Very bloody chicken dropping

When I went out this morning to let the chickens out from one of my coops I soon saw a fresh dropping with lots of blood in it. These are all young cockerels - 3 to 5 months of age.

All these birds were raised on medicated starter, however I know it's not a guarantee that they won't get cocci. I have Amprol. Would you suggest I treat all those birds now or wait and monitor the situation? Everyone one looks very perky and happy.......

If it was for sure blood medicate them right away. Cocci spreads very fast and if there is blood in one you know there will be blood in all very soon. And once they reach that stage damage is already being done.

Thanks Hidden. I'm on it.

I would treat for two things. One being Cocci and the other an infection which according to a vet is more common and mistaken for Cocci often because of the bloody stool. The medication for Cocci is not an antibiotic so besides Amprol I would also give either super booster or NeoChlor which is a dual antibiotic which covers the respiratory and the digestive type infections. Good luck. BTW how long did you give your chicks medicated feed? Some only give it 4 to 6 weeks but I give it for from 8 to 12 weeks just to make sure that they get a chance to build up an immunity to Cocci.

Oh no, I'm sorry you're dealing with the dreaded cocci. I’m glad you started treatment asap and hope your chickens will be ok. Cocci can be devastating. I dealt with a few outbreaks last year and was lucky I only lost one bird. I was feeding (amprol) medicated feed too.

You know what's funny though. Lily raised her last year babies in the same area/pen next door and NONE of those chicks got sick. Kind of makes me go hmm. I was reading a blog with some interesting thoughts about the subject. To quote:


"In addition to feeding non-medicated feed, while the chicks were still in the brooder, i started giving them small amounts of the soil that my flock regularly poops in - in their brooder, so they could scratch through it and get exposed asap. Also, on the very first sunny warm day, i put them all on the ground in the run and let them "free range." Then, as soon as they were feathered in - and as long as it hasn't been raining - i started letting them run the run all day every day. They've been doing that virtually every day for about a month [about six weeks at the date of this chicken chat post], and i have - for the first time ever - had no outbreak of coccidiosis.

I'm no scientist, but i think a lot of people are going about this all wrong. From what i've read, the way to protect a chick from being overwhelmed by cocci protozoa is by exposing them ASAP, just like a mama hen does.

Keeping their environment perfectly spotless and keeping them from being exposed to chicken poop - even though it seems to be the right thing to do - is what seems to be making them more vulnerable in the long run."

Just some food for thought, please don't take that literal. Oh, and after treating for cocci, I like to feed a probiotic like plain yogurt (just sprinkle crumbles on top to get them eating if they seem unsure) or ACV in their water once a week. I really believe it helps to repair gut bacteria and maintain a healthy system.

Just got our internet back.

Thanks you guys. I'll respond later with more thoughts and responses. Just found that one bloody dropping. Everyone continues to look just fine. I'm hoping I didn't jump the gun.

We got our fingers crossed for you Chicory.

OK, need just to put a few cents worth of information here. Sometimes chicken poop can have alot of red in it. I found a topic, quite a long time ago, that I keep on hand at all times, to show anyone that would take the time to look, all the different kinds of chicken poop there can be. I am going to link this thread to that site, so that anyone that would like to can look at the variety of healthy, normal, unhealthy and un-normal poop that can surface in the chicken world. I really do know that understanding what is normal and what is abnormal feces certainly has alleviated a whole lot of stress with me, when I thought things were not right in my chickens' world.

Have a good look at the different types of poultry feces and see if what you are witnessing may be something similar. You may not even have that dread coccidiosis, just what is intestinal shedding, which can appear quite red, and chickens do it frequently. Hope all is well. Have a wonderful night and life, CynthiaM.

I know this is linking to another forum, my intention is not to do that, but a MUST if you want to see what the weird feces of the chicken world can look like. Hope I don't get my hands slapped

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

Thanks for this link CynthiaM ! Very interesting!

Hey everybody, thanks so much for all your input. I was without the internet there for a whole 24 hours and then too busy to respond as each person contributed. I really appreciate everyone's thoughts. The birds seem fine and I'm not sure what that nasty stool was a result of but I just didn't want to take a chance at losing any of my cockerels that I will be keeping for breeding.

Cynthia thanks so much for your post of the photos. Excellent reference. The stool definitely looked like the cocci photo but the blood was thinner and there was more blood than solid stool. It was also bright red.

Flicker Chick: I understand that suggested approach and don't disagree with it. It makes sense for the most part.

Dan: most were on medicated starter for 8 weeks but some for only 6 weeks. It got a bit convoluted because originally I vaccinated them with a coccidiostat on their feed at 2 days old. I got the vaccination from The Canadian Poultry Consultants in Abbotsford, BC. But then I unexpectedly got more chicks 2 weeks later from a friend and didn't have any more vaccine so just put them all on medicated, including the ones I vaccinated initially as I had to brood them all together.

Right now, they are just on Amprol and I hope it isn't all in vain but at least it's not an antibiotic. I just hate the idea of overmedicating but better that than lose an important bird.

Thanks again everyone. Good night!

If it looked bright red, it likely was blood. Good to go with your gut instinct.

And I'm glad to hear things are under control and you have your internet back. Sucks to be without it. *gets jittery at the mere thought*

Just a quick note, If you are treating for Cocci with Amprol you should see fairly immediate results within 2 or 3 days but if you don't see a marked improvement then it is not Cocci that you have and you will need to treat for infection.

Thanks Dan. Good to know. Appreciate your advice. So far, so good.