Broody bleeding from nostrils, very pale, won't eat - please help me

[caralouise1974]

Thanks threehorses. I'm really struggling with Henny and her food, I'll be honest. She's always been picky, but now she's being almost anorexic there's no way I'm going to get her to eat layer/chick rations no matter what I do with them! She's simply not interested in food unless it's really tasty stuff. I've even tried her with some of her old favourite suet wild bird treats and she looked at me as if I were crazy. By the end of today she was also turning her nose up at sunflower hearts too, her absolute No 1 top treat. When she decides she doesn't want it, there's no forcing her.

What to do?!?!

(And thanks so much for the mite treatment advice x)

 

[threehorses]

I wonder if she hasn't always had something in her that made her that way, a physical cause? Hmmmm. Don't you wish you could read their minds?

In any case, I hope she does better. Do please keep us updated.

 

[mypicklebird]

Hmm- chickens are not in general picky eaters. Some prefer pellets over crumbles and vice versa- but in general chickens are gluttons. I am thinking there has been 'something' wrong with her for a long time, and brooding pushed her over the edge.
Nose bleed is concerning for end stage organ disease (like the liver) which makes coagulation factors. You should consider preparing a brooder for your chick if she does not make it. If she passes, consider having her tested by your state lab to see if you have any chronic viral diseases present.

Quote:

 

[caralouise1974]

Yes, there's always been something a little weird about her. She's had a worrying incident with food before, when she almost starved herself to death pining for her sister (who had to go back to the breeder because of feather picking). We caught that one in time, but only because she picked up mycoplasma becuase she was so weak. If she hadn't got ill, I doubt we would have noticed the rapid weight loss in time. I think its something wrong in her brain, personally - she's slightly mentally sub-normal.

She's actually looking a lot better today I think. Her comb is now back to its normal colour and I've seen her eating again (nothing healthy, but eating nonetheless). The level in her water dish has also gone down, so I know she's drinking. In the absence of any other worrying symptoms, I'd say she's on the mend, now that the mites are gone. Her weight is the only thing now... got to get it up and fast. I refuse to accept that she's not going to make it. I love her too much.

So, so the mite treatment:

Dusting: repeat on chick in 7 days
Ivermectin: do not repeat any earlier than six weeks
Coop: Only repeat at next preventative cleaning

Is that right?

 

[caralouise1974]

Arrrggghhh! DH just came in from shutting the run doors (a literally thirty second job) and we spotted at least half a dozen mites on his arm! He didn't even open the coop, just bent down at the end of the run to shut the door.

Could this be because the mites are vacating the coop because of the dusting? Or are they infecting the surrounding areas and the run too now? ie do we have a really serious problem or does it just prove that the treatments are working?

 

[threehorses]

That's pretty typical of mites. They rarely spend time on the bird, they lay their eggs in the cracks of the wood, they travel in the bedding. They can spend days off of the bird. So to treat, you really have to spray the whole coop with PERMethrin spray 10% or goat lice spray which is a little weaker but still effective - make sure it's permethrin, and that all birds are out of the coop when you do it. You can 'paint" the wood with the permethrin dust thinned with mineral oil or water. But I'm beginning to believe that just using the 10% spray on the wood (up to 3' off the ground on walls, all knots and joints even over 3' tall, the nest box wood, etc) and then dust in the bedding is the way to go.

Mites are very hard to treat - which is why I recommend the thorough wall treatment. It's the only way you'll get them.

In the old days, people used to paint the coops with creosote all in the cracks, etc. But of course now we don't use that product anymore.

Just keep hitting them. Remember, all those eggs in the wood are going to rehatch in 7 days. (Another reason to spray the wood - for the residual action). The pour-on invermectin is supposed to last a while (in cattle, 28 days for lice) but it wouldn't hurt to dust.

The mites aren't vacating. They're just moving, at night, as is their habit.

 

[caralouise1974]

We already sprayed the whole coop, joints and all, with the top selling mite deterrent on the market over here (Poultry Shield) and dusted the whole coop with Barrier mite powder afterwards too. We also changed all the bedding. The chick got dusted, and the adults given 5 drops of ivermectin each. Why aren't the mites dead?

And DH was out there at 5pm, still in broad daylight, when he got the mites on him, so I'm not sure it was due to darkness that the mites were out and about.

What's going on with these mites? Are they in the runs too? Or is our garden infested with them? And what to do about it? I can't spray/treat the outside area too (can I?)

Oh, and I think I've worked out that they aren't red mites, as I squeezed/splatted one and no blood came out. It just stopped moving! Do we need a different treatment?

 

[caralouise1974]

A plan:

We do have a local breeder who will 'board' chickens for £3 per day. I fear that Henrietta is at the point of starvation now, so perhaps if we took her, her coopmate and the chick and had them boarded somewhere else for a week or so, the respite from the mites might be enough to bring Henny's condition back a little so she's stronger and will eat again. (I dread looking outside every morning, expecting Henny to be dead in the coop and the little chick orphaned.)

And, while they're gone, we could really hammer those mites with dusts/sprays and move the coops/runs to another area of the garden.

Does that sound like a good idea? I'm getting desperate now.

 

[caralouise1974]

Henny has now lost enough weight that she's moulting. The run and coop are both full of her feathers. That's a 35% bodyweight loss isn't it?

This is looking bad. Please someone help me... please tell me what to do, and let me know if what I'm planning on doing is right

I cannot bear to lose Henny, not right now, with our brand new baby daughter to care for and the little baby chick to worry about too. It'll break my heart. I always imagined that our daughter would be toddling around the garden in a couple of years' time and feeding Henny and Bella treats from her podgy little hands. Henny is so special to us

 

[dlhunicorn]

What my pickles told you makes a lot of sense... there is also the chance that she has avian tuberculosis or less commonly an insidious internal fungal infestation... outside of taking her to an avian vet I feel any other advice might delay any possible treatment (vet) that might save her at this point.... my two cents worth anyway.