What is Coccidiosis and how is it treated?
Coccidiosis is a disease caused by nematodes called coccidia. It affects the caecal tubes in the chicks’ gut and if left untreated, is always fatal. There are nine different coccidia, which can cause death in chickens. In their day to day life, chickens pick most of these up in small doses which allows them to make antibodies against them. However, if they take in large quantities of a coccidia they have not yet been exposed to, then they get sick and die. The more of these different coccidia a chick can be exposed to in small amounts, the safer and better protected they are. Coccidiosis is treated using the sulpha drugs like Sulphaquinoxaline. I find it best NOT to put it in their water (as the instructions say), but rather to dilute it 50/50 with water and squirt 0.2ml down the throat of each chick (the bigger the chick, the more you can give). The water method is unreliable as there is no guarantee that every chick will get the medication, in fact some chicks will rather die than dr
