Watery diarrhea for past month.

[ChookieG]

My girl is still thriving and doing well. The diarrhea seems to be somewhat getting better, but we are still mid treatment for both the possible coccidiosis and worms. I’ll update you all in a couple days when both treatments are complete and I can start working on gut health. However, yours definitely sounds like coccidiosis with the possible blood in stool. I’ll attach a screenshot of what I used to treat with dosages. Good luck!

Hey M_Clucker, thanks for replying back and the info. I've been unable to get online since 12 May so haven't been able to reply but I suspected that too when @chicknmania mentioned it so I went ahead and treated them with turmeric paste. There's an interesting article regarding using that for coccidiosis although their research only tested on Eimeria tenella species. Even so, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my girl but I've decided to also feed them fermented feed to support their gut health. She's still passing loose stool but less watery but it got worse when I removed the fermented feed and improved after I fed them back so maybe you may wanna consider feeding her FF too.

 

[chicknmania]

If she is acting healthy and just has the loose droppings, you can try poultry probiotics too.

 

[ChookieG]

Hey @M_Clucker, just wondering how you're going with your treatment? I've had recent promising developments which I thought you may be interested in so wanted to see how you're doing.

 

[M_Clucker]

Hey @M_Clucker, just wondering how you're going with your treatment? I've had recent promising developments which I thought you may be interested in so wanted to see how you're doing.

I started using Zyfend A and the girls have beautiful red combs, but diarrhea is occasionally still present in two of my girls. I’ve thought about maybe giving fermented feed as a morning treat. Everyone is acting normal, red combs, laying eggs regularly, foraging, and drinking/eating. Some dirty fluffy butt feathers, but eggs come out clean.

 

[chicknmania]

It's actually not too uncommon for them to have diarrhea this time of year, especially if they free range. Think about all the weird stuff they're eating...plus if it's hot, that can cause diarrhea too. I just gave our flock some fermented feed for a week...I give it once a day, every other day. Most love that stuff; some don't. In any case, it did help with the ones that had runny poo.

 

[ChookieG]

I started using Zyfend A and the girls have beautiful red combs, but diarrhea is occasionally still present in two of my girls. I’ve thought about maybe giving fermented feed as a morning treat. Everyone is acting normal, red combs, laying eggs regularly, foraging, and drinking/eating. Some dirty fluffy butt feathers, but eggs come out clean.

That's great to know!

Regarding the diarrhea, just thought I'll share what I've observed so far with my sick girl. Remember how I said I was treating her with Turmeric paste? Well after two weeks I stopped the treatment as she wasn't getting any better. During this time, I did more research and suspected she may be suffering from Necrotic Enteritis (NE).. a disease very common in broiler chickens. I'm guessing it's because broilers are so heavily inbred that they have very weak immune systems. From what I've read, coccidiosis is often a side effect of NE as it's an opportunistic organism, often causing symptoms when the chicken's immune system is down/compromised. So I guess I should actually be addressing the NE first, not Cocci. Also like to add that the chickens I have were purchased from a breeder that I believe don't have very strong chickens as two other of my hens are also sick. My Roo is fine and he's from another breeder.

I didn't wanna run out and buy a bunch of antibiotics/treatments to treat her as I wanted something more natural. It's also because I'm not exactly sure what she's suffering from short of doing a fecal float test. I read a bunch of research articles citing oregano and thyme's broad spectrum potency against disease-causing bacteria, fungi, and parasites (including cocci). It doesn't induce resistance like many commercial treatment products. There are also several commercial poultry products based on oregano. So I went ahead and bought oregano and thyme essential oils.

I've been treating her with both for five days now. On day 3, she had one episode of watery diarrhea and on day 4, she was pooing normally... I've never been so excited about chicken poo when I saw that solid blob that morning! It was a beautiful sight!

Zyfend A seems like a nice product. Looks like it contains essential oils from lemon, grapefruit, fennel and anise. I don't know whether these will counteract the effects of oregano and thyme so if you're interested, you may wanna consider treating your two girls with oregano and thyme after your Zyfend A treatment ends. I'll give you the amount that I used if you're interested.

 

[PopoMyers]

That's great to know!

Regarding the diarrhea, just thought I'll share what I've observed so far with my sick girl. Remember how I said I was treating her with Turmeric paste? Well after two weeks I stopped the treatment as she wasn't getting any better. During this time, I did more research and suspected she may be suffering from Necrotic Enteritis (NE).. a disease very common in broiler chickens. I'm guessing it's because broilers are so heavily inbred that they have very weak immune systems. From what I've read, coccidiosis is often a side effect of NE as it's an opportunistic organism, often causing symptoms when the chicken's immune system is down/compromised. So I guess I should actually be addressing the NE first, not Cocci. Also like to add that the chickens I have were purchased from a breeder that I believe don't have very strong chickens as two other of my hens are also sick. My Roo is fine and he's from another breeder.

I didn't wanna run out and buy a bunch of antibiotics/treatments to treat her as I wanted something more natural. It's also because I'm not exactly sure what she's suffering from short of doing a fecal float test. I read a bunch of research articles citing oregano and thyme's broad spectrum potency against disease-causing bacteria, fungi, and parasites (including cocci). It doesn't induce resistance like many commercial treatment products. There are also several commercial poultry products based on oregano. So I went ahead and bought oregano and thyme essential oils.

I've been treating her with both for five days now. On day 3, she had one episode of watery diarrhea and on day 4, she was pooing normally... I've never been so excited about chicken poo when I saw that solid blob that morning! It was a beautiful sight!

Zyfend A seems like a nice product. Looks like it contains essential oils from lemon, grapefruit, fennel and anise. I don't know whether these will counteract the effects of oregano and thyme so if you're interested, you may wanna consider treating your two girls with oregano and thyme after your Zyfend A treatment ends. I'll give you the amount that I used if you're interested.

I have both essential oils, and poopy butts on some of the girls. How did you dose them, and for how long? TIA Do you think feeding them the fresh herbs would help as well?

 

[ChookieG]

I have both essential oils, and poopy butts on some of the girls. How did you dose them, and for how long? TIA Do you think feeding them the fresh herbs would help as well?

Hey @PopoMyers sorry for the late reply. I used 2 drops from a 10mL (10 cc) glass dropper (provided by the glass bottle) each of oregano and thyme oils (so a total of 4 drops) into 200mL (7 ounces/0.044 gal) carrier oil. The drop volumes can vary depending on the size of the dropper you use. The oil I used is rice bran oil just because it's what I use in my cooking but you can use any oil that's safe for chickens. I fed her 3 mL (3 ccs) medicated oil (she's about 3 kg/6.6 pounds) through a syringe per day for 2 weeks. However since you've got quite a large number of sick chickens you may wanna add it directly to their food. They don't like the taste of essential oils (EOs) so you can try masking it in their favourite food. Cat /dog wet food works well.

Please note though that although I saw a dramatic improvement after 3 days she reverted to watery diarrhoea again after 10 days. It's not as severe as before though and it only happens at night so you may want to give it to your chickens at a higher dose. Also the unfortunately thing with EOs is their chemical compounds will vary in potency depending on where the plants were grown and collected and how they were extracted. I would also err on the side of caution using EOs as they are very potent and you don't wanna cause any long-term liver damage to your chickens. It's really unfortunate as there's great potential in the application of EOs in poultry health. There are of course several commercial companies that have oregano-based products but they are exorbitantly expensive.

Fresh herbs can definitely be used. I just didn't have them available as it's the dormant season so I opted for EOs. The great thing about fresh plants is you can let your chickens eat them when they choose to. I'll be propagating some oregano and thyme in the warmer months and plant them on the edge of the chicken run so they can have a peck at them when they want to.

Hope that helps.

 

[PopoMyers]

Hey @PopoMyers sorry for the late reply. I used 2 drops from a 10mL (10 cc) glass dropper (provided by the glass bottle) each of oregano and thyme oils (so a total of 4 drops) into 200mL (7 ounces/0.044 gal) carrier oil. The drop volumes can vary depending on the size of the dropper you use. The oil I used is rice bran oil just because it's what I use in my cooking but you can use any oil that's safe for chickens. I fed her 3 mL (3 ccs) medicated oil (she's about 3 kg/6.6 pounds) through a syringe per day for 2 weeks. However since you've got quite a large number of sick chickens you may wanna add it directly to their food. They don't like the taste of essential oils (EOs) so you can try masking it in their favourite food. Cat /dog wet food works well.

Please note though that although I saw a dramatic improvement after 3 days she reverted to watery diarrhoea again after 10 days. It's not as severe as before though and it only happens at night so you may want to give it to your chickens at a higher dose. Also the unfortunately thing with EOs is their chemical compounds will vary in potency depending on where the plants were grown and collected and how they were extracted. I would also err on the side of caution using EOs as they are very potent and you don't wanna cause any long-term liver damage to your chickens. It's really unfortunate as there's great potential in the application of EOs in poultry health. There are of course several commercial companies that have oregano-based products but they are exorbitantly expensive.

Fresh herbs can definitely be used. I just didn't have them available as it's the dormant season so I opted for EOs. The great thing about fresh plants is you can let your chickens eat them when they choose to. I'll be propagating some oregano and thyme in the warmer months and plant them on the edge of the chicken run so they can have a peck at them when they want to.

Hope that helps.

Thank you! I tried to give them oregano and they turned up their beaks and did not want it. I think their poopy butts are from me feeding them plums, (much like it affects us!)
Also I've cut way back on those. Noticed that the texture is much improved without them eating so much of the plums, and have not given them pineapple, which also seems to give them the squirts. Thanks for your informative reply. Would you happen to know if any oils, like in a spray for the coop are harmful for them to breathe in? Or are useful for pests?

 

[ChookieG]

Thank you! I tried to give them oregano and they turned up their beaks and did not want it.

Hey there! Glad it's not as serious as mine! I know they really don't like that stuff. My chooks will consume a weekly dosage of it mixed in with their scratch mix though. How did you administer it to them?

I think their poopy butts are from me feeding them plums, (much like it affects us!)
Also I've cut way back on those. Noticed that the texture is much improved without them eating so much of the plums, and have not given them pineapple, which also seems to give them the squirts.

I have noticed my chooks get a bit squirty too when I fed them too many plums so you may wanna tone down on the amount of fruit you give them.

Thanks for your informative reply. Would you happen to know if any oils, like in a spray for the coop are harmful for them to breathe in? Or are useful for pests?

Pleasure to help in any way I can!

Not too sure about other oils for pest control in their coop. I would be concern regarding toxicity via inhalation. There's mounting evidence of toxicity when used for aromatherapy. I know wormwood and rosemary are general good deterrents for pests so if you have the two it's good to scatter some of the fresh herbs around. Diatomaceous earth is also good against insect pests but be careful as chooks have very sensitive respiratory systems and DE can cause silicosis.