[Michb]

Hi Everyone

This is my first posting. I am concerned at traces of blood I saw in a poo.

I have had two chickens from eggs, they are now 12 weeks old. They have never had any vaccinations. They were on chick crumb for about 8 - 9 weeks (non-organic) I was told this had chemicals in it that would help prevent coccidiosis until they built up their own immunity. They are now on the "Smallholders Range" of growers pellets. These are organic non-GM.

The chickens are free-ranging in the garden during the day eating grass, insects and herbs etc. The two sources of water provided by me both have (recently added) organic cider vinegar. This has not put them off drinking at all. They do have access to other water e.g a pond and the dog bowl.

The birds, a young bantam cross cockerel (crowed at 7.5 weeks old) and a cuckoo maran (who may also be a cockerel) are in an indoor rabbit cage at night, so I saw the poo and checked it, it was definitely blood and seemed to be the only one with blood in it. I have checked poos in the garden (its a dirty job, but someone's got to do it) and cannot find any others with blood as yet.

Both birds are active, strong and healthy looking, well feathered, bright red combs and wattles and are eating well. We had hoped to keep the chickens on an organic diet, without vaccinations, but their health and safety has to come first.

Please can someone advise me on what the likely cause is and what the treatment should be. My obvious fear is coccidiosis, but their apparent healthiness contradicts the symptoms I would have expected. These are my first chickens, so I'm grateful for any help .

Thank you,

Mich

[joyfull]

Hi mich, have you looked at the poo pages - link below and look to see if yours matches any of those. joyfullxx

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

[themagicaltoad1]

Hi Mich, within a fews days of getting my chicks at 12 wks one started to pass a large amount of blood in the poo. I had great advice from the people on here and was ready to treat for coccydiosis, but by the time I'd got home from work later that day she'd stopped doing it and was passing normal poo again. At no time did she seem ill and it's never happened since then, although sometimes there are reddish bits in the poo but I think that's more to do with something they ate. How long has it been going on for and are you sure it's blood?

[Foxy]

yes, I agree TMT1, it could be just a blip in their digestion, it would be very unlucky if yours have cocci, unless there has been a lot of poultry on your land recently. Hand in hand with bl00dy, watery droppings are huddled, fluffed, head sunken into neck and generally looking very miserable chooks, your growers actually sound rather healthy to me. Keep a close eye tommorrow, if they start to look unhappy then start a course of Coxoid  asap-available from most feed stores. Good luck and we look forward to seeing piccies of your youngsters!

[Michb]

Brilliant,

Thanks everyone. I must admit that my instincts tell the chickens are fine, but I was obviously concerned at finding the blood because of all I've read about Coccidiosis.

@ Joyfull - I had checked the "poo pages", but my chooks seemed a bit of an anomaly as they appear happy and healthy.

@ TMT1 - yes, I'm sure it was blood, I examined said poo thoroughly, there wasn't a lot, but it was bright red, fresh blood. My 11 year old said he'd noticed the tiniest streak the day before too, but neither of were sure which chook it was. We've followed them round the garden, but I've not found anymore blooming poos.

Would anyone recommend treating them with anything other than I have been so far(i.e cider vinegar in the water and I once gave them some bio-yogurt? I would prefer to stay organic, but their health is paramount.

The cockerel(s) will be going to join an ex-battery flock, will he/they need any extra protection for their health?

Thanks for everything,

Mich