Recurring coccidiosis

[Mamawills]

My flock hard recurring coccidiosis last year. I think there was a really bad strain going around, even my older hens were sick. I gave them treatments of Corid, Sulfa, Baycox, vitamins + probiotics, basically in weekly cycles. It was impossible to eliminate cocci in my yard so best thing to do was keep the birds strong enough to develop immunity.

Thank you for sharing your experience - how are they now? Have they been ok without meds?

 

[SarahGfa]

Thank you for sharing your experience - how are they now? Have they been ok without meds?

All my hens are fine now. The chicks that went through coccidiosis seemed to grow slower than normal. I processed the males at 6 months old and they were very small for their age, but otherwise healthy. Maybe they eventually would have reached full size if I did not process them.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Do you disinfect the coop at the start of medication or later? If the chickens are not cured yet, wouldn't they still be dropping oocysts into the clean bedding?

While immunity is nice, any bird will only be able to hold off so much build up of coccidia. What you are doing is keeping the infestation load low enough so that your birds can build immunity. To do that you need to break the cycle of oocysts, so it means a lot of cleaning. Immediately, to reduce the load in the litter and the soil. Then as needed to remove soiled bedding for as long as you are dealing with the outbreak. In severe outbreaks, it means removing soil/litter and placing new bark chips or such over it....or better rotation of your fields and moving to a new location. (Small back yarders generally renew top soil with bark chips to approximate field rotation).

Commercial farms rotate buildings to avoid outbreaks disinfecting buildings in between and letting them lay fallow seasonally.

If you have an environment prime for coccidiosis, the more birds you have, the quicker the build up. The more limit you have to field rotation, the faster the build up.

Those of us in temperate wet locations usually have greater problems than those in dryer or with killing freezing winters. The worst is to have standing water with muck and birds pooping through.

LofMc

 

[Mamawills]

I got the results back today and confirmed Mareks I think I will make sure any new birds added to our flock are vaccinated.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I got the results back today and confirmed Mareks I think I will make sure any new birds added to our flock are vaccinated.

I'm sorry for those results. Sadly some breeds are simply more prone to Marek's. But don't despair. Those birds that show no symptoms are your breeders as they have natural resistance.

Vaccines can be good, but only go so far as it is a "leaky vaccine" meaning it doesn't prevent infection, it merely slows the tumors. Plus, like the flu shot, it only estimates the strains that might be prevalent any given year.

Best thing is to breed for natural resistance.

Good luck in your flock.
LofMc

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

My flock hard recurring coccidiosis last year. I think there was a really bad strain going around, even my older hens were sick. I gave them treatments of Corid, Sulfa, Baycox, vitamins + probiotics, basically in weekly cycles. It was impossible to eliminate cocci in my yard so best thing to do was keep the birds strong enough to develop immunity.

How did you do the weekly cycles?

 

[SarahGfa]

How did you do the weekly cycles?

It wasn't really on purpose. I started with Corid but the bloody poops kept coming back. then I tried sulfa, and it worked for a week and then bloody poops again. then I did Baycox. Every time the blood would clear up and the birds would have more energy, but after about a week they would be sick again. I mostly switched back and forth between corid and baycox, because sulfa is hard on their guts.

This was happening right at the start of winter, lots of wet weather so all I could do was keep treating until they powered through.

 

[Mamawills]

I'm sorry for those results. Sadly some breeds are simply more prone to Marek's. But don't despair. Those birds that show no symptoms are your breeders as they have natural resistance.

Vaccines can be good, but only go so far as it is a "leaky vaccine" meaning it doesn't prevent infection, it merely slows the tumors. Plus, like the flu shot, it only estimates the strains that might be prevalent any given year.

Best thing is to breed for natural resistance.

Good luck in your flock.
LofMc

Thank you. Yes only our Polish were affected - so far our other breeds have been ok. It’s encouraging that they may have resistance

 

[robinsonmollie19]

My flock hard recurring coccidiosis last year. I think there was a really bad strain going around, even my older hens were sick. I gave them treatments of Corid, Sulfa, Baycox, vitamins + probiotics, basically in weekly cycles. It was impossible to eliminate cocci in my yard so best thing to do was keep the birds strong enough to develop immunity.

Hi there, how long did you do the weekly cycles for and how many days at a time did you treat? I’m struggling with recurring cocci at the moment in my flock and wonder how long it is going to take to get it under control? Thank you

 

[SarahGfa]

Hi there, how long did you do the weekly cycles for and how many days at a time did you treat? I’m struggling with recurring cocci at the moment in my flock and wonder how long it is going to take to get it under control? Thank you

3 days for baycox and 5 days for corid. i think it took 2-3 months. i had the problem again this year and started doing weekly fecal tests. now i don't think they actually had cocci that whole time but maybe enteritis or bacterial infection. fecal tests help.