Pale comb, reduced egg laying, possible diarrhea.

[3H Homestead]

I've had chickens for a little over a year now. So far, my chickens have been fairly healthy. I have 3 Copper Marans I got last spring, and while all my other chickens were molting, these 3 ladies were laying solidly. Then I noticed a little over a week ago that only 1 of the 3 is still laying. I started noticing that 2 of them have pale combs and one even has some feathers missing on the back of get neck. I did a vent check this morning on one of the poor looking Marans and found nothing. It looks like the feathers missing on the neck may be due to pecking, probably my rooster getting a little feisty, however, I still can't figure out what's going on. I have noticed some soft stools around the pen & coop, but have not been able to figure out who it's coming from. Stools are not discolored, but look softer than cloacol stool. No real abnormal colors to the watery stool/diarrhea, somewhat greenish - which my chickens have always had. So now I've figured out that she more than likely does not have external parasites, but how do I diagnose and potentially treat internal parasites? Is this what I'm dealing with? Help!

 

[tanchick]

You definitely want to deworm them if you haven’t already. I’m not sure where you live for what is available to you. Different wormers treat parasites. They can come in different forms as well. Some in powder form to sprinkle, some mixed into pellets, liquid to put in their water etc.

Unless you’ve seen worms in their poo you might not know what worms you’re dealing with.

Please give this link a read it’s helpful in explaining different worms and their treatment. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/chicken-wormers/

 

[Eggcessive]

What part of the world are you in? Many hens take a break laying in winter when daylight hours are less than 12 hours per day. when not laying they may have paler combs. Love them over for lice or mites on the skin under vents and elsewhere on skin. Have you noticed any tails in the down position rather than upright? What are you feeding? Have you checked the crop to see it is emptying by early morning? Pictures are always welcome. If concerned about worming, you can have a vet test for worms, or go ahead and use Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer. Let us know which and I can get directions.

 

[3H Homestead]

You definitely want to deworm them if you haven’t already. I’m not sure where you live for what is available to you. Different wormers treat parasites. They can come in different forms as well. Some in powder form to sprinkle, some mixed into pellets, liquid to put in their water etc.

Unless you’ve seen worms in their poo you might not know what worms you’re dealing with.

Please give this link a read it’s helpful in explaining different worms and their treatment. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/chicken-wormers/

Thank you!

 

[3H Homestead]

What part of the world are you in? Many hens take a break laying in winter when daylight hours are less than 12 hours per day. when not laying they may have paler combs. Love them over for lice or mites on the skin under vents and elsewhere on skin. Have you noticed any tails in the down position rather than upright? What are you feeding? Have you checked the crop to see it is emptying by early morning? Pictures are always welcome. If concerned about worming, you can have a vet test for worms, or go ahead and use Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer. Let us know which and I can get directions.

Thank you! I am in southern Colorado. Most of my birds have been molting since October, these hens just started laying in October. I'm fairly aware of what to look for in molting stages. I will take a stool sample to my vet and see what their results and recommendations are. I have one anti-parasitic, but not fenbendazole, which if these girls have the parasite I think they have, I am reading that would be best recommendation. I prefer not to worm unless absolutely necessary and my vet's office is really good about getting results fast and giving recommendations fast. Thank you all for your suggestions!

 

[3H Homestead]

OK, I need confirmation before I attempt any treatment. Finally got some goat Safe-guard and was all geared up and ready to treat my chicken. Unfortunately, I have not been able to come across any fresh diarrhea to send to my vet for a fecal check. As a matter of fact, after doing a thorough check of the coop (had a major snowstorm yesterday, so they all hunkered down in coop all day yesterday and are only coming out in short spurts today), I'm not seeing any new diarrhea at all. So, I pulled my most concerned chicken out of coop and hung out with her until she pooped, and saw she had a good, solid poop I've also noticed that none of my chickens are isolating themselves, they all still have a good appetite, all are still drinking normally, and this particular chicken's crop is soft and full. So upon further inspection, I think I may be dealing with late season, young chicken molting? First & second pic are of the chicken I'm concerned about. Third picture is another maran that's the same age as first, whom I'm certain is my only maran laying at the moment. Her comb and wattle are nice and bright red, beautiful, etc.

 

[Eggcessive]

Any droppings will do for a fecal float. The thought is to get some from several birds and mix them up inside a ziplock bag. Your vet also needs to be willing to do a fecal float, so call ahead. I would say 99% of us just worm without getting a fecal float. Some also have said here that fecal floats can come back negative for worm eggs, even if you can see roundworms in the droppings occasionally. The good thing about SafeGuard and Valbazen, is that they kill worms over several days, and pretty safe.

 

[3H Homestead]

ny droppings will do for a fecal float. The thought is to get some from several birds and mix them up inside a ziplock bag. Your vet also needs to be willing to do a fecal float, so call ahead. I would say 99% of us just worm without getting a fecal float. Some also have said here that fecal floats can come back negative for worm eggs, even if you can see roundworms in the droppings occasionally. The good thing about SafeGuard and Valbazen, is that they kill worms over several days, and pretty safe.

I live in a rural farming area. I know my vet does fecal exam for goats, and I've seen chickens in the vet's office before, so I would assume they'd do a fecal float for chickens as well, but I'd definitely ask before bringing chicken feces in to them Thanks for letting me know any fecal would work. I decided against giving treatment today. I know when it comes to treating for parasites, if over treated, the parasites build a tolerance to the treatment, so I'm going to continue keeping an eye on all my ladies and hold off on treatment for now. I'm really starting to think the wonky weather is causing a weird delayed molt. When I was holding my chicken, feathers were kinda just flying, like they do during molting season and with her not isolating and continuing to eat and drink and no soft belly and no hardness near her vent and no muck butt, I'm really leaning more toward molting than parasites.