Chicken mites and sick hen

[Alpen Way Chickens]

It all started a bit earlier this week when out of the blue one of our younger hens (almost 3 years) started picking on one of our older hens (7 years?) very aggressively. She had never demonstrated this behavior before, but was constantly pecking the older hen and the older hen had a very pale comb as well as a dirty bottom. We moved the older hen in to the house luckily in a spare bathroom and decided to monitor her. She seemed to be eating and drinking fine, but not moving around much and very skinny. Since it was late we decided to see how she was in the morning.

Following morning she was still not moving much and the bathroom was an infestation of mites. Sprayed the whole bathroom down with solution of water, oil and dish soap as per internet recommendation. We then cleaned our girl with the same solution and for good measure sprayed her with poultry spray. Cleaned out and sprayed the full hen house and sprayed the remaining girls even though none of them were exhibiting any signs of mites. Checked the hen house with a high powered light last night and thankfully didn't see anything moving on the white walls.

This morning our girl seemed to be moving around more and her comb seemed brighter. No mites in evidence. She ate oatmeal and raisins this morning and has been pecking at her feed. She seems to be drinking water fine. I'm concerned about her poop - picture attached. Also she is standing more upright with her tail dropped. When we bathed her I couldn't feel any lumps, hardness or blockage.

Could she just be anemic from the mites? We have lost a couple of her sister's to cancer so that's always a worry too.

Any advice would be appreciated. For now we are keeping her separated from the rest of the flock.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How is she doing?

Consider getting a fecal float to rule out worms.
Hopefully you have irradicated the mites. Permethrin poultry spray or dust can be found at stores like TSC. It would be a good idea to treat housing and birds if she had them.
Does she still lay eggs? She may be having some reproductive difficulties. I would continue to keep her drinking and eating. Make sure her crop is emptying overnight. Vitamins like Poultry Cell would be good to give for a few days a week to help build her up.