Question about Cocci and intestinal lining

[holderh]

Hi...I got some new chicks almost 3 weeks ago. About a week and a half ago one of the chicks was acting lethargic and cold. It was eating and drinking but wouldnt stay outside with the others is wanted to stay under the heat lamp hunched over by itself. It was on a sunday and i was going out of town so i gave it some electrolites. My sister took care of them for me while i was gone and while i was away i looked up its sympotoms on the internet and deteremined it sounded like cocci. The feed supply stores were all closed for labor day so my sister couldnt get any meds for cocci so i had her keep giving electrolites and AVC one day as well. I got home 2 days later and the chick was completly acting normal. It was eating , drinking and running around just like the rest but just a bit slower. It is also half the rest of the chicks size and they are supposed to be the same age so i thought it was just a week chick...so now a week and a half later i have seen some red in some of their poop. I dont know whoses it is. I looked at the poop page and it isnt bright red or really bloody looking but its a brown red and kinda looks like clotted blood...so i dont know how to tell if its the intestinal lining or cocci. I wouldn assume if that chick had cocci without meds it would have died by now. So my question is do you think the blood i am seeing could possibly be cocci or most likely the intestinal lining?

 

[LaynaDon95]

Could you post a picture of the poop? If it is coccidia it should be veeery obvious. Cocci poos are mostly blood and very little actual poo. You said it looks kinda like clotted blood. That sounds like intestinal lining to me. A pic would really help, though.

 

[1muttsfan]

Coccidia are episodic shedders, meaning that they shed only part of the time. Since they infest the cells that line the intestine, when the egg forms matures and is released these cells rupture open to release the coccidia. This is what can lead to runny stools, and blood. However, this does not happen all the time, and at other times the stools can appear normal. Other birds may not have as many parasites, and the stools can appear normal most or all of the time, yet the bird can still have coccidia and pass it on to others.

Do you have your birds on medicated feed? If not, you may want to switch them, as the eggs passed in the stool can stay in the environment for a long time and re-infest the affected birds. Good luck.

 

[holderh]

I cant upload a picture from my phone for some reason . It does look like intestinal lining to me and all of them act fine but I saw more in their poop this morning so I went ahead and treated them for cocci to be safe. Thanks for ur responses. I didn't have them on medicated feed cause I picked up the wrong bag but I have them on It now.