Possibly diseased flock?

[Chickenllady]

We have never had this problem last year, and it only just started early this spring when we were first hatching our first chicks of the year. They all seemed to do fine each time we raised them for the first week, but ended up hunched over with ruffled feathers, and they could not move very well. They were also extremely pale and hadn't been eating at all, but had easily been drinking water.

I looked these symptoms up and I think it may be Coccidiosis, but I am not entirely sure if it is that or something else. We just had one of our last chicks die of it today. She was a RIR / RSL hen mix about 6 weeks old, and now we only have her brother left. Out of all 8 that we tried to hatch this year, only three made it. Two of them were black sex links who are a lot older now, probably five months or so, but the other young one we have now is 6 or 7 weeks old, and he acts a little sick.

I don't really know how to cure it and I'm afraid that I won't be able to hatch any more baby chicks because of this disease going around. My neighbors' flocks are having no problems with it, so why am I? Please help! I can't provide any pictures because none of them have any symptoms of it right now, and we can't take her to the vet to get blood work done to figure out if that's what it was because it's so far away, and we don't have a local farm vet.

We would have had 36 chickens now if it weren't for disease. Now we have 21, because some have died of old age, and a week ago one broke her jaw and had to be put down.

 

[MrsBrooke]

Coccidiosis is the likely culprit.

You can treat it with an amprolium medication like Corid.





You can get it at Tractor Supply or order it online.

It goes in their water: 1.5 Teaspoons of 20% powder to a gallon of water, or 2 Teaspoons of 9.6% liquid per gallon. Treat for 5-7 days, make fresh at least once a day, and make sure it's the ONLY water source they can access.

More info here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/818879/updated-corid-and-amprol-amprolium-dosing

You can also use medicated chick feed... it's got a coccidiostat already in it. ^_^

I'm very sorry for your losses... I hope that helps!

MrsB

 

[animalgrl]

It does sound like coccidiosis. If you want to be sure, any vet should be able to test a stool sample for coccidiosis, even if they aren't a farm vet. If that isn't an option, it won't hurt them to treat them as outlined in MsBrooks' post above.

 

[MrsBrooke]

It does sound like coccidiosis. If you want to be sure, any vet should be able to test a stool sample for coccidiosis, even if they aren't a farm vet. If that isn't an option, it won't hurt them to treat them as outlined in MsBrooks' post above.

x2

You can also take a stool sample to them, short of the whole chicken.

Also, Corid is a super safe medication, the chances of overdose are very unlikely, and it's a great idea to use as prevention.

MrsB

 

[Chickenllady]

Unfortunately, we lost about 14 chickens last year because of Coccidiosis. I think one of the big mistakes we made was putting smaller chickens (about 3 months old) in with the big chickens. Not only did the disease probably affect them because they were babies still, but the older chickens probably bullied them a lot.

However, this year we are going to take extra precautions against the disease, including cleaning our coop out and waiting until the baby chicks are the same size as the old flock.

I appreciate all of you helping out! Thank you