worms !! Help please !

[coach723]

I'm very sorry about your chick.
Coccidia is everywhere, and you can't really get rid of it. If it was already in your soil then your older birds have already built resistance to it. Your chicks that recover will be resistant to whatever strain you have. You may have a more virulent strain, or that chick may just have had a weaker system to start with, it's hard to know. I have had outbreaks of coccidiosis in the past. What I do now with all new brooder raised chicks, is starting with the first day they get some dirt from my yard in the brooder in a large plant saucer. They can dig and scratch and peck and dustbathe in it and are that way exposed to all the microbes in the soil from the very beginning and can start building resistance. And the plant saucer is easy to dump and clean. I always have meds on hand when I'm raising chicks so that I can treat quickly if needed, but by exposing them from day one to the soil I have greatly reduced my incidence of outbreak in my flock, it's been about 4 years since I've had an outbreak. When they are in the brooder with no exposure, and then put on the ground when they are older, they have missed the opportunity to build resistance while the immune system is maturing, and it's more likely that they will get sick. Any time you bring in new birds, then it's possible they could bring in a new strain in their digestive tracts, or that they will not be resistant to any strain you have in your soil, so a good idea to watch carefully for symptoms.

 

[dawg53]

Thank you. As much as it hurts ~ I’ll put her down. No creature should have to suffer needlessly.
I got these chicks 2 1/2 weeks ago. Since they arrived we got round worms , and now this.
Is it coincidence or do you think they were the carriers ? I had them separated but while the hens were out on their supervised foraging - I let the chicks into the secure enclosure to stretch their legs for a few hours every day.
should I remove the 300 pounds of sand in my enclosure and put firm new sand ?
I do scoop any excrement “ I see“ ,every day.

They are not carriers. Coccidia will always be in the chickens system no matter what. There will always be eggs on a microscopic slide. However, when the microscopic slide is loaded with eggs, that's when there's a problem. Coach723 explained everything perfectly.

Worms: There is the Direct lifecycle and Indirect lifecycle of poultry worms. Simply put, the Direct lifecycle is when birds peck the soil, they pick up and swallow embryonated eggs which have been previously excreted in chickens feces, chickens then become worm infected.
Nematodes are everywhere in the soil.
The Indirect lifecycle is when an insect host is infected with a worm egg and the chicken eats the infected host insect. Then the chicken is infected.
There are poultry worms that have both Direct and Indirect lifecycles.

My chicken pens all have sand as well, including inside the coops. The key is keeping everything as dry as possible to deter parasites. Sand dries quicker than dirt or mud after it rains, there's no nasty puddles for birds to drink from, sand doesnt wash away like dirt or mud.
Birds penned all the time need to wormed more frequently because they're on the same soil all the time. Birds that free range should be set loose in different areas to forage, not on the same ground all the time. Grass should be cut short and kept short all the time.
I worm my birds monthly due to our warm and moist soil conditions and penned all the time, even with sand.
Worms weaken a birds immune system, opening the door for other various health problems. It's the same with other animals as well as humans.