Blood in poop. Bright red blood splat!

[Cottage843]

if anyone else can help?
I have some almost 11 week old hens. No vaccines and no medicated feed. No one is acting ill. I’ve always added a bit of apple cider vinegar to their water since they were 3 days old. Today I saw a bright red splat of blood in the coop as well as other liquidy poop with spots of blood elsewhere in the coop. Ive been reading here, so if it’s coccidiosis and I buy some corid today and put it in all the water sources, can that hurt the healthy hens? I’m not sure which hen or hens passed the blood. If it’s not coccidiosis can the corid hurt them or what else could possibly cause the blood? And follow up I should know about after adding the corid?
please advise? Thank you.

 

[DobieLover]

Do you have pictures of the bloody poop?
I'd go ahead and treat with the Corid...just in case. But without the classic lethargy symptoms it's likely to not be coccidiosis.
Corid (amprolium) will not hurt healthy birds. It is a thiamine inhibitor so do not offer any vitamin supplementation that contains thiamine during treatment.
I would also discontinue the ACV in the water. Only the Corid water should be offered during treatment.
Have you checked your pullets for vent pecking damage?
What are you feeding?
How much space do they have?

 

[coach723]

Some strains are more virulent than others, and they also tend to be very good at hiding illness until it's really bad, so I agree I would treat with Corid asap.
It will not do any harm to any of them. At 11 weeks they are pullets, not hens (not till they are a year old), and coccidiosis is really common in chicks.
Unless they have access to berries or something else that could resemble blood in droppings, then I would absolutely treat them.
Pictures of droppings are always welcome, and sometimes helpful.

 

[Cottage843]

No photos I cleaned it up. But if I see it again tomorrow will photograph.
I don’t know what vent pecking is? They peck at each other? I have not seen that. There is no bully in the bunch. They are as a rule very quiet with each other and when going to sleep several often huddle together. (The climate here is warm so it’s not for warmth, it seems they just like to.) They have space, an indoor coop and a large covered, and hardware cloth outdoor area also but I do lock them up at night in the coop. During the day they can go in or out of the coop too. I’ve always bought non gmo, starter feed. Very little “treats”, if there are treats it’s grapes or canned unsalted corn kernels. They do peck at and eat some weeds that grow in the yard that I do Not know the name of. But they always have and this blood thing is newer.

 

[coach723]

I would treat with Corid.

 

[Cottage843]

Ahh pullets, yes. And no berries around. I will go buy some corid and start since it seems it won’t hurt a healthy pullet. My only clue of something different might be that we bought some topsoil to spread around the outdoor area? Maybe something contaminated in that?
thanks for helping!

 

[coach723]

Coccidia are everywhere, and it's possible that the new soil you brought in had a new strain in it. Chicks are most susceptible, but older birds that are moved to new ground (or new ground is brought in) can be exposed to new strains. Bringing in new birds to an existing flock can also bring in new strains if they are carrying them, and the new birds may not have been exposed to whatever strains you have. Birds that are exposed and recover will have some resistance to whatever strains they have been exposed to.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Absolutely treat with Corid. Be extra vigilant about cleaning their enclosure, too, as coccidiosis is a disease of crowding.
Don't delay.

 

[Cottage843]

I clean their areas every day and “scoop the poop” everyday, we use sand so I can scoop with a kitty litter scoop. But obviously some is missed, and stays in the sand, or stays stuck to wooden surfaces, etc.... And I don’t disinfect every day just clean up. But, we were actually building on to the overnight henhouse to give them more space at night. Will try to finish That up in another couple of days in case that is contributing to the situation. Thank you for any and all tips!

 

[coach723]

You can minimize spread by keeping things reasonably clean, don't let droppings build up, keep feeders and waterers as clean as possible and free of droppings. You can't completely erradicate coccidia from the environment, it's really impossible.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coccidiosis-video-worth-watching.1262022/#post-20259051