Farmers breeding turkeys know that they are exposed to various diseases. One of them is coccidiosis. About what it is and how to deal with it, we will tell in this article.
What is coccidiosis
Coccidiosis is an infectious disease that affects poultry, especially young animals. It is caused by unicellular bacteria - coccidia, which spread very quickly in the body of birds, causing intestinal upset and lack of appetite. Each type of poultry is affected by its bacteria. It means that turkeys from geese or chickens from ducks cannot be infected.
Read about how coccidiosis in chickens.
How does the infection occur?
Particularly susceptible to coccidiosis turkey poults aged from 7 days to 4 months. Infection can occur for various reasons, most often due to problems in keeping birds:
- poor quality or expired feed;
- stale water in drinking bowls;
- improper diet;
- overcrowding of the house;
- unsanitary conditions;
- heat and humidity lead to the proliferation of bacteria.
To avoid contamination, poults must be fed with properly balanced fresh food and kept in appropriate conditions. The most frequent cases of the disease occur in the spring and autumn periods.
Did you know? A turkey makes one pecking movement per second, therefore, in 1 minute it can eat up to 60 grains. Their stomach digests even glass.
How manifest
To detect the disease in time, it is necessary to closely monitor the chicks. The disease affects the gastrointestinal tract of chicks. Clinical symptoms appear within a week. The diagnosis is made by a veterinarian, based on the following symptoms:
- loss of appetite;
- for no apparent reason turkeys gather in a heap and are drawn to the heat;
- manifested depression in the form of drowsiness and lethargy;
- the chicks look disheveled and squeak plaintively;
- the bird suffers from thirst;
- there is a digestive upset in the form of diarrhea with blood.
Due to the high rate of reproduction of coccidia, more than one third of poults suffer in acute form. The adult bird tolerates the disease more easily, while in chicks the mortality rate can exceed 50%, therefore, it is necessary to make a diagnosis in time and start treatment.
Learn how to treat diarrhea in turkey poults.
How to treat
Antibiotics are used in the treatment of the disease. Most often, the emphasis is on water-soluble drugs, as the birds have no appetite, and thirst increases. Such drugs include Baycox, Amprolium, Koktsidiovit, Solikoks. Zoalen, Diacox, Monlar, Coxicane or Sulfadimethoxine are also used for treatment. They are mixed with feed and give turkeys. The course of treatment should appoint a veterinarian. All recommendations should be strictly followed so that the bird does not die. 
"Amprolium"
At 1 kg of feed it is added 0.25 g. The treatment lasts about a week.
"Koktsidiovit"
It is used from 7 to 10 weeks for prophylactic purposes, and per 1 kg of feed is mixed by 0.145 g.
"Zoalen"
The drug is used for both prevention and treatment. In the first case, 0.125 g is added to 1 kg of feed and given to the bird for 2 months. In the second case, a solution is prepared at the rate of 0.37 g per 1 liter of water, birds are drunk from 5 to 7 days. The substance is rapidly excreted from the body.
Check out the common turkey disease.
Baycox
The medicine is diluted with water (1 ml per 1 l) and the turkeys are watered from 2 to 5 days. "Baykoks" quickly acts on all types of coccidia. It goes well with all drugs and feed. 
"Solikoks"
The aqueous solution is prepared at the rate of 2 ml of "Solicox" in 1 liter of water. Feeding is carried out within 2 days. This substance belongs to low-toxic, but having a wide spectrum of action.
Check out the details of the use of drugs for the treatment of coccidiosis: "Baykoks" and "Solikoks".
"Diakoks"
The substance is used for the purpose of prophylaxis from the first days of life up to two weeks of age. On 1 kg of feed add 1 mg of "Diacox".
"Monlar 10%"
This is a drug made in Slovenia. The powder is insoluble in water, therefore it is mixed into the food according to the instructions. It is combined with many drugs. Excreted in the feces.
"Koksitsan 12%"
Substance is used in the preventive purposes. It does not dissolve in water, therefore it is added to feed in accordance with the instructions. 
5 days before slaughter, the birds stop giving the drug.
Important! When treating birds, it must be remembered that coccidia is prone to addiction to one drug. For this reason, it is necessary to change drugs, 1 antibiotic can be used no more than 1-2 years.
Recovery after treatment
Koktsidiostatiki detrimental effect on pathogens, but for turkeys, they are also not harmless. After treatment with antibiotics, various complications can occur in the form of bleeding in the stomach or paresis of the extremities. But even if very serious complications did not appear, it is necessary to establish the normal functioning of the digestive tract and restore immunity.
For these purposes, vitamins and probiotics are used:
- Vetom;
- "Emprobio";
- "Bifitrilak".
It is useful to learn how to breed turkeys, as well as how much a healthy turkey and an adult turkey should weigh.
What to do with dead birds
Sick birds can not be eaten. Dead turkeys are burned. Feeders, drinkers, as well as the entire room is subjected to disinfection. Disinfectant solutions such as bleach, formalin or soda ash do not affect the oocysts of the coccidiosis pathogen. 
It is recommended to use means that destroy spore forms:
- "Ecocide";
- "Virucide";
- "Unpredictable" and others.
Important! The use of vaccines helps prevent turkeys from diseases such as Marek's disease, Newcastle disease, mycoplasmosis, coccidiosis, and others.
Preventive actions
Where turkeys are well-groomed, fed and kept clean, the disease is unlikely to appear. It is better to prevent diseases and carry out preventive measures. For this purpose, the following techniques are used:
- injected into the diet with coccidiostats;
- coccidiostatic agents are added to the chicks;
- vaccinate;
- apply disinfection.
Turkeys then become resistant to the disease for a year. Important points in the content of birds are:- timely change of litter;
- maintaining average humidity;
- disinfection with substances that destroy the parasite oocysts (listed earlier);
- disinfection by flame burning;
- use only fresh food and clean water.
Did you know? In the US, around 270 million turkeys are raised for Thanksgiving. Turkey meat is considered the most easily digestible and dietary product, while in females meat is more tender than in males.Feed your bird a variety of food, take good care of it, keep it clean - and your birds will be healthy.
Video: Prevention of coccidiosis in turkey poults
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