Urgent Advice needed please - Coccidiosis?

[lonicera56]

Hi All,
I have 9 x 9week old Orpington chicks which I bought when they were a week old & they have been on medicated chick crumb ever since. I got up this morning to discover blobs of blood (about the size of half a teaspoon) all overtheir hutch & run. There have been no signs of anything up til now, but I am assuming it is coccidiosis & have started them on Coxoid, but my questions are these:

1) Is the dose for chickens the same as stated on the side of the bottle for Pigeons?

2) Should I separate the birds that seem worse affected from the others, or keep them together & treat them as a whole? (I realise I need to treat them all anyway)

3) How on earth do I treat my lawn, the whole area inside their little run is covered in red blobs? If I wash with Jeyes fluid it will run all over the garden & spread. Is Jeyes fluid good enough anyway?

4) Is there anything else that it could be?

Your advice would be very much appreciated, as I have lots of little chicks around at the moment.
Thank you

 

[kelloggs]

When you say blobs of blood are they acually in their dropping and its not something else, as it seems to be quite large blobs and for them all to go done together overnight.

The dosage on the bottle is what I've always used in the past.

I would try to keep them all together and treat them all at the same time as they are all sure to have got it to some degree.

As for the lawn not sure what you could do apart from keep all the birds off it for the time being. I would try to put the young ones on concrete or some hard standing, this way you can thoroughly disinfect the ground everynight and see how thing go.

Let me know how you get on but starting with coxoid straight away was the best thing you could have done.

 

[snifter]

Is it actual proper blood on its own? Blood with cocci would usually be in the droppings and your birds would be visibly unwell. I'd be exepcting to see some mortality also if it was cocci.

Could it be a mouse or something running round with an injury and left a trail? If you can take a pic of the blood and we can have a better idea maybe.

 

[lonicera56]

Thank you both for your responses. I suppose really it is blood in the droppings, although some looks like it might be just blood on its own. Definately, not another creature, because I since disvovered my pekins who are in a little run nearby have some of the same. I have taken a few pics, although they're not very good, but you might get the general idea.
A couple of the Orps are looking a bit hunchy, which I think is a sympton, but otherwise carrying on much the same. I have transferred them into one of those dog cages with a metal tray for a base, to help contain any emissions (although it's a bit small).
I've been & got more Coxoid, because presumably I should treat all my chicks as a precaution, as I'm assuming it could be transferred on my shoes - is that how it works?
I rang the local poultry seller & they sugested a good scrub down with Jeyes Fluid. Is that good enough?
I

 

[Anne W]

Are you able to give Coxoid with medicated crumbs as the crumbs contain a coccidiostat?

 

[lonicera56]

I don't know. I was wondering that. Should they be changed over to non-medicated + Coxoid, as the medicated obviously didn't do the trick?

 

[Anne W]

I remember reading somewhere that if giving Coxoid you need to give non medicated feed.

 

[Tim]

I don't know for sure - but Jeyes is pretty strong and will kill most things. These are internal parasites and most of them will not survive for very long on short grass in sunlight. I don't believe they can use an intermediate host (such as earthworms / snails).

The dilution rate of Coxoid to fresh drinking water is 1fl.oz per gallon (6.22ml per litre or 28ml per 4.5 litres) as far as I am aware.

There is some Coxoid information here too.

 

[Anonymous]

Vircon powder which should be available from your vet or local farm store is great for cleaning areas. This is used at various strengths for cleaning different matter so check the bottle. It has been great and we use it in the vet clinic for various cleaning. Jeys is really very strong and is probably not a good idea to use due to its harshness

 

[lonicera56]

Thank you for your responses.
I did find Virkon S at the local feed merchants, but when I rang the customer services and spoke to their chemist, they said that it wasn't strong enough (I don't know if this is the same stuff). They did say that they thought Jeyes Fluid would be too harsh - but I'm with Tim on this one, it seems to kill most things, and I'm sort of wondering - how can it be too strong? Anyway, I took the decision to steam clean the houses with a Jeyes solution, and I've now discovered a disinfectant called Bi-oo-cyst sold by Wells Poultry, which is definately for coccidiosis, which I will use to clean again & all feeders etc.

Tim, I am hoping what you say is right, as I was worried that my garden would be contaminated, and I'd never get rid of it. However, I have also found an article when trawling round the internet that says that dusting the area with Hydrated Lime will kill off any residue bugs, so I am thinking of doing this as a precaution - Anyone tried this one?

 

[Tim]

The strength of Jeyes is all down to the dillution though.

If you look on the side of the tin, you have different dillutions for different applications. Yes, I agree it is strong (especially neat!) and I rarely use it here (about once a year for a spring clean) but it can be used to clean greenhouses / ground too at lower dillutions.

I haven't used hydrated Lime I'm afraid.

Remember, your birds will build up an immunity to Cocci slowly by contact with it- so even if there is some trace of it left, it might be at a level they can handle.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Again. I am very surprised to hear that Vircon S isn't strong enough. I work in a vet clinic and have used this for a long time - even for Parvo Virus! You could see if you could source some Trigene green (from your vet Clinic) I have also used this and is used at home and found it to be great. Just make sure it's rinsed off after it's contact period. Handy to have around for cleaning between hatches in the brooder etc. Good luck

 

[Lucylou]

I've read somewhere about lime being used to disinfect ground (apparently its an old gardeners trick to clean up ground before planting, don't know how true this is) but it also said that you have to keep the chooks off the ground for a spell after its applied. Don't know if this piece of half baked info is any good as I don't know much more than that I'm afraid!