What should I be feeding my flock during amprolium treatment for Coccidiosis

[RebbyB80]

hi all. I work at a small hobby farm with 29 free-ranging chickens of various breeds, raised on organic feed. Recently, some have showed signs of illness and their fecal tests came back positive for heavy Coccidiosis. My employer does not have prior experience with poultry and I have never worked with a flock this size before and have no experience with outbreaks of coccidia. We asked for advice from some local chicken raisers and they suggested using Amprol as an effective treatment for the flock. After reviewing several online resources like the Merck Veterinary Manual, etc. we went with treating for severe Coccidiosis administering the amprolium via the chicken's water supply. Just this morning we lost a hen who had been three days into the Amprol with no signs of improvement. Although we stopped supplementing with vitamins prior to the Amprol treatment, we did not take into account that their organic feed is fortified with Thiamine mononitrate and the rolled oats we supplement with provide a huge amount of thiamine as well (nearly 100% DV in 1 cup). We stopped feeding with oats immediately upon learning this, but are at a loss for what we can feed the flock as they are all of laying age and about half of them are currently laying. Please share any insights on how you feed during amprolium treatments to maximize its effectiveness. Thank you!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What dose of Corid (Amprolium) are you using?

You should be able to feed them their normal poultry feed with no issues.
How old are these birds? Are they new to the property?

Where are you located in the world?

What exactly are the symptoms you see? Photos of birds?
What is the organic feed? Is there a nutritional content label?

 

[RebbyB80]

What dose of Corid (Amprolium) are you using?

You should be able to feed them their normal poultry feed with no issues.
How old are these birds? Are they new to the property?

Where are you located in the world?

What exactly are the symptoms you see? Photos of birds?
What is the organic feed? Is there a nutritional content label?

What dose of Corid (Amprolium) are you using?

You should be able to feed them their normal poultry feed with no issues.
How old are these birds? Are they new to the property?

Where are you located in the world?

What exactly are the symptoms you see? Photos of birds?
What is the organic feed? Is there a nutritional content label?

 

[RebbyB80]

Thank you for responding so quickly.

We are using Amprol 9.6% liquid at 0.024% in the chickens water

The birds are all between 6 months and 1 year old

All are new to the property, purchased as chick's from 3 hatcheries and local farms, except the 3 oldest that came from the immediate neighbors chicken farm

The farms are in the northern part of Somerset County NJ

Several of the hens showed varying combinations of the following: listlessness, prolonged sitting, ruffled feathers, pale combs, distancing from flock, and eventually blood was found in the feces. We sent suspicious fecal samples and a hen that died to the state lab. All results came back with high oocyst counts, along with heavy roundworm load. The necropsy concluded that the hen likely had Marek's disease, so we are working with an already immune-comprmised flock if this is the case.

I don't have any photos with me, but can attach some tomorrow when I am back at work at the farm.

The organic feeds we are using are Grubblies layer crumbles and Scratch n Peck layer Pellets as well as SnP Raw Whole Grain layer feed. The nutrional contents do not display DV amounts, justify of ingredients. All contain thiamine mononitrate

 

[Kiki]

I highly recommend stop feeding the birds the rolled oats for good.
If they are egg laying age they should be eating layer type pellets or crumble.
If they are still young then they should be eating a grower or off-lock type crumble or pellet.

I highly recommend avoiding whole grain type feeds altogether... Because it gives the bird the option to choose which type of grain or seed it wants and that itself can lead to them not getting a balanced diet which will cause more problems.



To recap: feed only a crumble or pelleted type feed.

 

[Kiki]

There should be no problem with feeding a crumble or pelleted type feed only while treating for coccidiosis. Should you lose another bird I highly recommend sending it to the state lab for a necropsy.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for responding so quickly.

We are using Amprol 9.6% liquid at 0.024% in the chickens water

The birds are all between 6 months and 1 year old

All are new to the property, purchased as chick's from 3 hatcheries and local farms, except the 3 oldest that came from the immediate neighbors chicken farm

The farms are in the northern part of Somerset County NJ

Several of the hens showed varying combinations of the following: listlessness, prolonged sitting, ruffled feathers, pale combs, distancing from flock, and eventually blood was found in the feces. We sent suspicious fecal samples and a hen that died to the state lab. All results came back with high oocyst counts, along with heavy roundworm load. The necropsy concluded that the hen likely had Marek's disease, so we are working with an already immune-comprmised flock if this is the case.

I don't have any photos with me, but can attach some tomorrow when I am back at work at the farm.

The organic feeds we are using are Grubblies layer crumbles and Scratch n Peck layer Pellets as well as SnP Raw Whole Grain layer feed. The nutrional contents do not display DV amounts, justify of ingredients. All contain thiamine mononitrate

Have you de-wormed them as well? If you haven't then I would do that too.

Fenbendazole (Safeguard) or Albendazole (Valbazen) can be used.
Safeguard dose is 0.25ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

With a lot of birds, you can split them up in groups if necessary so it's easier to dose them.
If you treat all at once, then go out early when they are roosting. Grab one off the roost, dose her, put her down on the floor and go to the next one. If you have help, it should be fairly quick work.

I'd pick one feed and stick with it. Crumbles and/or pellets will likely be less wasteful (I use pellets). "Whole" feeds, birds tend to pick out things they like...say all the corn, then the peas, etc. and leave the rest. They also don't always get that powder that's in a loose type feed. Fermenting or soaking whole feeds/grains or even the pellets/crumbles is a way to help ensure they are getting what they need.

I do soak pellets overnight and provide those free choice for one of my flocks.
Take some time to research soaking/fermenting to see if that would be beneficial for your birds.

It sounds like you are trying to getting on top of this challenging period. With confirmation of Marek's, you may find that you are better off culling symptomatic birds and moving forward with the strongest.

@microchick may be able to offer some tips on managing a flock with Marek's.

 

[microchick]

Thanks for the tag @Wyorp Rock.

@RebbyB80 I am so sorry for your run of problems. It's like having a bunch of sick kids with feathers, isn't it?

I've read through your thread and Wyorp Rock and @Kiki have given you sound advice.

I'm so sorry you got the Marek's diagnosis laid on you as well as the coccidiosis. I've had a few birds succumb to it myself (the parasite) and yes you are correct about Marek's positive birds having a compromised immune system. You will want to be diligent. Young birds in particular are highly susceptible to coccidia. Especially birds under a year of age. After that they will develop a degree of resistance to them. I routinely worm my young birds twice a year with Corid for coccidia and Safeguard for general parasite control.

Now about the 'M' word. I'm so sorry. I've had chickens now for 7 years and discovered I have MD in my flock almost 5 years ago now. It's devastating news but not the end of the world. There is life after Marek's disease.

First off, Close your flock. No birds in no birds out. If you breed breed and hatch chicks from your own survivors or consider doing as I did and bring only vaccinated birds into your flock. And I agree with Wyorp Rock. You are better off culling your birds when they develop symptoms as symptomatic birds shed the virus in their dander at an alarming amount and rate.

Things are going to be tough for awhile and I won't lie to you, you will lose more birds but you won't lose all of them and the ones you don't lose will be the foundation upon which you build your flock. They are truly resistant birds and will pass those resistant genes on to their offspring.

In the mean time I think you are on the right track. Parasite control. GOOD feed. I would even offer them something like Game Bird Finisher or Chick Starter along with their laying feed to give them higher protein in their diet. You can always offer them oyster shell on the side to supplement what they won't get from the higher protein finisher feed. I fed mine surplus eggs for a protein boost because it can be just plain hard to keep weight on birds carrying Marek's.

I do have an article posted here on BYC concerning my personal experiences dealing with MD in my flock. You can find it here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

I'm watching this thread so please feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

 

[RebbyB80]

I highly recommend stop feeding the birds the rolled oats for good.
If they are egg laying age they should be eating layer type pellets or crumble.
If they are still young then they should be eating a grower or off-lock type crumble or pellet.

I highly recommend avoiding whole grain type feeds altogether... Because it gives the bird the option to choose which type of grain or seed it wants and that itself can lead to them not getting a balanced diet which will cause more problems.



To recap: feed only a crumble or pelleted type feed.

Thank you so much @Wyorp Rock, @Kiki, and @microchick for your wisdom, advice, and honesty. I'm sharing your responses and @microchick, your poignant experience with MD. I wept while I read. It's going to be really hard to lose more of the flock, but I can see in many of their eyes the same sad look that the hen who passed had. It's such an awful virus.

Oats are now out of the picture, as of today. Thank you for putting my mind at ease that it's ok to continue feeding the vitamin-enriched organic layer feed while we treat for the coccidiosis. We were introducing the different types of feed to see which one they preferred when GrubblyFarms had us on indefinite backorder. Now that they are shipping again, I will suggest that the farm owner sticks to to the crumbles and maybe stocks up in case we experience delays again.

@Wyorp Rock, we have not yet de-wormed. The news of 3 diseases present at once in the flock with the potential of Clostridium perfringens and Necrotic enteritis causing even more challenges has been overwhelming, we are tackling the treatable (non-Marek) illnesses one at a time, and with some hesitation towards the mode of treatment. The flock owner does not wish to use synthetic drugs, especially ones that entail a withdrawal period from eggs. Amprolium has been the exception we've implemented so far, but it took a lot of convincing from different sources that synthesized compounds are the only way we could successfully save these birds at the stage they are in with the Coccidia. I think the same belief should go for the roundworm infestation, allowing for heavy duty chemicals when the situation calls for it, but since it is not ultimately my decision to make, I cannot treat with fenbendazole or albendazole

We've experimented for several months now with fermenting the crumbles and the pellets. The chickens prefer the crumbles hands down in this form as well. How many days a week do you feed ferment? We are currently feeding it 3x per week. Would you recommend more? less often?

The whole grain feed that is left in our stock will be taken out of layer feed rotation and soaked for sprouting "microgreens" this winter so the surviving flock members will have some greenery to peck at.

As for culling, we have discussed that those who do not improve after Coccidiosis treatment be humanely dispatched. The symptoms have been a bit difficult for me to differentiate ones presenting from one illness or combinations of parasites and MD because each bird has so far presented quite differently, perhaps due to their unique breed traits and levels of resistance. Culling is going to be very difficult for me, @microchick, you are very right, these birds are dearer to me than many of the children I have nannied for over the years!

Thanks again for your help and emotional support!

 

[microchick]

No problem. There are so many on BYC dealing with MD. It's a club nobody wants to belong to.