Chicken not doing well

[robinwhiskers]

My 1 year old Buff Orpington hen isn't doing well right now.

Symptoms:

Missing back feathers and tail feathers from mites (I cleaned out most of the coop and spray a homemade mite spray in there daily, the other chickens also have this)

A couple loosely hanging wing feathers and lost wing feathers suddenly in the past few days

She has a scratch along her lower beak so the tip is clearish and weak (she had blood all on her beak which I cleaned, last week I still don't know why but she had blood on her face and slightly on her neck but no cuts)

She has had small worms in her poop every now and then lately

Since yesterday morning when I went in and found that cut on her beak she eats very carefully and has been acting weird, like shivering a little bit and laying down more than usual. She knows many tricks and loves her daily training but didn't care to do really anything today, like a lot of the time now she'll just stand there and not really look at anything. Before her beak got hurt I was a little worried but she was acting totally fine, however since the injury like I said she shivers sometimes and seems out of it.

Today I wet some feed and oats and added cayenne pepper to it for the flock, I know fenbendazole is a great dewormer and I have it but I thought I may as well try this before giving them the fenbendazole. I know most people say cayenne pepper is just a preventative, but many people I've talked to swear by it so I thought I might as well try it before doing the medication.

It's been very hot here and we're leaving in a week for a two week vacation, so I really want to make sure she's okay...plus this bird is basically my best friend and thinks she's a dog. Should she be fine?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Can you share a picture of her beak? Do you have a rooster? Missing back feathers are either from mating or picking form her or other birds. I have started to notice a few extra feathers around, so the fall molt is already approaching. It wouldn't hurt to dust you when with a pyrethrin based poultry dust to help her get rid of external parasites.

I've actually never wormed a single chicken in my 20 plus years of keeping them.

What type of feed are you feeding? Protein content?

 

[robinwhiskers]

We have a rooster, he's been kept separate for a while, he was loose with the hens for a little while the other day but didn't seem to cause any issues. I have DE I could dust on them. They eat NaturesN Best Organic layer pellets which is 16% protein.

 

[Sneebsey]

I'd use Ivermectin in this situation; it'll kill lice and worms all at once. A treatment of six or seven drops from an eye-dropper or pipette directly onto the skin between the shoulders (get the feathers out of the way) would do for a good sized Orp hen. I'd treat all your birds; if one has it, they all do.

For the mites, clear out all the bedding and spray a permethrin based spray onto every surface of the coop, particularly the little nooks and crannies that mites love to hide in. Lock the coop up for a few hours afterwards as there will still be residual chemicals in the air in there; wear a mask while you spray to avoid inhaling too much.

As for the beak; pictures would help, as depending on the severity of the injury, you may be able to patch it with a clear nail polish, or clipping the beak may be necessary.

 

[robinwhiskers]

I'll get a photo of the beak today! I did clean out all the bedding in the coop (the run is scattered old bedding so not too much can be done there) and sprayed down a mix of water, dish soap and olive oil before I put the bedding in and I'm spraying it in there everyday as apparently it will smother mites.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We have a rooster, he's been kept separate for a while, he was loose with the hens for a little while the other day but didn't seem to cause any issues. I have DE I could dust on them. They eat NaturesN Best Organic layer pellets which is 16% protein.

DE does nothing but irritate the airways, the birds and yours, get a product made to take care of the external parasites.

To grow feathers birds need a higher protein. Make sure you switch during the molt if your birds are old enough to molt this fall.

 

[robinwhiskers]

Could the birds be starting to molt now?

 

[Kiki]

No amount of natural homemade spray is going to get rid of your mite problem.
And neither will DE.
I highly recommend you buy something (permethrin) that will get rid of the mites and use the real deworming medicine asap before you lose your bird.

Here is an example of a ready to use permethrin spray, they are many other brands out there. Some liquid permethrin is sold as a concentrate which needs to be mixed with water. Read the labels.

Martin's PERMETHRIN spray

• Kiki
• Mar 22, 2018
• 6
• flies lice mites permethrin

Martin's Horse & Stable Permethrin Spray

• Kiki
• Mar 22, 2018
• flies lice mites permethrin

Permethrin

 

[Kiki]

I'll get a photo of the beak today! I did clean out all the bedding in the coop (the run is scattered old bedding so not too much can be done there) and sprayed down a mix of water, dish soap and olive oil before I put the bedding in and I'm spraying it in there everyday as apparently it will smother mites.

No it will not smother mites in the coop.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have any pictures of the poop with small worms? If it is tapeworms, you would need special treatment with praziquantel or a repeated treatment with Valbazen. But they might be maggots or something else. A fecal float by a vet might be in order.

I agree with OHLD about using a permethrin based product on mites or lice. Can you actually see any bugs crawling to determine which if any your hen has? Mites need treatment every 7 days at least 3 times. Lice eggs hatch every 10 days, so do treatments every 10 days at least 3 times. Bedding should be removed as well as in nest boxes, and then everything including roosts should be sprayed with permethrin if you want to get rid of them. Usually there are lice or there are mites. The common chicken mite comes out at night, so it might be good to do a night check with a flashlight. The northern fowl mite stays on them day and night. Here is some good info with pictures on what to look for:
https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/