Coccidiosis

[Marigold]

I'm watching my quail chicks, well, not really like a hawk, that would frighten them, but very carefully and keeping them much cleaner than I ever kept my babies, to try to prevent this horrible disease. As well as the links on here at http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-diseases-and-disorders.html I've just come across another article and video on another forum which is fairly graphic, but i thought very helpful and interesting. See http://www.easychickenry.com/coccidiosis-in-chickens.html
Just thought I'd post this as this is the time of year when many of us are especially on the lookout for cocci in our young birds.

 

[foxy]

Thank you Marigold, timely post there, especially with so many of us already dusting off and warming up the incubators!
I always get nervous when first letting the young out on grass, and will admit to getting completely paranoid until they are around 16 weeks, then usually find something else to worry about!

I don't use chick crumb with anti-coccistat (ACS) added, would be interested to hear what others prefer?

 

[Tim]

I don't use crumbs with ACS either. It is a selection process in my mind where the cocci resistant chicks should survive.

If you save chicks now with medicated feed and then breed from them later, you are breeding in a weakness to cocci into your strain and your chicks will always need to be medicated.

I think it is becoming less popular to medicate feeds, a number of manufacturers seem to be removing medication.

 

[chrismahon]

We don't use ACS medicated chick crumb on chicks rearered inside either as the chick growth rates are higher apparently. However we do use it on the chicks reared naturally outside as the risk of Coccidiosis is very high. We also give all of our chicks, even those outside with Mummy, natural yoghurt with probiotic at day two or three. This apparently kick starts the digestive system, which is otherwise extremely inefficient initially. Have notice that the first year pullets reared inside start to lay earlier and lay far better and bigger eggs than those reared outside with ACS in their crumb. In the second year it is even. I have also noticed that those outside develop their legs faster than those inside. Also that those outside are socially inept when it comes to integrating them, as Mummy has always sorted the disputes and they can't stand up for themselves -we introduced two outside 12 week old chicks to some 8 week insiders and they were immediately beaten up and hid in the coop for days until we separated them again.

 

[Marigold]

So what do people use as bedding for indoor chicks, bearing in mind the need for frequent clean-ups to keep everything as dry and clean as possible when they scatter food over the floor and then peck at it blended with poo? I have my 7 baby quails in a plastic cage on several layers of J-cloths and twice a day I roll away the top layer of cloths complete with all the mess, leaving 'clean sheets' below. But i think this would be impractical for people with many more chicks to deal with, and also when they get older and bigger.

P.S. i've just had a little panic and ordered some Bi-oo-Cyst and Coxoid, just in case....

 

[chrismahon]

We have them on kitchen roll for about a week -until I'm changing it every hour or so! Then they go onto kiln dried sand (used for stabilising block paving, swept into joints) which gets seived to remove poos and scattered on the lawn when really stinky. Then at about 4 weeks they go onto premium wood shavings. We tried Aubiose but it cut their little feet to pieces! At 6-8 weeks they go outside. By then they are far more resistant to Coccidiosis and we've never had a case of it. They are also being phased in to growers pellets.

 

[Marigold]

-and then I shake out the mess from the parcel and the J-cloths go in the washing machine with Bio liquid and come out nice and clean for re-use.

 

[foxy]

Regarding bedding, for the first day in the brooder an old tea towel, then when they have found their legs onto soft wood shavings, the sort you can buy for hamsters etc. Agree with Chrismahon, find the horsey bedding like Easibed and Aubisose just a bit sharp for the little ones!

 

[Marigold]

So what about densities, ie chicks/ducklings per sq. ft of brooder? and would you start at a higher density when they're small and newly-hatched and thin them out into 2 brooders, or a bigger brooder, as they grow? (Another area perhaps where best practice isn't always easy or possible to observe.)

I restricted my quail into a smaller area of a 2ftX3ft cage, by putting a circle of silver radiator insulation round the area nearest the heat lamp. This made a considerable difference to the heat retained, as I found out yesterday when I removed the foil circle to give them more room. I had to lower the lamp to get them to spread out and explore again.

 

[chrismahon]

Ours went into ever increasing spaces starting with an A4 paper box, various other boxes and finishing with a rabbit cage with plastic tray, before going into a rearing unit outside. Then into the big runs where they stayed. My theory was if they have a large space initially which never gets bigger, as they grow the perceived space becomes smaller and that's when the feather pecking starts. Didn't have any problems until they outgrew the rearing units and went into the final run. As they grew it became smaller effectively and we had to halve the number of birds in there (built a second run the same size, 35 square metres for 12). They were still not happy until we sold 4 and it all settled down.

 

[Chuck]

Non slip matting for the first week and in the hatching incubator as the floor is quite slippery.

Shavings after this.

Medicated chick crumb.