What Is This Disease?

[ktown55]

Hello Everyone Again..Gotta Ask This...I Read Somewhere On Here About Chicks Needing To Eat Some Protazoa, In Order To Have Immunity To Cocci ? Is This True And What Is>> Cocci ? And Protazoa ?? I'm New At All This And About To Hatch Some Chicks This Sunday,Or At Lease It'll Be 21 days For Them.....thanks For Your Help.....Ktown

 

[High Roost Ranch]

The theory is that chicks will scratch the ground and develop natural immunity to cocci as time goes on. Are you planning on brooding them on the ground or off the ground?

 

[ktown55]

Quote:
Thank You For Your Replie, I'm Goin To Do The Brooding In A Brooder, Here In the House...What Is Cocci ? And What Do I Look For,To Know If the Hens Are Ok? Thanks Again .....Ktown

 

[speckledhen]

Cocci is short for coccidiosis. You can read about it here:
http://www.millerhatcheries.com/Information/Diseases/coccidiosis.htm
http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/ahp/disease_links/images/coccidia.pdf

 

[High Roost Ranch]

You'll likely never see cocci in an adult bird if it is healthy and in an healthy environment, raised on your property. I say raised on your property because there are several different strains of cocci out there, some more virulent than others, and some of the more virulent strains can affect an adult bird that has not developed immunity to a particular strain.

If you are going to brood your chicks in a brooder and not raise them under a hen, then be sure they are kept in a clean, dry environment. Chicks shouldn't be kept with other chicks of different ages. In doing so, there are dominance issues and health issues that can be problematic. Chicks of similar ages will grow natural immunity as time passes.

Cocci is best recognized by bloody stool. It's actually the intestinal lining that are shed with blood that you see in feces. It's highly virulent, if one develops it, it's likely all will be affected to a degree. It's not something you can wait out and assume it will correct itself. You must get a chick group with bloody stool on Sulmet as soon as possible. You may loose several, or worse if it goes undetected. The chicks will look huddled, droppy, fluffed like they are cold and very listless. They won't want to eat or drink. Don't confuse this with just being cold, the blood in the stool is the key to diagnosing cocci.

If you use a good heat source with an area for them to move out of if they get too warm, keep their environment clean, their feed dish clean, their water dish clean, and don't brood different aged chicks together, you should have no problem with cocci. Almost all of the feed made for chicks (starter and grower) have a coccidiostat in the feed, giving them small doses of amprolium, allowing immunity to develop.

Cocci in a nutshell is gut flora gone wild, destroying the animal because their immune system for whatever reason has been compromised. The key to preventing it is a clean environment.