comb and wattles significantly lighter in color, see picture

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

My white leghorn's comb and wattles used to be bright red and in the last couple of days they have lightened up a lot, not red at all. She has also been quite low in energy, laying down for half of the day. There are no other signs of sickness, i.e. no runny nose or goopy eyes.

Her crop feels soft and there is no impacted egg although there were poop clumps around her vent.

We live in SW Florida, but it has not been terribly hot (daily summer showers have begun), and she has fresh water from me every single day. The waterer has never gone dry. Any ideas?

 

[Judy]

There are a lot of possibilities. Could she be headed into a molt? Worms or lice/mites? Do you know whether she is laying? How old is she?

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

She is about one year old, so maybe heading into a molt? How would I know if she has worms or lice or mites? I tried to inspect her skin but it was difficult to part her feathers to get a good look. She did not lay today or yesterday but I'm not sure about the days prior.

 

[Judy]

Lice and mites come from wild birds, and it is easy for chickens to get them. Worms are in the soil and also common. It's really a matter of how heavy their load is. Many people worm their chickens regularly, at least once a year, though many don't. I think most people probably use something to keep the lice/mites under control. Here's just a couple of sources:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5770173#p5770173

 

[Forever Green]

Interesting I would see your post today, given the day I had.

My white leghorn looks nearly identical to yours, mine is 3 years old. She is a great bird, one of my favorites. I've noticed her becoming a bit lethargic, first one into the coop at night, stays in coop during the day (I free range my flock of 14). About 4 days ago, her comb did exactly what yours did in your picture below, flopped to the side and became very pale. Today I found worms in her stool. We have never dewormed our birds, until today. When I picked up her up, her breast bone was substantially protruded and she had lost a lot of weight over the course of the last 2 weeks.

I'm hoping she makes it through the night, she is very weak this evening. I'm feeling horrible that I did not notice the signs sooner. It says not to deworm sick birds, but seemed like a catch 22 that she will certainly die if i don't or she might live if I do. I chose to deworm her and my entire flock (no eggs now for a few weeks, you need to discard them).

I hope your bird makes it through.

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

Forever Green- sorry that it has taken me so long to response, and THANK YOU for writing! After reading your post, I immediately went and got a large cage so that I could isolate my hen and start treating her for worms. This was on Thursday. I used Wazine 17 in her water for about one day and diotomaceous earth in her feed, and sure enough, there were worms in her poop! I stopped the Wazine 17 after one day because it said on the label not to use it on a sick bird, so I didn't want to push it too far. I am still feeding her the diotomaceous earth, though, and I put it in the feed of the other hens, and i sprinkled it everywhere. So, my hen seems to have her energy back, but her poops are still green. No more worms in her poop today, though. So now what? Is it a waiting game? Should I give her more Wazine 17 so that all of the worms come out in her poop? Or was one day of worm elimination enough? Sigh... my first sick hen

. Thanks for your input!!

 

[Forever Green]

So my leghorn is still alive and actually seems to be doing pretty well. I gave her some yogurt today, her appetite is back and she is keeping her eyes open, eating, drinking. I've kept her indoors (not free ranging) and isolated with another bird who I suspected also had worms. I wound up treating my entire flock because I read that if one bird has worms, it is likely that others will. I also used Wazine 17, it said to remove it after 24 hours, which I did. I also noticed that since I gave my entire flock the Wazine 17, I've only gotten 1 egg laid in 3 days (garbage anyway), but wanted you to know in case your birds also stop laying.

Wazine 17 says to repeat in 30 days if necessary, so I wouldn't give any more in hopes the one dose will work. At least that is what I'm doing. I'm not an expert by any means, just going by my instincts and research.

Good luck and keep me posted on her progress.

 

[chkn]

I would skip the Wazine and go straight to the Valbazen.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I would de-worm and de-louse her asap.

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

Quote:
Well, I am glad that you told me about the reduction in egg production, because I only had one egg yesterday and three eggs today from my other chickens (6 hens total) but I have not been treating them with Wazine because I did not think that they were infected (full energy, brown poops, no discoloration in the comb and wattles). So does this reduction in eggs mean that that they might be infected too? Sigh...

Also, someone told me that I can treat a chicken that is known to have worms with Wazine once a week for three weeks, even though this is not recommended. Do what you will with this info

.