Chicken weak, lost weight, pale comb

[CMcgraw]

Hello,
I am very concerned about one of my girls. She was walking funny yesterday and sort of crouching on the ground. She is usually VERY feisty, but I was able to go up to her and pick her up without any problems. Her legs are weak, her comb and around her eyes are pale. She doesn't seem interested in food or water. I isolated her last night from the group. Her droppings are solid, but skinny with blood in some of them.

Does this sound like a type of worms?

She eats organic grower feed ( she is roughly 17 weeks old) and free ranges all day with access to lots of greens, bugs, worms. The chickens only are in the coop to sleep. I layer the bedding, mixing the litter under the roosts once a week and adding 3-4 inches of fresh bedding (pine shavings) every couple of weeks. The other hens and rooster look great and are very active.

Thank you for any advice. I am desperate! We have 1 vet where I live who deals with "farm animals" and of course, it is a saturday and they are closed.

 

[silkiesforme]

The pale color would make me think she is anemic but that is the nurse in me probably. Could she have coccidia? You said she was having some blood in her stools, I know when we have calves that have bloody stools we gave them amprolium I believe. Then again, might be worms.

Anyone else know? Surely someone else has an idea.

 

[Mstraiton]

I am having the same issues with a 16 week old pullet. I took her to the Vet's only to find nothing specific...no coccidia...but on the "safe side" put her on antibiotics along with probiotics. Added vitamins and electrolytes (Agway) to the water to boost her energy. She is not looking good today...I am afraid she will die this weekend.

 

[dmccann]

I am having a run with cocci right now, i started them on corid,you put in water

 

[CMcgraw]

hello!
While waiting for a reply, I scanned a bunch of older posts. There was one with a GREAT link to pictures of chicken poo. Her poo is "normal" with sloughing of intestinal lining. So, I decided to go over her body from head to tail... check skin, eyes, etc for ANYTHING... and lo and behold she is MASSIVELY infested with mites! Poor girl. I checked all the other girls, and only one other has them. I dusted them both with permethrin, scrubbed the coop, got rid of the bedding, dusted the ground and will dust the other chickens when they return from foraging. The sick one (Laverne) is resting in her private quarters and still looks awful, but at least I was able to do SOMETHING for her. I hope that this is all it is. Thank you for your replies!!!

 

[Mstraiton]

Yes I am treating my chicken with diatomaceous earth (food grade)...because I found her (Gladys) infested with lice. I am figuring her anemia was caused by the lice. Also put some in the food in in clean shavings after I scoured the hen house. I have not found mites. I may have waited too long..she has a long way to go in recovery. I really thought I would lose her today but she keeps rallying. It was also suggested to me to use Ivermectin for cattle. It helps prevent lice, mites and worms and can be applied every 4 months.

 

[CMcgraw]

My little Laverne is pretty much in the same state... no worse, no better. I have been feeding her hotdogs, of all things.... she has refused every healthy concoction I could dream up. Just like a kid!! I finally took a stool sample to the vet yesterday... result: she has coccidia... the vet is supposed to call me later with the type of coccidia & treatment. I am glad that I did this... it cost $20, but at least I didn't end up throwing a bunch of wormer/antibiotics, etc at her poor body.

I know that there seems to be an attitude of just all out dosing of birds... does any one else find that to be weird? I would never medicate myself or children/dog/cat that way. Is it because people with chickens often live where there is no vet to turn to, so the do-it-yourselfer has no other option?? Would love to hear peoples' thoughts on this.

 

[elmo]

I was going to guess mites or worms, and then read on to see you discovered a mite infestation. Mites are awful! Be sure you retreat everything in about a week to get the eggs that hatch out after your initial treatment.

As a preventative, I use plastic nestboxes that have no crevices for mites to hide in. Before I put the bedding in, I dust the bottom of the box with poultry dust. Then I regularly empty out the bedding every few weeks in the summer and replace with fresh poulty dust and bedding. Mites tend to be more of a problem in the mid to late summer where we are.

If one bird has coccidiosis, it's likely they all do or will. It makes sense to me to treat the whole flock for this:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/coccidiosis.html

By the way, I'd suspect the mites more than the cocci for causing your hen's symptoms. Chickens can carry some cocci in their intestines without any ill effects; it's only when the concentrations get high that the birds start showing symptoms.

See if you can tempt Laverne with some hard boiled egg, cooled, shelled, then mashed. It's very nutritious and restorative.

 

[Sweetpeaswan]

Hey!!! good for you, playing detective really pays off.....There's another product out there that
folks can look into...its called poultry protector...it's made by carefree enzymes...you can spray it
on your birds,pen, and coop. And it's not a pesticide.

 

[Mstraiton]

Look into the web site www.carefreeenzymes.com or wwww.theholistichorse.com there are natural remedies for mites, lice and worms. The Poultry Protector product is good to help build up immune system from what I hear...add to the water supply. My chicken has lived for two weeks with me feeding her scrambled eggs and a product called Poultry Nutri-Drench for a rapid rich nutritious supplement. I am also adding a Red Cell product to the water supply to help with her anemia. I ordered that from Smiths Poultry and Game supply. Diatomacious earth (DE food grade) is what I used to rid her of lice...instead of the other neurotoxins. You can add that to the food as well as the hen house and douse her. My chicken, Gladys, has improved color wise in her comb and feet and she is standing more erect with her wing feathers up but still she is not growing or behaving chicken like...scratching in the dirt with the other chickens. How long does it take? So far no mites or worms ...just lice originally and anemia...no worms!!!!