Coccidiosis in Chickens-What to do if you have chicks dying with runny, frothy or bloody poops.

This is a practical article on what you can do to identify, treat and prevent Common Coccidiosis outbreaks in your backyard flock. Coccidiosis can be fatal if left untreated. It is often noticed only when birds die.

I just want to warn you there are a couple of graphic pictures of poop in this article that I thought were important to include to help you be certain that it is coccidosis your birds have.

Coccidiosis (Eimeria tenella) is a protozoal parasite and is the number one cause of death of chicks all over the world. It is present in every chicken yard.-concentrated in adult chicken feces

Coccidiosis is transmitted by birds eating the droppings of other infested, birds. The droppings contain a stage of the organism called oocysts. These mature before infecting other birds and the oocysts can to stay alive inside a chicken coop for over 12 months. Unless you keep your poultry in a sterile bubble, they will always come into contact with cocci.

Here are some links on the Biology of Coccidiosis. I want to spend more time on practical help.

Coccidiosis infests birds of all ages. In very young chicks where the number of parasites is small, no symptoms are seen. If they are exposed to a lot of it all at once, when very young, they can't fight it and can die. Between 4-8 weeks old is the most common age for chicks to suffer from an overload of cocci.

If the young started chicks (say 5-6 weeks old) are put onto land where adults are or have been, they are at greater risk of coccidiosis. They are affected because they don't build up a gradual immunity. Cocci can weaken them and they can develop secondary infections.

If chicks are exposed to cocci gradually with a broody hen Mom, they usually are fine. Or if exposed to adult poops in dry conditions when they are over 5-6 weeks they can be fine. Poultry can develop resistance to the organism when present at a very low levels.

Coccidiosis is species specific so your chicks won’t catch it from you cows or your dogs catch it from your chickens. Waterfowl aren’t affected by it but chicks and turkey poults are.

Coccidia are everywhere, and thrives in damp and warmth. It is worse in the summer and in wetter climates and conditions, or wet housing and bedding, in shavings around spilled awaterer.

Examine the feces

Number one way for you to be certain is if you have dead or droopy looking 4-8 week old chicks with bloody poops. Cocci can be present without those bloody poops, but it is nearly always cocci when the blood is seen. Different strains of cocci can cause different symptoms. If the coccidiosis poops aren’t bloody, they are slimy with mucous, or frothy or runny. The vent may have white diarrhea smears and sticking to feathers and skin. The worse the infection, the more severe the diarrhea.

Here is an excellent link to coccidiosis and normal droppings. See the coral-red looking poop (before the cocci one) is just the intestinal shedding (normal). The dark red bloody-looking chicken poop, is from the damaged gut caused by coccidiosis. You can see there is a difference between intestinal shedding and coccidiosis blood poo.

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

General appearance of the chick

Often infected birds grow slowly if at all and are smaller than hatch-mates, sometime 1/3 of the size at a few weeks old. They feel light as air with very little breast muscle and have a prominent keel bone between the breasts feel like an ice-skate blade sticking out. They often have untidy ruffled feathers.

In later stages, typical signs are hunched over, fluffed up, droopy, quiet, not very active or hungry, depressed, unresponsive and sleepy or lethargic. Occasionally they will seem healthy right up until death, eating and running around but not very often.

If you still can’t tell

Identification of coccidiosis is difficult because some of the symptoms can be due to other factors, maybe mineral and vitamin deficiencies or from other secondary diseases. If in doubt, call a vet as cocci kills quickly. They can examine a sample of feces and see the coccidia under a microscope and diagnose easily.

If you have no medication yet, put a teaspoon of sugar in about 500ml of water for your birds and that can perk them up a bit, til you can figure out the diagnosis or get medication. Also it is said that powdered milk sprinkled on feed can alter the gut pH making it less hospitable for the cocci. Soft high protein mashed up boiled egg yolks may help too. Make sure all bedding is clean and dry and waterer clean.

If they are no longer under the red brooder light, put them back under the brooder light so they are warmer but not too hot. Give them room to get away from it. If too weak they won't get away from it, but it will soothe and relax the sickest, they will tend to stay under it.

There are 2 coccidostat medications for treating coccidiosis. In situations where it is certain that coccidio is present, a vet need not be called nor tests carried out because the necessary treatments are available without prescription in Canada or US as far as I know. Order online to arrive quickly or you can contact a local vet if they have it on hand, or maybe even the feed store in the cattle area as it is also used on cocci in calves.

Sulphamethazine (SULMET) is great and Amprolium (CORID) is a good choice if sulphamethazine cannot be found. Whatever you use, get it IMMEDIATELY. Permanent damage is done to the chicks the longer the cocci is left untreated and you will save chicks by not waiting.

I have seen chicks survive after having bloody-streaked poops, but the ones showing lethargy and weakness with bloody poops often die. If you can get the Sulmet or Corid to them right away and even drip feed it with an eye dropper if there is a weaker chick.

There is nothing that can be done once the ceca of the chick has been damaged. Usually by the time the symptoms show up, the protozoa has done much damage to the lining of the intestine and dehydration is significant.

Sodium Sulfamethazine comes in a Solution or Powder. On the label it says for Poultry *to control outbreaks of Caecal Coccidiosis, infectious Coryza and secondary bacterial infections associated with outbreaks of diseases like CRD caused by organisms susceptible to sulfa drugs. This also for cattle, calves, sheep and swine for bacterial infections. It gives instructions on the label how to give to poulty. Put it in their water for 2 days, stop for 4, treat for 1 day stop for another 4 then 1 more day.

Amprolium liquid is also given in the water for 5 days straight at one percentage of dilution and then for a continuance of almost 2 weeks at a lesser percentage dose. Treatment can be extended to three weeks.

When treatment has ended there will be a further period of time during which eggs still cannot be consumed, to allow for the medication to leave the birds’ system. If you treat all your birds with Amprol, don’t eat the eggs for at least a week. In Canada, there is no official withdrawal but on the US Amprol site there is a withdrawal period of a week after the 2 week course.

In Canada you can get Amprolium (Amprol) from any vet that deals with farm animals. Go through the yellow pages and call them all til you find a vet office that deals with chickens and livestock and doesn't sound lost when you ask about coccidiosis. It's pronounced cock-siddy-o-sis

You don't have to take the bird in, just ask to go and pick the medication up. Some offer Amprol in lots of bottle sizes. Ask what you should do for the rest of the flock. We were told to medicate all even the layers.

Feeding medicated feed will not cure an outbreak of coccidiosis-there is not enough Amprol in it to be effective.

Antibiotics are useless against this protozoal parasite.

Don't give your birds minerals (especially thiamine) or any other additives or water source while they are supposed to be getting the medicated water.These can be counter-productive, making the thiamine inhibiting Amrpolium medicine less effective

In Ontario, you may only be able to get Amprolium from the vet-no Sulmet. I would advise ordering Sulmet online and having a stock, as occasionally the Amprolium is not very effective.

Don’t brood chicks where your adult birds are or have been-this will give a sudden higher coccidiosis dose if there's any old poop or oocysts they can reach.

If you have to have chicks where adults have been, bleach all surfaces and paint any wood inside and out as cocci can live in damp porous wood.

Bleaching and painting and wooden surfaces your birds come into contact with. Insides of chicken coups and tractors. It soaks into wood and wet bedding where waters leak and spill.

Keep the environment as clean and dry as possible by raising the waterers by having steps up to them that the chicks can reach. Or having the chicks on a ¼ welded wire mesh with no bedding.

Avoid overcrowding in brooders and coops and rotate birds into different areas of your land each year if possible

Change water in drinkers at least once a day.

Vaccination -If buying chicks from a hatchery, buy them immunized for coccidiosis, then you don’t have to give medicated feed. The coccidiosis is a spray vaccine and comes in bulk and is not feasable to small backyarders to get into vaccinating for coccidiosis so most small farms don`t vaccinate but big hatcheries do.

Medicated feed- Feeding medicated feed with added Amprolium will take some of the worry away, and is only necessary for non Cocci vaccinated birds.

Some people put preventative coccidostat medicine in the water as well as feed medicated chick starter. Occasionally in a hot damp year, chicks can still get damaging coccidiosis when eating medicated food.

I really hope this helps anyone out there with this common problem. It is worrying and upsetting when chicks die. You need to know what is happening to prevent further losses. Try not to feel bad, this is more common than you think. Acting quickly is the key, then prevention in the future.