11 rescued hens need help

[hencrazy]

Today I rescued 11 hens from horrible conditions - they are of course separated from my other flocks. These hens are covered in lice and mites. Their feet are bleeding and swollen and many of them are missing toes from leg mites. Their skin is red and they are missing all the feathers on their heads and necks and have bare patches all over. They are all very skinny and have worms in their poop. The first thing I did was apply eprinex to all of them, dipped their feet in mineral oil and gave them a good meal.

I usually feed Layena pellets - 16% protein - to my other hens along with numerous veggies from the garden and lots of grasses and weeds. Should I add anything else for these girls since they have a lot of feathers to grow back?

What should I use in the coop to prevent reinfestation? I will be reapplying the eprinex in 10 days. Think 2 doses will be enough? Any info ir ideas greatly appreciated.

 

[purpletree23]

Make sure they have chicken grit available. For some reason that jumped out at me. They may not have had any at their other 'home' and the extra fiber from veggies and grass and weeds might cause problems. Keep up with the good feed, fresh water etc. Before doing another worming let them get their strength back. eprinex is like ivomec correct? If they have a large worm load their digestive tract could get 'clogged' with dead worms.

Slowly add new foods and eventually poultry vitamins to their water. If you add new foods too fast you might make them sick. Cooled scrambled eggs mixed with cottage cheese is a healthy treat. Approx 1 tablespoon per bird every other day. Don't forget the plain yogurt. No fruit and no artificial sweetner. I would give every other day also. If they won't eat the yogurt mix it with cheerios. That is the only way my girls will eat yogurt. Have to trick them.

Dried cat food has a lot of protein. In a week I would give them a handful every couple of days in addition to the scrambled eggs and yogurt. Not dog food. Different sources of protein.

Their skin will heal with time and when they molt they will be beautiful girls with shiny new feathers. I'm positive others will have many suggestions for you but right now you've done a lot and I'm sure you and your new girls could use a good nights sleep.

I'll keep all of you in my prayers tonight. God Bless!

*&%^%$^%$to the old owner. I'm so sick of people like that.

 

[eggsrcool]

Dust their coop and houses with mite preventing powder and spray it with antibacterial spray for birds. You might also want to feed them mash, or something small and grainy, e.g. chick crumbles. Over time their feathers will grow back! Worm them when possible and slowly add the food you would normally give your own chickens. Supply fresh drinking water and try to keep the coop clean and mite-free. Keep us updated on their progress.

 

[Ms. Cluckingly]

I'm new here, so I have no advice, I just wanted to say how sorry I am for those poor chickens, but they are so lucky you are taking care of them.

 

[hencrazy]

Everybody is still ok this morning. I was a little worried how they would handle the eprinex, but they are all fine. They are so funny. I don't think they've ever been outside before. Once they realized that grass is edible, they went nuts. I was going to post some pics of them, but it's really sad, they look like limping skeletons with some feathers here and there.

? about catfood - I'm assuming I don't need to use the really expensive stuff. I don't think I can afford to feed them the stuff I feed my cats. Since they are chickens I would guess it doesn't matter if there's corn in it.

 

[lalaland]

oh, do post pics, because then you can post the "after picks" in a couple of months.

Yes, cheaper cat food is fine, as is any other stuff like sunflower seeds.

way to go for taking this on!

 

[hencrazy]

Since I'm so paranoid I'm going to dose all of my feathered children with eprinex again just in case. Anyone want to come over and help me catch 40 chickens?

 

[kuntrygirl]

where did u rescue them from?

 

[purpletree23]

Please post pictures. We would all love to see them and their progress.

They just need a little cat food. I don't think it has to be expensive jut meat as the source of protein and not grains. If you don't want to do the cat food other proteins are good too. Eggs, cottage cheese (but not too much because sometimes the chickens are milk sensitive) If you have leftover meat run it through a food processor and give that to them. Again not too much because of the fat etc.

If it's their first time on grass limit them. They will have trouble digesting it. Introduce them gradually. You don't want to overload them and end up with impacted crops.


I'm curious like kuntrygirl is as to where they were rescued from. Did this person have more animals that are in danger of starving? If they do and you don't want to report them PM me and I certainly will.

 

[hencrazy]

I was called by the sheriffs dept. They had to go out to this couples place to investigate a possible horse neglect case. Turns out they had 2 horses that were in such bad shape they had to be euthanized and these poor chickens were in a little shed that had no windows and was filthy. Their water looked like chicken diarrhea. I was actually suprised that they even gave them water since they hadn't bothered to give the horses water for a long time. They suprisingly had a morbidly obese dog - not that they were doing the dog any favors by letting it get like that - but better that starving.

I think for punishment they should be locked in that chicken coop for a while. Instead they'll probably just get a slap on the hand.