young chicken not recovering from cocci

homeschoolchick

Songster
12 Years
Jul 9, 2011
363
60
229
Mechanicsville, MD
I have treated all chickens with Corid because one of my young ones had symptoms of cocci. They have been treated for ten days. Today I gave them ACV in their water and a mixture of yogurt with rolled oats, grated apples, and a couple drops of polyvisol. The baby who is about eight weeks old is still lethargic. She will drink and eat, but mostly wakes up to do this only when another chicken bumps into her. Since it has been ten days, is she safe from dying? Is she likes this because I need to get some meat back on her? She is a little Polish Frizzle.
 
I would consider removing the lethargic chick giving her/him special attention.
Warmth, maybe hard boiled egg mashed up for strength. Sounds like being young (8 Wks.) She needs some TLC.
When they are down and out Karo syrup in small amounts bring up the blood sugar and gives energy.
Hope your little one recovers quickly!
 
Thank you so much for responding. I removed her initially, but she has a buddy that calls for her all day when she is gone. She also didn't do well alone..she stayed asleep. Atleast with the rest of them she kept getting woken up. If I have her inside for awhile, do I keep her in until she looks normal? Would it take long after feeding her a special diet? Do I keep her warm with a light or put a blanket in with her? Our house is kept at 72. I am still worried about her recovery.
 
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Your chick should be ok with a temp of 72 since she is 8 weeks old. Did you actually see your sick chick drink the corid treated water? When birds are sick, they rarely eat or drink. Then if they drink, it's usually not enough to be effective to treat the problem. Most likely you have to use an eyedropper to dose her orally yourself, an eyedropper full at least 3 times a day for 5 days. There is no need to dose more than 5 days with corid...as the stated in the dosing instructions. More is not better, it is just ineffective. If it were sulmet, there would be toxic reactions.
 
Quote:
Your chick should be ok with a temp of 72 since she is 8 weeks old. Did you actually see your sick chick drink the corid treated water? When birds are sick, they rarely eat or drink. Then if they drink, it's usually not enough to be effective to treat the problem. Most likely you have to use an eyedropper to dose her orally yourself, an eyedropper full at least 3 times a day for 5 days. There is no need to dose more than 5 days with corid...as the stated in the dosing instructions. More is not better, it is just ineffective. If it were sulmet, there would be toxic reactions.

Yes forsix days I gave her four drops from a dropper three times/day. She also drank from the treated water that was for everyone else. She is eating also. She just mostly sleeps. Some days are better then others. She perked up for about a day after iniyial treatment, but now seems to be back to very lethargic.
 
It may take a long time to recover. I think its all individual. When I got my 12 chicks at 5 weeks old one of them had cocci. If I was smart I quess I should have returned it as the breeder offered but it was my sons bird so I took it upon myself to nurse it back to health. The first night I had to go down every two hours and dip his beak in a small Dixie cup with the sulmet solution. I kept him in a pet carrier separate but next to the pen with the other. It took him about two days till be drank and ate on his own. I kept him separate for a week to give him time to regain his strength. He never had a recurrence and is healthy as a horse although he turned out to be a rooster and had to be rehomed.
About two weeks layer a different chick went sour with cocci. Same treatment separated for medication and rebuild strength. She recovered quickly and was able to feed and drink on her own after two days. She recovered from cocci but subsequently died the day we moved them all out to the coop. Not sure what happened if she fell or another bird fell on her.
The third victim occured after they were all in outside coop about two weeks after that. All birds had been doing good but it was one of those hot days 100 degrees but 84 in coop as it's in the shade. I thought the EE was having some reaction to heat so I moved her in cool garage. She subsequently went down hill. Less active as day went on by next morning looked as thou she was ready for the shoebox. She couldn't even hold her head up. That's when I saw the bloody stool and knew it was cocci again. Had to nurse her more intensely than others. She couldn't even support her own weight or her. Just laid on side.
The next day have to trim her blocked up vent area. It took her about 4 days till she was up but she would tip over any time she tried to walk over stretch. After about two week of her being off balance I took her to the vet. I wanted reassurance I wasn't dealing with something more serious and sinister with in my flock. They weren't much help other to reassure me that her equilibrium problem was probably a vitamin defiency related to the cocci and being underweight.
To make a long story short it took her a very long time to recover. She was out of the flock for about a month total so she had a tough time being reaccepted into the flock. Finally things are good and stable within flock. They are now almost 5 months old. She is a miracle bird whom came back from brink of death.
Now the next challenge will be surviving the egg laying.


So I think all birds experience it to more or lesser degree depending upon their make up.
Don't give up. Give it some devoted care. Maybe trying taking her buddy out to spend quality time together while she recovers. It could help in the reintroduction if she out of the flock for a extended period.

Best wishes!
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Thank you all! She does not have any other symptoms other than lethergy. Will she be alright in a large cat carrier? Can I take her out for a few hours a day to spend with everyone? Needed to add that her droppings are normal, no blood..maybe alittle runny at times.
 
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I think I may have a similar situation. I have an 18wo BO that never really recovered from Cocci as a 6wo. All the others have done excellent, but she just isn't quite right. Still puffs up, pale comb, lethargic, and has recently started losing her balance, but no other symptoms at all. Her eyes and nose are clear, her breathing is fine, but this has affected her growth. I wormed everyone recently, with Wazine, for the second time. What am I missing? I don't want to seperate her, she gets desperately lonely! And our little disabled hen, (her best buddy) just died last night. I was going to just let this play out, but if there is a simple solution I'd like to try it. We went to extreme measures to save the little disabled hen and it really taught me a lesson about survival of the fittest. In the end I feel I did more harm than good keeping her alive for so long. I don't know, still feeling pretty bad about it
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But if this little hen can be cured simply I'd like to try. Thanks to all for your expertise
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