sick 4 week olds, bloody poop

[speckledhen]

Coccidiosis is not caused by a bacteria, but a protozoan.

Corid is preferred over Sulmet. Sulmet is harder on their intestines, can actually make the bleeding continue longer, and is not effective against all types of cocci. Corid is concentrated amprolium, same med as in the chick starter, but at a higher dosage.

Prime cocci time is 4-8 weeks of age, but by age of 12 weeks, they are usually immune to the oocysts in the soil that cause it.

Cocci is very common and highly treatable if signs are caught early and Corid administered. If you plan to have chicks around, you need to keep a bottle of Corid on hand, however, the best preventative for cocci is to give chicks a dustbath with soil in the brooder the first week of life.

Broody hen-raised chicks rarely, if ever, get cocci. They pick in mom's poop (she's immune) and get bits of soil the first week of life while out with mom.

 

[leadwolf1]

Speckledhen, good catch. I didn't see the post about Coccidia being bacteria. I have to start reading posts much more closely.

 

[n8ivetxn]

Good stuff, thanks SpeckledHen

 

[ESofVA]

Speckledhen, good catch. I didn't see the post about Coccidia being bacteria. I have to start reading posts much more closely.

It isn't a bacterium. It is a protozoan and can also be deposited in wild bird dropping thus getting into the soil.

 

[Momma 2 silkies]

That really helps explain how my chicks picked it up then. We have birds that keep nesting in the awning of our front porch and the front yard is where my chicks were free ranging before they got sick. I was so worried that I had done something to make them sick, first time chicken mom. They are getting better with the corid in their systems and seem to be acting more normal. I still have a few fluffed up but they are eating and drinking and I'm seeing less blood colored poop. Do I wait until after I stop the corid to give them yogurt or anything else to build the immune system back up or can they have it now.

 

[leadwolf1]

I know this...I was thanking Speckledhen for pointing out something that I missed..and didn't correct.

It isn't a bacterium. It is a protozoan and can also be deposited in wild bird dropping thus getting into the soil.

 

[speckledhen]

It isn't a bacterium. It is a protozoan and can also be deposited in wild bird dropping thus getting into the soil.

That is what I said, correcting someone else earlier. They are also hatched with it in their gut. Some mutated strains have been found in chicks right in the brooder, ones that are not part of the usual 9 named ones, per necropsy reports.

I give mine the yogurt anytime, not just after the round of Corid. Shouldn't interfere with it at all.

Think of cocci as similar to a case of giardia, caused by a parasite in untreated drinking water that causes intestinal distress in humans and maybe that will help you understand it better.