Forestfarm
In the Brooder
- Feb 26, 2024
- 7
- 10
- 21
Hi All,
I raised a flock of 35 cornish cross a couple years ago. It was successful for my first time around, but I did have issues with what I suspect was cocci. I ended up using Corid in their water to get the situation under control, but not before we lost 4 or 5 birds. I'm still pretty stumped on what led to cocci - their brooder was huge and I kept it pretty clean and dry. We live in a very wet climate but the issues started while they were in the brooder.
This spring I'll be raising 60 meat birds - 30 cornish cross and 30 freedom rangers (just to be able to do a side by side comparison on feed costs and overall enjoyment of working with each breed). They will be brooded and tractored in separate enclosures. Having already dealt with cocci in the past, I'd like to take preventative measures rather than treat an outbreak. It seems like the three options are medicated starter feed, the cocci vaccine given at the hatchery, or a preventative dose of corid/amprolium in their drinking water (for 5 weeks from what I've read). The hatchery I ordered chicks from is adamant that their cornish cross are given feed with no less than 21% protein from day one. They reiterated this when I called with other questions regarding the breed. So based on that I will be feeding them meat bird feed from day 1, (likely Nutena NatureWise, since other meat bird feeds are hard to come by or prohibitively expensive to ship to our rural area).
So having hashed all of that out, my two options are: have birds vaccinated for cocci at the hatchery, or give them a preventative dosage of Corid in their water from the get-go. I had decided to go with the vaccine simply because it seemed more streamlined. We have lots going on in the mornings and not having to measure out Corid in the waterers everyday seemed like reasonable choice. As I wade deeper and deeper into all of the info online, I'm not sure if I made the right choice. Nothing I've read said that the vaccine is bad, but just not a very common choice for a small 60 bird operation where the birds are clean and well cared for. Now I'm debating on calling the hatchery and cancelling the vaccine - I've already called twice - once to change hatch dates and second to add the vaccine - I'm sure there's a red flag by my name at this point LOL.
TL;DR is Corid/amprolium in waterers the preferable preventative measure over the cocci vaccine. If so, why?
Thanks for reading if you got through all of that! FWIW I believe I've read through every post on cocci and did not see this particular question posted.
I raised a flock of 35 cornish cross a couple years ago. It was successful for my first time around, but I did have issues with what I suspect was cocci. I ended up using Corid in their water to get the situation under control, but not before we lost 4 or 5 birds. I'm still pretty stumped on what led to cocci - their brooder was huge and I kept it pretty clean and dry. We live in a very wet climate but the issues started while they were in the brooder.
This spring I'll be raising 60 meat birds - 30 cornish cross and 30 freedom rangers (just to be able to do a side by side comparison on feed costs and overall enjoyment of working with each breed). They will be brooded and tractored in separate enclosures. Having already dealt with cocci in the past, I'd like to take preventative measures rather than treat an outbreak. It seems like the three options are medicated starter feed, the cocci vaccine given at the hatchery, or a preventative dose of corid/amprolium in their drinking water (for 5 weeks from what I've read). The hatchery I ordered chicks from is adamant that their cornish cross are given feed with no less than 21% protein from day one. They reiterated this when I called with other questions regarding the breed. So based on that I will be feeding them meat bird feed from day 1, (likely Nutena NatureWise, since other meat bird feeds are hard to come by or prohibitively expensive to ship to our rural area).
So having hashed all of that out, my two options are: have birds vaccinated for cocci at the hatchery, or give them a preventative dosage of Corid in their water from the get-go. I had decided to go with the vaccine simply because it seemed more streamlined. We have lots going on in the mornings and not having to measure out Corid in the waterers everyday seemed like reasonable choice. As I wade deeper and deeper into all of the info online, I'm not sure if I made the right choice. Nothing I've read said that the vaccine is bad, but just not a very common choice for a small 60 bird operation where the birds are clean and well cared for. Now I'm debating on calling the hatchery and cancelling the vaccine - I've already called twice - once to change hatch dates and second to add the vaccine - I'm sure there's a red flag by my name at this point LOL.
TL;DR is Corid/amprolium in waterers the preferable preventative measure over the cocci vaccine. If so, why?
Thanks for reading if you got through all of that! FWIW I believe I've read through every post on cocci and did not see this particular question posted.