Red Poop even After Sulmet Treatment

[JackieK318]

Brought 8 chickens home 2 - 3 weeks ago from feed mill to add to my group. Also switched off of medicated feed at that time. Last week (Tues., July 24th), one of my chickens started to have red poop. Wed., July 25th my ameraucana died suddenly. Thurs., July 26th I started Sulmet at 2 tablespoons per gallon. Lost rooster on Saturday (one that pooped red on Tues.). Switched to 1 tablespoon per gallon on Sunday. Treated until yesterday evening with Sulmet. Droppings were not red while on treatment. Now they just have plain water and are back on medicated feed as of last night. Splash (one that has been isolated) had a solid dropping with red mixed in it. I picked up the feed container to feed the rest of the bunch and noticed red droppings on it. I added Sulmet at 2 tablespoons in their water this morning just in case.

Thoughts? Could this be something besides Coccidious? Should I be doing something different?

Thanks!!!

 

[robin416]

This is a perfect example of why I tell folks to get fecals done when they see something not right with the droppings. Yes, it very likely there is something else wrong but the only way to know for certain what it is and to treat accordingly is to take samples to your vet. Or to eliminate parasites is with the fecals.

You could have parasites that will only be cleared with specific wormers. The Sulmet may not be doing the job and need to switch to Albon. Get a fecal done, you don't need an avian vet to do the test.

 

[JackieK318]

My vet did do a fecal and told me to get Sulmet.

 

[dlhunicorn]

some faecals do not pick up all things (I have read vets despairing of false negatives)... also a "scraping" of the cloaca is advised to pick up some strains of cocci.... also you must not forget that any medication is hard on a birds system and for some (dependent on many factors ) they will simply be overwhelmed by it all (and eventually the cocci or other secondary complications)... it is why it is advised to keep them on medicated starter for 8 weeks I believe and not to take them off suddenly but in a step-down manner ... so very sorry you lost your birds....

 

[robin416]

If/when you take another sample to your vet make certain it comes from multiple birds. Your bad luck might have been that you collected a sample from a bird or birds that were not shedding.

Even cocci can be seen microscopically if its present.

I don't bother keeping seperate samples, I just collected several and take it in. That way I have a better coverage of the over all flock.

 

[JackieK318]

I took several samples to the vet from several different birds this afternoon. She said nothing was present. I called Mizzou and they said the couldn't answer any questions I had because they don't see birds. Oh well. Everyone is still acting fine and don't have really nasty droppings like before.