Treat with Corid?

[aatx]

Yesterday afternoon I went outside to give the chickens some scratch. Only 10 chickens went after it. The last one was inside the coop. She is a 15 week old buff orpington bantam. She was down on the ground in the shavings and had made a bit of a nest area. She wasn't too weak or lethargic, but she didn't fight being carried around as much as she normally would.

I brought her inside. Gave her a quick dip in the sink in case she was too hot. She pooped on me on the way. Normal looking. Wrapped her up in a towel afterwards and she pooped in the towel also. A bit less firm, maybe. She did not show any interest in drinking any water. Feathers were not poofed out, but she was just off acting.

I went ahead and decided to get the Corid out (we have goats and keep it for them.) Since it was late and she wasn't showing any interest in drinking, I gave her one drop of the liquid corid manually. Then I mixed up a small amount (1.2cc in 1 pint of water). I was able to get her to take in a bit of the medicated water by syringing it onto her beak. I scrambled up an egg and she ate a good amount of it.

I kept her inside overnight. She pooped a few times overnight and this morning. Possibly a bit runnier than normal, but no blood or yellow or green. This morning she was pecking around at things so I got her some of her normal food and poured the medicated water into their old chick waterer. I lined a corner of a bedroom with puppy pads, added some shavings in the corner, and built a baracade around it. She's got about 10 sq ft to be in.

She was walking around and making a few noises, but I decided to keep her inside today while I am gone to make sure she drinks the corid water. I plan on removing all but one waterer with the others and giving them corid water starting this evening. The only problem I have is that they sometimes drink the water in their wading pool and with it so hot, I don't want to remove that. Will that be okay? I thought if I saw any of the others exhibit any 'off' symptoms, I could give them a straight drop of the Corid (or it mixed with just a bit of water) or bring them inside. I picked up each bird off the roost last night and they all fought me pretty good - no one was weak at all. This morning when I let them out they all were running around like normal.

Does this sound like an okay way to start until I see any other symptoms that would guide me?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Just a thought, may or may not apply: was she by chance making herself a spot to dust bath when you put out the scratch and found her like that? Mine often do this in the afternoon. Sometimes they will dust bath in actual dust in the barn, other times they go in their coop and make bowls in the shavings and have a shavings dust bath. When mine do this they often lay there, half catatonic and many times will not even get up to get the treats I've brought until they are good and done with their dusting.

Usually if I see something that I think is odd or off just a bit I will just observe and see if the bahvavior continues, worsens, if there are any other symptoms, or if the chicken goes back to normal activity with the rest of the flock.

If you do decide to treat the whole flock then the Corid water needs to be the only source of water. I do sometimes give a sick chick or bird a drop of undiluted liquid Corid to get them started if they seem really bad but I don't know about doing that for the whole course of treatment.

 

[aatx]

I think there was really something off because she never did get to acting as alert as she should have. I think if it had been something with dust bathing, she would have snapped out of it after having a bath, eating, etc.

When I got home she was standing up, walking around in her little pen I made her inside. She had eaten some of the food. Several poops, some a bit more watery, none were firm. But she was not the same bird as the night before when I picked her up to take her back to the flock. I actually had to fold in her wings and get a better grip a few times because she was fighting it. Good sign.

Took her back to the others. She joined right back in and they all went for some scratch I threw out. Everyone else still acting fine.

Not sure if it was some fluke thing with her or if it was the start of coccidiosis and she responded well to the Corid and it hadn't gotten to the others yet. Since I had the Corid, I went ahead and decided to dose everyone. I put the Corid water in their nipple bucket and then I made up some more and actually poured that into their wading pool. It's not near as full as before, but I didn't want to take it away completely.

She was on the top roost last night when I went to shut them up for the night. Everyone seemed good this morning when I let them out and when I stopped and watched for a bit on my way to work. Poops in the coop from last night looked 'good'.

I'm not sure what this is/was, but hopefully it is a crisis averted!