Hen Losing Weight

BayBay Peepers

Crowing
6 Years
Apr 5, 2013
5,156
1,133
338
Wisconsin
Back in August my hen, Supper, wasn't looking right. She was kind of drowsy, but no super lethargic, and had bad poo, and layed a soft egg. I gave her a calcium pill and wormed the whole flock. She was also pretty pale at the time.

Since then she started to lay regular eggs, her comb is back to red, and then egg production slowed down so something here went unnoticed.

She's always been a little "off" that's how she got the name so it's hard to read her. This week I noticed she's acting like she's eating, but only about a quarter of what she picks up is actually being eaten. I did a little test last night with meal worms. This is an absolute favorite treat here and she ran over, but again only ate a few of the worms she picked up. When I picked her up I can feel she is quite light. Now I'm getting really nervous.

I put some vet RX under her wings, gave her some vitamins, and wormed her again last night. I checked her this morning, but I couldn't get my hands on her since she decided to cram her body underneath my rooster. I plan to make her scrambled eggs this afternoon and give her some yogurt. (if she'll eat it) Is there anything else I can do for her? Oh and I looked for mites, because I'm paranoid, and didn't see anything, but I sprayed her down anyways.

Sorry this got so lengthy, but I'm determined to make her feel better. Should I worm her for five days straight or wait a few days and do it again? I use safeguard liquid wormer for goats. Any other tips to help her would be awesome and I'm sure she would really appreciate it too.
 
She's a Buff Orpington. I don't know the weight I'd have to use a regular scale with her this afternoon. All I know is when I picked her up I can feel that she's lost some weight.
 
I would weigh her first, then worm her based on her weight at 50mg/kg by mouth for five days.

To calculate the Safeguard dose take the weight of bird in pounds, divide by 2.2, multiply by 50, then divide by 100. The answer to that is the amount (ml or cc) needed.

A 6.5 pound hen looks like this:
6.5/2.2 x 50/100 = 1.47ml (I would round up to 1.5ml)

-Kathy
 
Ok, once I have the weight should I do this for a few days in a row or do I do it then wait a few and do it again?

And is there anything else I can try in the meantime to help her gain some weight (after she's free of worms if thats the problem)
I'll keep her inside for as long as she needs, I don't want her to get chilled during the winter without any bodyfat.
 

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