Can anyone help me diagnose my hen? With pic

[Peaches Lee]

This is my 2 year old Golden Comet hen, Flaggy. She seems to have lost weight, I would put her at 4 pounds maybe. She has been exhibiting lethargy, slowness, inability to jump, paleness, a fair appetite and her comb has completely fallen over. This has been going on for about 3 weeks. So far, no other birds exhibit her symptoms. I have found no other signs of trauma or apparent wounds. I am not sure what could have caused these symptoms. She, along with my entire flock get layer crumbles, water, and are all free range--they are locked up in the barn at night. I have not been able to see her poop to examine it that I can remember right now. I did deworm her on June 9. I was hoping to have insight on what do with her and where to go from here.



She does her same routine that she always has done, it just takes her forever. Her comb use to stick straight up, now it is flopped over. I haven't seen any mites on her and she does dust bathe. Any ideas?

 

[HappyHenFarm78]

If she has weight loss I would worm her. You won't usually see worms in stool because they latch onto the intestinal walls and absorb nutrients. Worm her with either Wazine or safeguard goat wormer (kills more worm types). I worm all my birds twice a year regardless because they free range and free ranging they eat dirt and plants and insects/worms that can contain parasites.

If she has worms it is likely they ALL do but may not be showing sign since worm eggs are shed in the stool from the wormy hen back into the environment- best to treat everyone. After treating you may see some worms come out in stool- very tiny transparent thread-like or white worms are typical.

Good luck.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Thank you for your reply. I did deworm her on the 9th of this month. I used Safeguard liquid goat dewormer. Should I do that again?

 

[HappyHenFarm78]

Depends on how infested she was. Did you worm everyone? If you see any worms come out in the stool she could have had a bad infestation and it wouldn't hurt to worm again even with a different wormer, but then they should be good for a while. If they have worms, (if they free range they surely do) its inevitable that the ground is now contaminated with worm eggs. Anytime they peck at the dirt they can re-infest themselves. So it may be good to get on a worming regiment. Staying ahead of it will keep birds from becoming ill in the long run.

Good luck!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Thank you very much for your reply. I think though that I have figured out what is wrong with my hen. I believe she is an internal layer. She has good days and days where she could be better, but all in all we are just going to deal with it.