PLEASE HELP - Two Down In One Night!!! UPDATE-DIAGNOSIS in first post

[tulie13]

Well, I injected penicillin in all of my hens, and I got my Corid this afternoon and it's now in the water. I lost one more this afternoon, and one is in my bathtub right now, she will probably not make it through the night.

Hopefully that will be the last of the deaths.

I have learned a LOT about coccidiosis - most importantly that "medicated chick feed" does NOT help the birds gain immunity to cocci unless they are EXPOSED to cocci while they are on the stuff!!! My coop/run was "too clean" for them, they switched from medicated feed with coccidiostat to layer pellets without ever being exposed to any significant amount of cocci so they never developed immunity. At least that's what I believe based on multiple conversations with the U of FL vet and my flock history. The coop was built on dirt that was brought in to our property - we needed to raise the level so if it rained it was not underwater. So the dirt had never had other birds or chickens pooping on it, it had been freshly dug out of a quarry. Then our birds went on it as young pullets while on medicated feed, but there were no cocci to cycle through their systems so they could develop immunity.

No immunity means sudden and severe onset with exposure...

I've lost 3 now, and another one about to die - I hope someone can use this information to help keep from having the same thing happen to them.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Oh no--I am so sorry.

I wonder what one is supposed to do if they cannot expose their chicks to coccidia while on medicated chick starter? I was planning on doing that myself! I will have to ask our avian vet if letting the chicks out a bit (when warm enough next spring) will help. Its unfortunate what's happened to you but at least some of us ae learning from this. I hope the rest of your birds recover.

 

[purpletree23]

I'm very sorry this happened to you and I want you to know that you have helped many BYCer's by sharing your story. We now know one more story of illness, symptoms and treatment and hopefully can help others if they have a similar situation.

I'm truly sorry for your loss.

For future problems may I suggest keeping a few things on hand that might come in handy like antibiotics and blood stop powder etc. When my girls got sick with a respiratory infection I couldn't find any medication! A friend told me about firststatevetsupply.com and I have to admit I stocked up on a few things.

I also have a bottle of Poly Vi Sol liquid baby vitamins (available at walmart....get generic) and Nutri-Drench to treat shock.

Take care and keep us informed.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
Thanks - I am glad this info might help someone. The vet said it was kind of an "out there" idea but it should work - to take a shovel of dirt from my coop (which now obviously has cocci) and send it to my sister's house to put in her coop. She probably has the exact same situation that I have - medicated feed raised birds with no exposure. These are her first chickens, too.

I had some antibiotics, injectible penicillin and some soluble Aureomycin. Unfortunately Aureomycin does not seem to be effective against the clostridium, and I could not find Bacitracin, Neosporin, or Penicillin in a water-soluble form locally. The vet at U of FL told me to go ahead and use the injectible, but it would have been nice to not have to inject all my chickens while they were all so stressed already.

And of course - Coccidiosis was the LAST thing I thought I'd get, because I did everything right by feeding my girls medicated starter. They SHOULD have built up an immunity, right?

Lost #4 last night in my bathtub. I hope she's the last - I haven't been out to the coop yet this morning, getting their medicated water ready (with vitamins in it).

 

[CrazyChickMom]

I think it was Three Horses that had told me in the past that we are not suppose to mix our vitamins with the antibiotic. It lessens the effects of the medicine. I would leave the vitamins out for now.

I've made a mistake...its not the vitamins its the dairy that is not suppose to be mixed with the medicine. And, I would also put ACV in their water
instead of vitamins for now. Sorry...hope this helps.

 

[chickenannie]

I am really sorry to hear about your situation. That is traumatic and your efforts commendable. Also thanks for sharing what you found.

I decided when I got my chickens not to ever feed them medicated feed because I wanted organic eggs and meat. I let my hens brood and raise their own chicks and I generally don't have a problem with the chicks getting sick or dying (unless it's from an occasional hawk). I have lost maybe 1 out of every 20 chicks raised that way and I'm not sure if that one loss is from cocci or from something else but it's minimal. I had read about the exposure issue -- that they develop immunity if they are exposed. They occasionally have a runny poo, or a bloody one, but then it goes away and the poo is normal again. This is true of my turkeys, too. I free-range them and try to keep them healthy in every other way, but I don't worm them, give them any form of medication. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I think they are pretty hardy and they seem to develop high immunity to everything.

 

[jenjscott]

I had a similar situation with my first flock, no coccidiosis until they were grown. Well, now that is not a problem. It seems once you have it, it is around, and keeping it out of the brooders is difficult. So, at any rate, mine are all well exposed by the time they are grown.

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
Thanks - I don't think I'll have any problems with any MORE chickens that I get. We are down to 15 hens (total loss at 7 out of 22). Two are still looking poorly and having crop issues, sour crop, possibly due to the crazy feed/water situation. I'm going to post another "general advisory" about what I learned about giving chickens meds and supplements. I have learned A LOT with these birds!!!

When this started we had 22 hens + 3 roos (the ones who brought the coccidiosis over in the first place, I'm sure). After we started losing hens, we took out our most obnoxious roo, because our ratio was getting so bad. So now we have the 2 roos + 15 hens, hopefully no more will die. Most of them come a-running when we throw some green stuff in the coop - we are not giving scratch right now because the ones with crop issues had some seed in their crop TEN DAYS after the last time we fed it to them!!!

I DECLARE MYSELF QUEEN OF THE SOUR CROP!!!! ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!!! I think I have a repetitive motion injury - my right hand and wrist are sore from making chickens puke...

 

[chickenlady]

You can get bacitracin from www.firststatevetsupply.com. Click on the online store and do a search on it. They send things out pretty quickly.

 

[tulie13]

Awww... POOPIE - down to 14 hens now...

Very interesting note - I started this with 22 hens - 7 BO, 5 EE, and 10 Speckled Sussex. All 8 that have died are Speckled Sussex.

I have one more that looks bad and I am worried about, if she goes too I'll be down to 13 hens + 2 roos. I'll see how that goes after re-introducing everyone (roos are in my tub and back porch).