What Is Coccidiosis? Signs And Treatment In Chickens
Coccidia; you’ve likely heard of it if you own any type of farm animal. Let’s take a look at what exactly is coccidia, how to diagnose an infection in your poultry, and how to best deal with an infection.
It is true that coccidia can infect a wide range of animals, especially cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits and chickens. But typically each species of animal has its own specific “type” of coccidia that infects it and cross-species infections are not common. For example, there are about 5 specific types of Eimeria coccidia that infect rabbits, but none of those types are able to infect chickens to any severity because poultry have their own “type” of Eimeria coccidia that infect them. Think of it like our house keys. They all look similar, but my house key doesn’t open your front door and vice versa.
What Is Coccidia?
Coccidia is the common term used to describe a group of parasites called protozoa. If you can recall your high school biology class, protozoa are classified as single-celled animals similar to amoeba or single-celled plants that we know as algae. Coccidia are bigger than bacteria, but still microscopic. Coccidia can be found everywhere in the world on both land and water.
The oocyst is the form of coccidia that lives in the environment. For poultry, the biggest source of coccidia oocysts can be found in the coop litter and run area. Since coccidia can be found naturally in the environment, chickens can become infected when they forage in the yard. A chicken ingests the oocyst, passes into the chicken’s digestive tract where the oocyst then transforms into a second developmental stage and seeks out the intestinal lining of the chicken host. In the warm, moist environment of the chicken’s intestines, the coccidia rapidly develops into its replicating phase and explodes in population, causing damage to the intestinal lining of the chicken. At this point, the chicken may begin to show some clinical signs as the coccidia infection advances. Acute symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, listlessness and poor weight gain may be evident.
Treatment
Now that you have a basic understanding of what coccidia is and what it looks like in poultry, how do we treat an active infection? It’s important to immediately do a complete cleanout of all coop floor litter and nest box material. Getting as much of the infected manure out and away from your chickens is the first step in slowing the spread of oocysts. Remove the bedding to a compost bin or burn pile. As long as you hot compost the manure and bedding and then allow it to set for a year, it should be safe to use in your garden. Also scrub and disinfect all waterers and refill with fresh water. At the same time, I prefer to add a coccidiostat such as liquid Corid to the drinking water. Use a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon of water for the first 5 days, then I switch to a lower dose of ½ teaspoon per gallon for another 2 weeks or so. By this time, the birds have been protected long enough to have developed their own immunity to the coccidia species that they are facing.
Coccidia is perhaps the most common infective agent likely to cause illness in your chicks or adult chickens. It’s not a matter of if you will deal with it, but when. Our goal is to help you be ready to deal with it when coccidia does show up in your brooder or coop. Leave us a comment below and let us know about your experience in dealing with coccidia in chickens.
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Hi there!
My mom loved her chickens. She adored them, she put everything she had into taking care of them.
If you haven’t guessed, my mom passed away. In April. I am now taking care of her precious birds.
It’s been going ok, I spoil them. I give them ice water (we live in Florida) I give them kale, cabbage, carrot sticks, LOTS of meal worms. Soft crickets. Chicken pellets with 16% protein.
I have no idea what I am doing. 2 of my little peeps have irritated bums. No discharge so I don’t think it’s vent gleet. Looks more to me like the others are pecking at them possibly. Their skin is red and irritated, but no discharge. Feathers are missing only on the posterior, and only 2 hens.
I have NO idea what I’m doing. I am going to do a huge overhaul tomorrow, going to scrape out the coop and the run, spray with 1/2 vinegar 1/2 water, let it set.
Replace the waterlogged cardboard on top of the coop. This should take me a little bit I have to cut some up. For shade and dryness.
Then sprinkle the coop and run grounds with diatamaceous earth. Then cover with sand.
Does this sound good? Should I incorporate anything else? I saw something about coccidiosis, I’m worried that this might be the issue. But currently it’s only 2 hens with raw bums, and I can’t tell if anything else is wrong except I need to maintain he coop.
Can you please, please advise me? I love these little sweeties. My mom cared for them so much, I am completely out of my depth. I’ve just been feeding them well up to this point. I realize I’ve got to do more. I’ve researched and spent hours trying to figure out what to do.
Any help would be so so appreciated, thank you!
Tanya, Those chickens are lucky to have you looking after them now. It sounds like you are on the right track! I would look into Rooster Booster Peck-No-More to try and stop further pecking. It’s possible they are molting or have mites/lice (I would look real closely for this as you would want to treat the birds and coop if this is the case). Let us know if you have any other questions or anything we can help you with! Thanks for reading!
Good morning, I am having a hard time figuring out what’s killing my chickens. We had three die appr. a month apart. Then last month, I took a chicken to the vet. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but sent off a fecal exam (neg) , gave her a vitamin shot, some ivermectin, and we gave her batril for ten days. She is doing great now! However, I had another chicken not looking right (fluffed feathers, not as active) who I took in. She was treated the same way as the one who lived, but the vet also noticed her crop was not right, so we added apple cider vinegar to the batril. This was four days ago. I found her dead this morning. 🙁 I called the feed store where I got them, and no, their chicks aren’t vaccinated against Mericks. I’m at a loss. I don’t think it was Mericks because of the chicken that survived. Any ideas?
Thanks so much,
Holly
Hi Holly,
I’m sorry to hear about your flock’s troubles. I agree that it doesn’t seem to be Marek’s disease.
Considering the initial treatment your vet provided. It’s possible that your vet was unsure whether it was related to parasites or an infection.
The medications your vet initially prescribed might not have addressed coccidiosis, but your chicken could have naturally recovered from coccidiosis during the other treatments as well so I wouldn’t rule it out completely.
If you suspect coccidiosis, treating with Corrid is an option. Corrid’s label also suggests a 21-day prevention regimen that might be useful for you for your whole flock.
A fecal test usually detects some level of parasites and coccidiosis, but the goal is to keep these levels in check. I don’t have specific information on the acceptable worm counts for chickens, but it may also worth considering deworming your flock, with various natural and conventional options available. We have a comprehensive blog post covering both approaches.
Lastly, check out our ‘Common Poultry Diseases‘ resource for more insights and ideas.
I sincerely hope your flock improves, and you can prevent further losses. If you have any further questions you can reach out on the blog or our customer service email address – info@meyerhatchery.com and we’d be happy to help you out.
I lost most of my flock to coccidiosis in July of this year. I gave them corid but spread illness spread like wild fire. I had 6 chickens to survive but they never fully recovered so I had to put them down. Will a 10 percent ammonia solution disinfect the coop before I put new chickens in it. Can I vaccinate adult hens and roosters for coccidiosis and maraks disease. I have already disposed of all the nesting boxes, chicken waterers and chickens feeders and chicken toys.
Hi Sabrina! I’m so sorry to hear about your flock. A 10% ammonia solution will kill coccidiosis, but will need to sit on the surfaces for at least 45 minutes. If you are interested in vaccines for adult birds, I would reach out to your vet or your local extension office and they can go over your options and what will make the most sense for your setup.
Typically coccidiosis doesn’t affect adults in the same way it does chicks and many adult chickens can carry coccidia without having any issues from it because they have built up immunity so for the most part we talk about coccidiosis prevention with chicks. For chicks, we recommend medicated feed with amprolium, cleaning the brooder often, and keeping chicks separate from other birds.
I do hope that you are able to find a solution that works for your flock. Let us know if there is anything else we can help with!