3 problems: worms, mites and lice all at the same time?

[lalaland]

Sweet pea is the boss of the group, and chases others away from treats.

I have vetRx on hand (didn't take care of the scaly leg mites) but I'll try it. Do you drop it into the nares or just nearby? Also will try to get it into her mouth, but I live alone and am not confident of my ability to restrain her, get her in the right position, and treat.

I'll add the cod liver oil.

layer mash is 16%, but I do give them yogurt/cottage cheese once a week or so. She gets the biggest share. I was boosting the chicks with sunflower seed chips because of a feather picking problem with a bully chick, and I can keep doing that to get more protein. I can start giving her scrambled eggs, too. And I will look to see if there are higher protein layer feeds around here.

Oyster shell is crushed, and free fed. I'll add some of the oyster "flour" into the yougurt so she gets it .

I give my cats tumeric, so no problem to add to the chickens, and I'll try the cayenne.

Keeping her calm - well, I got rid of one rooster, but I've noticed she does get occasionally chased by the remaining rooster. I've been thinking about rehoming him since one of the chicks is a barred rock rooster, and I'ld rather have chicks from him than this rooster who is featherfooted. So that would help.

She was stressed by the chicks sharing the coop, which started a few months ago, but is resigned to it now. I sure stressed her this morning with the dusting! and that WAS some heavy handling - I've avoided handling her much in the past because it increases her heavy breathing,which probably made this morning all the more traumatic.

I'm picking up the wazine tomorrow - I just like the idea of the gentler worming first, especially with her poor health.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to give such thorough advice. Will keep everyone updated on progress.

 

[threehorses]

LOl on Sweetpea being the boss. But... she's "Sweetpea"!

I'd have never have guessed.

And yes - VetRx won't at all treat scaley legs. but ivermectin will, and then using vetrx afterwards to dress the legs can help keep things away. On the nares I use a qtip and swab them. same with the roof of the mouth. I mix a number of drops of VetRx with the same number of drops of very very hot water. Stirring emulsifies the VetRx oil into the water (like salad dressing) and cools it to warm. Then dip each new q-tip end in the VetRx and swab the nares, press into the roof of the mouth -the cleft there.

The yogurt/CC sounds great. SS chips are good, too - so that's really good stuff. All that you're doing should be fine and I suspect maybe she's using the extra proteins to fight her respiratory (???) that she has.

I'm glad to hear about the tumeric and your cat, and now I'm intrigued - why do you use it for them? I have a cat that has chronic sniffles and I never thought about using it for them. thank you!!

Stress is a funny thing with chickens. The older I get, the more I watch them and the more I learn that such dispositions really effect a lot in the flock - their health, production, weight, etc. I hadn't really consciously thought about it until I started reading a very old book, "Poultry Culture". I had heard mention of leghorns being more flighty and also less fat, but never really put the two together. This year I had a very nervous chick, pullet, who came with pasty vent. She really opened up my thinking on the more delicate and/or nervous or worrisome birds and how that effects everything they do. By putting her in a more calm environment she came from behind in the flock and now is the first pullet to mature, something I'd never have expected. I'm going to keep looking into this aspect of poultry keeping as I think a bird expends a lot of energy (read as food, building blocks of health) on worry.

Stress makes us ill - why not them? I know it effects production. Anyway that's my little speech for the day. lol

Just think about it. I can tell by reading your post that you're the sort that has a certain type of good instincts about things. It's the way you point certain things out that might to others seem irrelevant (though they're far from). Look at what's going on, and then listen quietly for that first little voice that says something. I'd love to hear what you come up with.

And honestly - some things they just have to get over. We can't totally baby them but there are also ways to get them to feel more safe and settled in situations that previously disturbed them.

As far as handling her, I'd do the opposite of avoiding it. I'd start it daily and then when you pick her up, just sit in a lawn chair and talk quiet to her. Handling is something she needs to get a little more used to. I find that if I do that, my moving around the coop disturbs them less. They'r enot so worried that I'm going to pick them up and wring their necks (which is what they sometimes act like I do frequently! /sigh). That makes an overall peace within them, and their health reflects it. (It also makes it easier to find things earlier, weight changes etc - and then some of them decide to become lap chickens - a bonus!)

And I'm glad you understand my philosophy on worming. Worming is always a stress. And I've heard of many birds (and other animals) who were wormed heavily the first time, and they just suffered. It makes so much sense once you know the reasoning to do it the other way. It does to me, anyway.

As much as you say you appreciate my advice, I dearly appreciate your listening to it and giving it a chance. Thank you. Please do update, as now I'm going to be wondering what's happening with bossy Miss Sweetpea!

Thank you!

 

[lalaland]

the funny thing is that after tackling sweet pea this morning and dusting her, she wasn't as flighty around me this evening when I went to give them their nightly scratch. Usually she stays back from me, but tonight she was right up there with me!

I'm making 7 day sweet pickles, and between tracking the tasks on those days and the tasks on the chicken list, I'm wiped out.

thanks for the hints about how to apply vetrx - we'll see how it goes with her - she doesn't sound congested, more as if her lungs are compressed. I worry about ascites, probably because I had a hen with it before - and it is associated with reproductive probs and respiratory distress. But she doesn't look or feel like balloon belly.

Night!
Rebecca

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Whoa whoa whoa - 7 day sweet pickles? I'm intrigued!

I'm glad to hear she came up to you today after the dusting. That's wonderful! I guess she learned you weren't going to make supper with her after all. Silly hens!

I'm glad you're checking her abdomen carefully - that can be very important. Interesting about lung compression - can you please explain why you feel that way? Well, after you get a nice break and some rest, if you wouldn't mind please.

 

[lalaland]

I am never ever going to make these pickles again. you know, you can do dill pickles so easily and in ONE day. I jsut had a craving for sweet pickels, and frosts killed of my cuke plants, so when I saw this bushel of tiny pickling cukes, I went for it.

just finished tonight.

feed store is out of wazine, it should be in tomorrow. So, I still have that to do.

compressed lungs - I'm just trying to come up with reasoning as to why she is having problems breathing - her eyes and nares are clear. Seems like she is short of breath? can't get air in? her clacking is a loud sound, and it isn't every night. she is sucking air in so hard her feathers around her neck/her skin sucks in and out, her whole body moves.

She did have a hard time this winter and I wondered if the coop was too dusty for her, so I cleaned it (it had gotten bad because of chicks brooding in there) and her breathing did ease.

am falling asleep, will try to be more coherent tomorrow.

 

[SweetieBirds]

This has been a very helpful thread for me today. I was looking all over for a de-worming regiment I could use on our flock. I'm south of Houston & it seems like we deal with more parasites than most due to our extended heat & humidity.