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Diseases of chickens cause significant damage to chickens. Diseases in chickens quite a few and most of them are accompanied by intestinal upset. The color of the chick's stool suggests a possible disease. But in any case, such a preliminary diagnosis will have to be confirmed by laboratory, since sometimes a similar diarrhea occurs either when chickens are infected with another pathogen, or with a mixed infection. How to treat chickens needs to be decided after an accurate diagnosis has been established.
It is impossible to delay the treatment of diarrhea in the expectation that "it will pass by itself". Especially when it comes to chickens. If the diarrhea in chicks is not cured in the early days, there is a chance of losing 100% of the young. In chickens, a fast metabolism and prolonged diarrhea, even of non-infectious origin, will lead to the death of the bird from dehydration.
When chicks have white diarrhea
White diarrhea in chickens can be associated with both infectious diseases and non-infectious bowel disorders. Basically, white diarrhea in chickens is a sign of pullorosis caused by microorganisms of the genus Salmonella.
The second variant of white diarrhea in chickens can be with a mixed infection salmonellosis + coccidiosis. In this case, diarrhea will be mixed with blood.
The third variant of white diarrhea: under stress. It is believed that under stress in chickens, yellow diarrhea. But there is a known case when chickens were hot with a white liquid. Treatment, except for the provision of high-quality compound feed to young chickens, was not carried out. The reasons for this are not exactly known. According to the owner, the purchased chickens spent the night in very cramped cages in an unheated room with an outside temperature of -10 ° C. All this time the birds did not receive food. It is possible that all these factors together played a role in the appearance of white feces in these chickens.
Then they use folk remedies to stop diarrhea.
Mixed infection pullorosis + coccidiosis
"Normal" in coccidiosis, brown diarrhea is observed in chickens due to the admixture of blood with the droppings. With a mixed infection at the very beginning of the activity of coccidia that damage the intestines, diarrhea will be white with an admixture of blood. Later it will turn brown. If there are signs of coccidiosis, the bird should be drunk with coccidiostatics and antibacterial drugs as soon as possible. Even if chickens have coccidiosis "in its pure form", if the intestine is damaged, the development of a secondary infection is inevitable. If the chick is ill with coccidiosis and pullorosis at the same time, complex treatment is used.
Signs and treatment of coccidiosis in chickens
Without laboratory tests, the owner of a sick bird has only visual observation and an assumption about the type of infection. With coccidiosis in birds, a ruffled feather. Chickens have sticky, unpleasant down. Chickens sit, crumpled, in one place. Try to avoid traffic. It just hurts them to move. Appetite decreases to the point of complete absence.
Treatment is carried out with coccidiostatics + antibacterial drugs. Of the antibacterials, sulfadimethoxine or sulfadimezine are used.Coccidiostatics are prescribed by a veterinarian depending on the purpose for which the bird is raised. Broilers are fed coccidiostatics, which do not allow them to develop immunity to coccidia. Laying hens and breeding stock are watered with coccidiostatics, which do not interfere with the development of immunity.
Pullorosis
The main disease in which white diarrhea appears. Chickens are particularly affected. Even if bred at home, they can be infected from an adult bird. Owners of chickens most often do not have the opportunity to keep birds separate from each other, and the chickens walk all together. Since salmonellosis in chickens is asymptomatic, young growth is allowed to look healthy chickens. As a result, the death of the entire population of chickens is often obtained.
Signs of pullorosis
In small chickens, infected with pullorosis in the egg from a sick laying hen, the disease is acute. The incubation period for this type of disease is 3 to 10 days. But usually up to 5 days. The main symptoms of this type are:
- the yolk is not drawn into the abdominal cavity. Chicks usually hatch with the yolk already drawn in;
- lowered wings;
- general weakness;
- lack of appetite;
- poor feathering;
- liquid white droppings;
- sealed with dirty fluff cloaca.
If the chickens got sick immediately after hatching, they would not live longer than a day. In 3 days, the chicken manages to eat off and lives a little longer.
In case of infection immediately after hatching, which can be caused by an infected incubator or brooder with already sick chicks, the incubation period lasts 2-5 days after hatching. The disease proceeds in this case in an acute form. Signs of the postnatal type of disease are:
- breathing through an open beak;
- white mucous stools;
- diarrhea;
- blockage of the cloaca;
- weakness.
Usually, in this case, the chickens stand with their paws apart and their eyes closed.
At an older age, in 2-3-week-old chickens, the disease is subacute and chronic. Mortality in these forms of the disease is low.
The main signs of pullorosis in chicks older than one week, but less than one month old:
- developmental delay:
- poor feather fouling;
- diarrhea with white feces;
- in broilers, the joints of the legs become inflamed.
In adult layers, pullorosis is asymptomatic, but with close observation it can be noticed;
- decrease in egg production;
- yolk peritonitis;
- blue discoloration of the ridge (can be confused with histomonosis);
- indigestion;
- oovarite / salpingitis (inflammation of the reproductive organs).
The latter can be found out only after opening a sick chicken.
What to do if chickens develop white diarrhea
Treatment of white diarrhea in chickens, provided that it is pullorosis, is not carried out either in industrial or at home. First of all, clearly sick chickens are isolated and a study is carried out in order to differentiate the disease from food poisoning, colibacillosis, coccidiosis and aspergillosis. When the diagnosis is confirmed, chickens clearly showing signs of the disease are slaughtered. A conditionally healthy bird is given broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Under industrial conditions, chickens are given antibiotics of the tetracycline group and antimicrobial drugs with feed. The dosage and regimen of administration is prescribed by the veterinarian. The instructions for veterinary drugs often already indicate the required dosage.
At home, they often try to use chloramphenicol, as an antibiotic used in the treatment of salmonellosis in humans. But levomiticin does not work on all strains of Salmonella. In the case of chickens, the chances are great not to cure the infection, but to hide the symptoms.
If the pharmacy offers another product instead of chloramphenicol, you need to pay attention to the active ingredient. Chloramphenicol can be used against microorganisms that are resistant to antibiotics of the penicillin group.
Supportive therapy
After the use of potent drugs, there is no useful fauna in the intestines of the chickens either. In this case, chickens can vilify due to dysbiosis. Diarrhea in this case is usually dark yellow or brown. But the color of the diarrhea can depend on the food eaten. If you eat a lot of greens, the faeces will be dark green in color.
To stop diarrhea, which has developed due to dysbiosis, chickens are given fixing decoctions: oatmeal jelly or rice water.
These are disinfectants that kill microorganisms, which are already absent in the intestines after antibiotics.
As a fixing agent, you can give a hard-boiled egg or finely crushed crackers.
Another option for a fixing folk remedy.
Other stool colors for diarrhea
Diarrhea in chickens can be not only white. Diarrhea is also yellow, brown, green, brownish, and bloody.
Bloody diarrhea means a severe infection of chickens with coccidia. In this case, the entire population of chickens: chickens and adult birds, should be given coccidiostatics as soon as possible. The type of medicine and the method of application should be determined by the veterinarian, since coccidia easily adapt to drugs and must be alternated. According to what scheme to water chickens with coccidiostatics, it is usually indicated in the instructions for a particular drug. Treatment regimens for coccidiosis are different and depend on the coccidiostatic.
Yellow or brown diarrhea in chickens, it can be due to poor quality feed, tainted water, or a spoiled piece of food found on a walk. Chickens are omnivorous, they will gladly eat green or black bread from mold. And then they will suffer from diarrhea.
With such diarrhea, first of all, they determine why the chickens have an upset stomach. If it is due to food or water, they are replaced with benign ones. Moreover, in this case, it is better to water the chickens with disinfectant solutions.
In case of food poisoning, these agents "gently" reduce the population of pathogenic organisms to an amount that the chick can cope with on its own. Part of the beneficial microflora in the chicken intestines remains alive and quickly restores the number to the required one.
Worst case: Rainbow diarrhea... A gradual change in the color of liquid feces indicates a histomonosis disease. Most often turkeys suffer from this disease, but chickens are not immune from it. Initially, the stool is light yellow, then greenish and brown, with an unpleasant odor. At the final stage of the development of the disease, the head of adult birds turns dark blue. Young individuals have black. Due to the blue discoloration of the feathered head in chickens, histomonosis can be confused with pullorosis, since only the blue comb remains in sight of the chicken.
Chickens can become infected with protozoal organisms that cause histomonosis by eating earthworms.
If signs of histamonosis appear, give chickens antiprotozoal medications. One of the most common: metronidazole. You can try to calculate the dosage yourself, but it is better to seek help from specialists.
Conclusion
Treatment of chicks for diarrhea of any kind should be started as soon as possible, as often a few hours are enough for the chick to die of dehydration. When diarrhea occurs, the chickens are given fixing agents and immediately contact the veterinarian.With infectious diseases, the treatment of diarrhea alone is useless. Diarrhea in such cases is only a symptom.
