Support for hen recovering from coccidiosis

[teach1rusl]

I received a hen and a pullet (via USPS Priority) from a breeder LAST Wednesday. The pullet was energetic and active, but the hen was not. She does appear to be in a late stage of molting, so for the first two days, I attributed her lack of activity to shipping stress and molting discomfort. I had dosed her with Poultry Cell vitamin drench (directly into her mouth) that first day, and put it in the water the following days, plus added scrambled egg to their feed, to try to perk her up. But she was still sickly acting. So I ran a fecal on Saturday, and found a significant load of coccidia, and just a few capillaria eggs. I direct dosed her with toltrazuril/Baycox for the coccidia, plus ivermectin for the capillaria. Maybe overkill, but the next day I added corid to the water. I retested a few days later, and the slide was clean. I’ve tested twice more on subsequent days, and still clean. But she is still lethargic…with only short periods of limited activity. She is supposed to be two yrs of age, but acts older than my 9-11 yr olds.
I resumed the vitamins in the water, and added probiotic powder to their feed. She is drinking, and eating at least some feed. What else can I add to help her (hopefully) recover? It’s been almost a week since she was treated, and I’m not really seeing progress. Would an antibiotic possibly help? If so, which type? I appreciate any guidance/suggestions…

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So I ran a fecal on Saturday, and found a significant load of coccidia, and just a few capillaria eggs. I direct dosed her with toltrazuril/Baycox for the coccidia, plus ivermectin for the capillaria. Maybe overkill, but the next day I added corid to the water. I retested a few days later, and the slide was clean. I’ve tested twice more on subsequent days, and still clean. But she is still lethargic…with only short periods of limited activity.

I'd give her a full treatment of the Toltrazuril (1tsp powder to 1gallon water for 3 days) and deworm her with Valbazen or Safeguard (Fenbendazole).

Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.

 

[teach1rusl]

I'd give her a full treatment of the Toltrazuril (1tsp powder to 1gallon water for 3 days) and deworm her with Valbazen or Safeguard (Fenbendazole).

Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.

The repeat fecal tests I’ve done show the treatment done was effective (based on no oocysts or eggs on the slide/in the sample. What types of supportive care can I do, as she still seems lethargic…??

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The repeat fecal tests I’ve done show the treatment done was effective (based on no oocysts or eggs on the slide/in the sample. What types of supportive care can I do, as she still seems lethargic…??

Worms, especially capillary worms can greatly affect the health of the bird and are killers.
For me, I'd still treat with Fenbendazole or Albendazole. Ivermectin is good in its own right against certain external parasites, but it would not be my choice of treatment for Capillary worms.


Anyway. Supportive care would be fresh food, fresh water, poultry vitamins for a few days.
Buttermilk can provide probiotics and sooth the gut.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not a fan of shipping chickens anywhere, if they are older than day old chicks. I know people do this, but dehydration, rough handling, or extreme temperatures, Did they have any melon or watery food in the shipping box? How long were they in transit? I wonder if they were well hydrated and nourished before shipping? I agree that either Valbazen for 1 day, and repeated in 10 days, or fenbendazole (SafeGuard) for 5 days would be best for capillary worms. Toltrazuril needs to be given in the water for several days. Probios powder is a good source of probiotics.

 

[teach1rusl]

I am not a fan of shipping chickens anywhere, if they are older than day old chicks. I know people do this, but dehydration, rough handling, or extreme temperatures, Did they have any melon or watery food in the shipping box? How long were they in transit? I wonder if they were well hydrated and nourished before shipping? I agree that either Valbazen for 1 day, and repeated in 10 days, or fenbendazole (SafeGuard) for 5 days would be best for capillary worms. Toltrazuril needs to be given in the water for several days. Probios powder is a good source of probiotics.

Yeah…I was torn about having adults shipped. Yes, a cup of mash feed was zip tied to a corner with some cucumber I think?? It was supposed to be an overnight shipment, but ended up taking two nights. The 3 mo pullet was energetic/active, but the hen (2 yrs) was not.
Fecals have been totally clear since about 5 days after treatment, so I take that as the parasites having been killed. Or enough of them killed that I’m no longer seeing any eggs in the fecals (have done three post treatment fecals so far). I’ve been to several health workshops at Ohio State on large animals (not chickens), and am wary of using meds when not needed due to rampant resistance issues on many farms…I tend to translate that info down to poultry.
My turkey hen was pretty poorly early spring, and it was due to capillaria - the ivermectin worked on her pretty quickly. Retest showed no eggs, and she was back to her energetic self within a week…so at least here, ivermectin is effective against capillaria.
Unlike my turkey hen, this little chicken hen is not bouncing back, at least yet. The breeder told me that coop had been treated for coccidia about two weeks ago…but many just assume that a med given means it worked. A fecal test will prove whether a med worked or not. I’d say it did not work on this little hen, so she was shipped molting and with a load of coccidia…

 

[Eggcessive]

Hopefully she will start to perk up, but a lot of hens may have reproductive or other problems.