Chicken with crispy, dry feathers.

[ashgrovechicks]

Hi all,

We are having a bit of trouble with our 9wk old sussex. Over the past few weeks we have been treating our chickens for coccidiosis. We initially used Amprolium 200, but found that after we finished the dosage, the chickens didn't appear to be better. Last Monday we started a dosage of Baycox. This really clearly made her better but after finishing the dosage on Saturday, she seems to be deteriorating again. One of the main symptoms that our girl has is that her feathers, especially on her wings and down the front of her neck, are going hard and crispy to a certain extent. I have included some pictures below.

If anybody has any advice about something else this feathering could have something to do with it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

What type of food/treats do you feed?
Can you post some photos of the housing and run she is kept in?
Does she have access to a place to dust bathe - have you observed her dust bathing?

Provide her with her with a Poultry Vitamin that contains B vitamins. If you can't find one, use a human B-Complex vitamin (no iron), crush that up and add it to her chick starter. Add a very small amount of probiotics/yogurt to her daily diet. You may also want to give her a very small amount of Black Oil Sunflower seeds as well (shelled or unshelled). Make sure she has Chick grit (crushed granite) or a source of grit available.

Check her over for any lice/mites - if you see any, treat with Permethrin based Poultry dust or spray.

Let us know how she is doing.

 

[ashgrovechicks]

Wow thank you so much!! @Wyorp RockWe usually give them some fruit (eg watermelon, rockmelon, tomato). We have also been giving them cheese and sometimes cooked rice or quinoa with a probiotic mixed into it. Down below is a photo of our coop and run. It has plenty of space for them to have dust baths. We have observed all of our other chickens having dust baths except her.

The other day we did check her for mites and lice but didn't see anything. We also do not have any grit for them either.

Thank you for your advice in regards to sourcing a b-vitamin or using some black oil sunflower seeds.

We have woken up this morning and found that the feathers down the front of her neck are looking better, although her wings still look rough and scraggly.

Thanks again for all of your help!!

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[ashgrovechicks]

 

[ashgrovechicks]

Also I just though I would mention that our coop is a work in progress and the smaller coop is just where we lock them up at night to avoid predators

 

[ashgrovechicks]

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wow thank you so much!! @Wyorp Rock We usually give them some fruit (eg watermelon, rockmelon, tomato). We have also been giving them cheese and sometimes cooked rice or quinoa with a probiotic mixed into it. Down below is a photo of our coop and run. It has plenty of space for them to have dust baths. We have observed all of our other chickens having dust baths except her.

The other day we did check her for mites and lice but didn't see anything. We also do not have any grit for them either.

Thank you for your advice in regards to sourcing a b-vitamin or using some black oil sunflower seeds.

We have woken up this morning and found that the feathers down the front of her neck are looking better, although her wings still look rough and scraggly.

Thanks again for all of your help!!

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Interesting that you have never seen her dust bathing, it could be part of the problem. Try raking/shoveling up a mound of loose dirt, this usually get the birds stirred up - maybe if the others get excited about it she will join - I don't know - I've never encounter a chicken that didn't dust bathe

At 9weeks, she will most likely go through another "mini-molt". I'm not sure how much of the feathers she has now that will be replaced - time will tell on that.

She still has plenty of growing to do. All the foods/veggies you mention make fine treats, but limit them to no more than 5-10% of their daily intake. You want the chick starter to be the main source of nutrition.

Remember with the Sunflower seeds - just a small amount - the oils can be beneficial. The main focus is vitamins. If I remember correctly B12 is needed for plumage, but a good poultry vitamin should have the B vitamins.

I understand about coops/runs being a work in progress - most of us are adding on, taking down, re-designing, etc. it never ends!

 

[spiritbrook]

Always replace B vitamins removed by coccidiosis treatment. A good water multi-vitamin should do it. Amprolium works by limiting the availability to thiamine to the bugs - and consequently the animal as well. So, AFTER treatment is finished, always increase the B-12 at least by supplementing a week or so. If you it during the treatment it interferes with the action of the drug. If you wait a few days and then replace the B-12 and the symptoms return then you might not have gotten all the bugs. This is why it is important to follow the dosages and go for a full 5 days when treating. The bugs are persistent. Some folks do a intestinal flora replacement as well to get the hen's gut working better, but remember they don't have the same type of gut we have so things work differently.