Pretty sure it's Cocci, but very confusing symptoms in multi-generational flock

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

Hi all,

We have the following in our flock:
17 large fowl hens, 3 bantam hens all 13 and 14 months old
3 Silkies almost 10 week old
8 large fowl babies about 3 weeks old
1 large fowl baby about 5 weeks old

Our coop is approx 85sf and our run is approx 160sf. We are in the process of building another coop that is 60sf. We feed a flock raiser crumble with free choice oyster shell on the side. They get fresh produce occasionally and a small amount of scratch/mealworm/BOSS mix when they come in from free-range time. They free-range approx 1-2 hours, 4-5 days a week. We use electrolytes in their waterers as needed. We have a local vet that I'm trying to get ahold of, but it is a slow process unfortunately.

Here is what has been happening here and my confusion.

We started our flock last year with 22 hens and 1 rooster. We choose to give away our rooster, so we went into Fall with 22 hens. 1 of our EE has had very loud breathing since this Winter. Other than the loud (almost like she's been a life long smoker) she had shown no other issues until she had about a 3 week period where she was laying shell-less and soft shelled eggs. That has since resolved itself, I think, as she has returned to laying normal eggs. We also had 1 Black Australorp get an impacted/sour/pendulous crop all in row in September. She ended up wearing a crop bra for about a week and made a full recovery.
Then on April 11th we lost her suddenly without any explanation. She was fine in the morning and by late afternoon, she was listless and taking her last breaths. She died early evening. We chose to not have a necropsy done on our Australorp due to the cost of overnighting her along with the costs of the actual procedure and testing. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary with anyone, so we took a let’s wait and see approach.

We thought we were out of the woods, but then on April 29th we lost one of our Buff Orpingtons, literally out of nowhere. She was normal at 6:00am when I did their morning clean and when I went out to check on things at 7:30am she was dead on the coop floor.. still warm. Within a few days I started to notice that some of our big girls started coughing, and then sneezing and having rale sounds. So, I thought maybe we had some sort of respiratory thing going on. I started the first girl on a Respiratory Tincture by Moonlight Mile Herb Farm. She has seemed to have a full recovery. I noticed that another girl and another and another started sneezing. So, I started them on the tincture too. Then, this past week I noticed a significant reduction in our egg production; by 1/2 to 2/3! Yesterday morning, I noticed 3 separate hens poo and they all had blood in them. So, I stopped the tincture and started everyone on Corid.

I’m so confused about what is going on. Especially, why all of my big girls and none of my babies are having issues. The only other thing that seems off is it seems like the girls are loosing feathers like crazy, like a dog sheds its winter coat. I say that, because no one seems to be loosing most of their feathers as in a molt. Just one more thing that is making me scratch my head. I’m wondering if I can use the Respiratory Tincture along side the Corid or if I need to wait? Also, do I need to stop our free-ranging until everyone is better?

I forgot to mention I've poured over and over the internet and this site looking at possible culprits.

Thank you in advance for your input.

 

[coach723]

It sounds like you may have multiple issues going on. I would complete the Corid treatment, and since I don't know what is in the tincture I would probably wait until the Corid is done. Corid is a thiamine blocker so you don't want to give them anything with thiamine in it as it could reduce the effectiveness of the Corid, not knowing what's in the tincture, I don't know if it would matter. It's probably OK, but can't say for sure, maybe the maker can answer that for you. It sounds like you may have a respiratory issue going on, and those can be chronic and can cause egg issues, depending on which one it is. Also, that could weaken their immune systems and allow the coccidia to multiply and make them sick. Illness can also trigger molt, but I would give them a going over to check for mites/lice, often a sick or weakened bird will turn up with them. If you have a chronic respiratory disease going on then symptoms may go away with treatment, and may return at periods, the symptoms are treatable but the bird usually remains a carrier. I would recommend that if you lose another you do have a necropsy to identify what it is so you can treat the right thing, or alternately you could have an avian vet do some cultures on one of the ones with symptoms to find out what it is.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

I forgot to mention I've poured over and over the internet and this site looking at

It sounds like you may have multiple issues going on. I would complete the Corid treatment, and since I don't know what is in the tincture I would probably wait until the Corid is done. Corid is a thiamine blocker so you don't want to give them anything with thiamine in it as it could reduce the effectiveness of the Corid, not knowing what's in the tincture, I don't know if it would matter. It's probably OK, but can't say for sure, maybe the maker can answer that for you. It sounds like you may have a respiratory issue going on, and those can be chronic and can cause egg issues, depending on which one it is. Also, that could weaken their immune systems and allow the coccidia to multiply and make them sick. Illness can also trigger molt, but I would give them a going over to check for mites/lice, often a sick or weakened bird will turn up with them. If you have a chronic respiratory disease going on then symptoms may go away with treatment, and may return at periods, the symptoms are treatable but the bird usually remains a carrier. I would recommend that if you lose another you do have a necropsy to identify what it is so you can treat the right thing, or alternately you could have an avian vet do some cultures on one of the ones with symptoms to find out what it is.

To my knowledge, the tincture is just herbs and alcohol. I do have a message into the maker and I'm waiting to hear back. One of my concerns is whether it could be Mareks, since it isn't affecting any of the babies.. just my older girls.
I have also checked for mites/lice and haven't seen any. They do have a sand coop and partial run, so they are forever dust-bathing in it. Maybe that is helping things.
Any idea if free-ranging is OK during the Corid treatment time?

 

[coach723]

Free ranging is OK as long as the only water they have access to is the medicated water. If they have access to any other water then I would keep them confined to where the medicated water is the only available. If they have access to unmedicated water they will drink that and not get enough of the medication.
I am not an expert on Mareks, but your symptoms at this point don't seem like it.