Silkies: skinny, runny poop, deworming?

Hi BYC folks!

I have a mixed flock of sizzles, silkies, and polish chickens. I've been noticing a lot of my silkies are really skinny. I was given advice to try switching feed from medicated starter to flock raiser in an effort to help keep weight on them while they grew. My polish are doing well, I pick them up and they feel nice, but my sizzles and silkies are still skinny. My worst off are 3 black silkies who are about 7 weeks old right now. They drink, they range with the other birds, they chomp treats and dust bathe like everyone else. No weird or worrisome behavior and no bloody stool.

I noticed yesterday that the three black silkies are a) smaller than everyone else, and b) they have squishy crops. I see them eat, and I have multiple tubs of food around their enclosure. I can feel all around the keel bone, and when I lift their wings up they have no muscle mass at all on their limbs or insides.

I read yesterday that these symptoms could be due to worms. Today I went to my feed store and picked up some Wazine and put about 3 cap-fulls into their waterer (guessing about 3 gals were in there). Is there anything I can do from here? Anything else I can try? I have liquid cattle ivomec that I give to my dogs for heartworm prevention and monthly deworming. Is it safe to dose chickens with this, and if so, how much? Should I wait until after the Wazine? Will Ivermectin even kill a broad range of parasites?

I also picked up Nutri-drench while I was in, as well as a probiotic/electrolite supplement to give them after the worming is done. I am just worried that Wazine wont help and I am afraid of ODing them on a range of dewormers in an effort to help them out.

Updating:
Everyone got hit with Wazine yesterday in their water and the three bad ones were given a few drops of ivermectin orally. This morning they seem to be alright with only one acting a bit sluggish. I scrubbed their waterer and gave them a dose of electrolites and then gave the sluggish one a few drops of Nutri-Drench. Everyone got a little yogurt this morning, and it's supposed to be cooler today than it has been the past few days. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Yesterday, late evening, I sat with them and watched for droppings. The three in question all had a few decent droppings and then a couple bad ones. When the sun goes behind the trees and they are more active I will go out again and make sure everyone is drinking, eating, and doing good.

I know nobody is reading this, but I wanted to update anyway. ;__;

Today all three are doing very well. ET was out of the coop first when I let them out and Currant even did some wing flapping. Prior to today they were a bit lethargic and laid back all day yesterday. ET still guzzles water, but when I sat out with them again in the evening I witnessed a very good, solid poop. YAY! Typically, before treatment, they would have several watery poops often so I consider this a success thus far.

Everyone got yogurt mixed with Nutri-drench and 2/3 silkies in question had some. ET usually is off in his/her own world anyway, so I wasn't surprised at all. Everyone is eating and drinking. Everyone is happy to romp, explore, and play in their grassy run so I am very happy to see them all so active and happy this morning.

Maligator said:

I know nobody is reading this, but I wanted to update anyway. ;__;

Today all three are doing very well. ET was out of the coop first when I let them out and Currant even did some wing flapping. Prior to today they were a bit lethargic and laid back all day yesterday. ET still guzzles water, but when I sat out with them again in the evening I witnessed a very good, solid poop. YAY! Typically, before treatment, they would have several watery poops often so I consider this a success thus far.

Everyone got yogurt mixed with Nutri-drench and 2/3 silkies in question had some. ET usually is off in his/her own world anyway, so I wasn't surprised at all. Everyone is eating and drinking. Everyone is happy to romp, explore, and play in their grassy run so I am very happy to see them all so active and happy this morning.

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Surprize!!! Someone is reading this. Giving your birds a bit more protien for a while isn't a bad thing but you don't want to do so for very long. For worming, I have used Safeguard goat wormer. The stuff is very safe to use and works very well. The yogurt, again for a very short time but you'd be better off with a good vitamim and probiotic mix especially for poultry. At 7 weeks they don't need the added calcium on a steady basis. Tractor Supply has Sav-A-Chick probiotics if you can't find anything else.

I'm glad that they seem to be doing better and sorry that your thread was missed. Not for long though, lol. Right now there are a lot of new chicken families and the threads are coming fast and furious. Sometimes 1 like yours, will go unnoticed but your updating is the right thing to do. The posting keeps it coming to the top of the pile and someone will get there eventually.

Haunted55 said:

Surprize!!! Someone is reading this. Giving your birds a bit more protien for a while isn't a bad thing but you don't want to do so for very long. For worming, I have used Safeguard goat wormer. The stuff is very safe to use and works very well. The yogurt, again for a very short time but you'd be better off with a good vitamim and probiotic mix especially for poultry. At 7 weeks they don't need the added calcium on a steady basis. Tractor Supply has Sav-A-Chick probiotics if you can't find anything else.

I'm glad that they seem to be doing better and sorry that your thread was missed. Not for long though, lol. Right now there are a lot of new chicken families and the threads are coming fast and furious. Sometimes 1 like yours, will go unnoticed but your updating is the right thing to do. The posting keeps it coming to the top of the pile and someone will get there eventually.

Click to expand...

Yay! Hello!

I will double check for it next time I drive into town. Our ranch store has good variety but sometimes they don't carry everything and I may need to order it off Amazon. What is a good brand for the vit/probiotic mix? The electrolytes are by Durvet and have vitamins in there. The Nutri-drench is more for the weaker birds than the healthy ones. I do have some Sav-a-Chick on hand but it's the electrolytes and not the probiotics. Lol, oops!

They all seem to be extremely happy today. Both of the lethargic silkies returned to their normal shenanigans. They chased the baby Sultans, did some dust bathing, and even had a good staring match with another bird. I spent a lot of time out there today cleaning their smaller yard and working on their feeder and no water poops at all. I am very, very happy! Just hope they can pick up some weight now that their intake isn't flying through them like lightning. :3

Should I repeat with ivermectin again in 10 days for all like I have read some people do, or switch to safeguard in 10 days instead?

Thank you for replying!

I would use the Safeguard. I'll see if I can find the dosing info on it for you and post back here. I've used my own probiotic cpsules, sprinkled over their food, Sav-A-Chick brand or whatever I can lay hands on in an emergency. The wonderful thing about the probiotics is you can't overdose with them, so giving a human probiotic will not hurt them at all. I am so glad they are doing better! Ya done good!

Okay, found some Safeguard.

It is 25g 10% at 100mg/g. Horse variety is all I could find (apple cinnamon, yum yum!) so I just need to know how to break it down per cc. Is this safe for smaller chickens as well? For example, I have 3 baby sultans about 4-6 weeks in age in a grow out pen located in the same coop/run as the older chickens.

They are "due" again for deworming on Thursday (10 days) but not sure if I can do fenbendazole sooner. Will I need to redose again after the first initial dose? 10 days?

Thanks Haunted55!

Maligator said:

Okay, found some Safeguard.

It is 25g 10% at 100mg/g. Horse variety is all I could find (apple cinnamon, yum yum!) so I just need to know how to break it down per cc. Is this safe for smaller chickens as well? For example, I have 3 baby sultans about 4-6 weeks in age in a grow out pen located in the same coop/run as the older chickens.

They are "due" again for deworming on Thursday (10 days) but not sure if I can do fenbendazole sooner. Will I need to redose again after the first initial dose? 10 days?

Thanks Haunted55!

Click to expand...

You're in luck, I did an experiment and 1 cc/ml of paste equals 1 gram which is 100mg of medicine, same as the liquid (100mg/ml). I have used Safeguard in birds that weigh less than 100 grams, so yes, it's safe in young and small birds. Do you have a way to weigh them? I use a digital kitchen scale and dose mine at 50mg/kg by mouth. If you can, let me know how much they weigh and I'll give you some options.

This was my experiment

Weighed empty 6cc (ml) syringe


Filled with Panacur 10% (fenbendazole 100mg/g) paste and weighed. Difference is 6 grams, so 6 grams = 6cc's (ml)