and they do great. The only thing i am vigil about is keeping them wormed and that will not prevent or cure coccidia
i have all kinds of migratory birds here plus the ones that live here all the time and have never had a problem with any animal getting cocci and i have lived here over 30 years.
I guess until we figure this out i will not be introducing any more peas to my flock for fear of bringing the pea strain of this coccidia to my existing birds,
I got what i need to produce my own silvers just need some years to come and go but i sure am thinking hard about some pure greens I believe I have enough money set aside from my bird sales to by a couple pairs or a trioI am just scared about this coccia stuff when it come to such expensive birds
I think exposure is key. In that 30 years have you had any of your bird's poo screened for cocci? I would bet you that if you sent off a fecal from any of your birds and asked them to screen for cocci they would find it. If my understanding is correct, it is normal for them to have a manageable amount of cocci in their systems, they will not be sickened by it unless they become overloaded for some reason. Back before I understood cocci my hens would hatch out 4 or 5 chicks and I would inevitably lose 1 or 2 of them around 1-2 months of age. I would treat with duramycin in the water because I had no idea what else to do. I think if they had been incubator hatched chicks I would have lost them all. The hen hatched ones usually have exposure at hatch, so they start to build up the resistance immediately, the ones we brood in wire pens have zero exposure so when they are exposed it is like a shock to the system, any other little bug that may be going around and they are done for. I really think it takes more than just the cocci, when hit with 2 problems at once they can't fight both and the cocci becomes overloaded and starts to damage the intestine, causing pain, bleeding and a loss of appetite and energy. Your babies are 2 days when they go in the ground brooder, which would be their first exposure, right? Also are you feeding the medicated chick starter, because that is what the meds in it do, they knock down the cocci load until the chick can build up the tolerance. I have it here, I know I do, but I lost no babies to it this year, because I know I have it here. It is, in my opinion very manageable and having cocci in my soil has not hurt my birds in the long term, just ask my 20 year old hens.
