Coccidiosis?

[Winderdear]

Found out one of my hens, Août, is pooping blood. Here is a picture:



This was not her only poop like this, there are more under the roost bar where she sleeps. She also seems to just be dripping blood from somewhere, because we found droplets on the floor. I’ve looked her over but can’t find any wounds.

She laid a large egg last night, I don’t think that would cause all this blood but would like advice. She has laid bigger eggs without issue and she was having egg troubles a couple of months ago before she started molting, soft eggs and eggs with tails etc.

I have 9.6% amprolium if this is coccidiosis. Am I correct in thinking the dose is 1 tsp per gallon of water?

 

[Eggcessive]

How old is she, and does she regularly lay eggs? I would use 2 tsp per gallon of water of the Corid. That is the maximum dose for 5 days. How does her vent look? Is there any injury to it? Have you ever wormed her? That can also cause bloody poop. What does she eat, and has she had anything different lately?

 

[Winderdear]

How old is she, and does she regularly lay eggs? I would use 2 tsp per gallon of water of the Corid. That is the maximum dose for 5 days. How does her vent look? Is there any injury to it? Have you ever wormed her? That can also cause bloody poop. What does she eat, and has she had anything different lately?

Thank you for replying!

She is about a year and a half. She has just started laying again this past week or so, maybe 4 eggs total, sometimes every other day, sometimes consecutively. Previous to this she was molting.

She has never been dewormed.

I feed her scratch and peck grower mash, with oyster shell and egg shell on the side. She also forages three times a day. I have seen her eat a dead mouse, and lots of salamanders this past month, but she normally eats bugs, worms and grasses/clover. I or my husband supervise their foraging, so generally I keep an eye on what they’re all eating, but I can’t always stop them from devouring what they find.

I give them all Molly’s Herbals worm treatment (#1 for three consecutive days every 8 weeks, #2 once a week every week in between) mixed into their mash as a preventative.

She is otherwise very normal, preening, tail high, interested in food and foraging. She had one smaller poop more recently this morning that looked normal, but I saw her poop the one pictured above about 45 minutes earlier.

I am giving the dosage on the bottle (1 tsp per gallon) of Corid today to the whole flock, but will up the dosage tomorrow if the bloody poop persists. I’ll continue treatment for the full 5 days. I plan to get a fecal float test done when my vet is open tomorrow.

Hope all this information is helpful! I love her and want to do whatever is necessary to get her better. Right now I don’t have her isolated, because she’s quite a nervous girl, and I think it would do her more harm than good. We’re just monitoring her constantly and removing her poops when they happen so that the other girls don’t come into contact with it.

 

[Winderdear]

Oh, I do plan to isolate her at night when she roosts. We have room in our coop to set up a second roost in a caged area, but she’ll still be able to be close to the other hens and pullets.

 

[Eggcessive]

A fecal float at the vet on some fresh droppings would be helpful. We use Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or the horse paste which are safe dewormers.

 

[Winderdear]

A fecal float at the vet on some fresh droppings would be helpful. We use Valbazen or SfaeGuard which are safe dewormers.

Thanks, I’ll research these.

So you think it’s likely worms? I just read that coccidiosis is usually in birds under 1 year old and during warmer outdoor temperatures than we’re currently dealing with (70°-90°). I didn’t see any worms in her droppings, but the float test should be conclusive on that when we can get it done.

 

[Winderdear]

She has had three poops since with no blood. I’m thinking she just had a lot of intestinal shed for some reason. Will keep an eye on her anyway, in case it’s something else.

 

[Eggcessive]

Coccidiosis is usually seen in chicks under 3 months old, but can be possible in older chickens who may be sickly. Worms and tapeworms may cause blood in droppings. If you ever see any worms in poop, post a picture, but worm eggs are not seen without a microscope. Tapeworms are rare, and are treated with different wormers than other worms. Valbazen dosage is 0.08 ml per pound, or about 1/2 ml orally for a 4-6 pound chicken. Give it one, and repeat it in 10 days. SafeGuard liquid goat wormer or horse paste dosage is 1/4 ml per pound given for 5 consecutive days. Those treat round worms, cecal, gape, and capillary/thread worms.

 

[Winderdear]

Fecal float test came back negative. She had two mornings of bloody droppings, and the second morning one of my pullets had bloody droppings too, but today they were all fine. I assume it was either something they ate while foraging, or just a lot of intestinal shed coincidentally at the same time. The vet said he could give her antibiotics in case there is an infection (he didn’t examine her, this was just his response to hearing she had bleeding but no worms from the vet tech), but she’s acting totally normally, so I opted not to go that route. I’ll finish the Corid treatment, and keep an eye on her and my pullet.

Thank you for all of your advice @Eggcessive! I’m glad she seems to be fine and I didn’t have to deworm her, but I’ll know what to do now if it ever becomes a problem!

I’m also glad my preventative herbal worm treatment seems to be doing its job