treat for coccidiosis without confirmation?

[Lumenflower]

Hi all. I've had some diarrhea in my flock recently and they haven't laid in about 3 weeks so I'm getting pretty worried. Ages range from 4 years to 2 years. Breed is silkie. I live in New Mexico in an extremely hot and arid climate. It's been 100°f and over for many days within the last month.

At first I chalked the symptoms up to hot weather, then I tried deworming. Now the temperatures are coming down and they're still getting diarrhea, but I haven't seen any blood in the droppings.

One hen has been lethargic and puffing up her feathers, she's in a hospital cage now so no one bothers her. Aside from her, the rest of the flock seems to be energetic with good appetites aside from the diarrhea.

Is it time to try corid? I'm not able to get a fecal float at the moment so I don't know definitely if it's coccidia. Are there any reasons I shouldn't try this?

 

[nuthatched]

I'm not sure if a float tests reveals coccidiae, it won't hurt anyone to treat for coccidiosis just in case, however, it's likely the heat since coccidiosis is uncommon in older birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

Corid is fairly safe to use. Older chickens are less likely to get coccidiosis than young ones, but it won’t hurt them. However, I would try treating for heat and dehydration first with fluids and electrolytes. If you use Corid, be sure not to use thiamine a b vitamin while on Corid. It may be common to stop laying during heat of summer, molting, and during cold of winter.