De-wormed my chickens with safeguard now one is ill, update with poo photo - Cocci?

Cluckies

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9 Years
Jul 3, 2014
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Minnesota
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Hi, so I de-wormed my chickens with safeguard, now one is puffed up and sleeping and not eating.
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I gave them a dose a day for 5 days, 1/2-3/4cc depending on the size of the chicken. she got 1/2cc as she is small. She seemed fine yesterday (last dose day). Today she is lethargic and sleeping and puffed up. I let them out to free range and she just stood there. then she went to the roost early and sat there puffed up sleeping. I tried to get her to eat mash, she was not interested.

Yesterday I also had to put blu-kote on her as another chicken was stripping her feathers, I also put her hen saddle on her to keep her safe. This has been an ongoing thing so I don't think this is the issue.

Do you think this is related to the safeguard? has this happened to anyone else? I'll see how she is in the morning. I would bring her in, but she is just going to sleep in here like out there, and I think they do better in familiar surroundings with their sisters. Hopefully she is doing better tomorrow. I did put VetRX on her beek and on her feathers around her head area incase it is respiratory. although she does not seem to be having trouble breathing or anything. The feed store dude told me last year that if you see a lethargic chicken to put that on their beak, eyes and some on their feathers.
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I'll be really upset if she dies from this. I don't think my chickens had worms, but it was a last ditch effort to try and help one of my chickens that lays rubber eggs. I was thinking if she was overloaded with worms, that she would not be getting the nutrition she needs. So anyways, I dewormed them all as people said if you deworm one you should do them all. Sorry this is so long, I am just so worried. these are my babies.
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Safeguard is one of the safest wormers on the market. It would take 10 times the amount that you gave her to even see some type of adverse reaction.
From the sound of things, there are feather pickers in your flock.This is one issue that needs to be dealt with. If you're not seeing feathers on the ground, that means the feathers are being eaten, indicating a lack of enough protein in their diet. Gamebird feed should correct this. Give them gamebird feed for one month, then wean them back to regular layer feed to eat.
If your lethargic hen is the hen that is laying rubber eggs, then there is an internal reproductive problem going on and most likely not worm related nor having anything to do with the wormer. There's not much you can do about it except provide comfort care.
IF your hen had an infestation of worms (which you think they didnt have worms)...the wormer wouldve killed the worms causing a blockage in the intestines. This wouldve caused toxic dead worm overload and killed your hen. However after 5 days of worming, I dont believe this is the case, it wouldve happened sooner.
It could be a cocci problem or egg impactation. You can treat her with corid for cocci. Give her buttermilk via eyedropper to coat the intestinal lining to help slow the cocci infection until you get the corid. There's not much that can be done for egg impactation, if that's what it is.
One other thing you need to do is thoroughly inspect her for lice/mites especially around the vent area where it's warm and moist. Mites suck blood causing anemia, then death. Good luck.
 
Thanks dawg53 I've had my hens on game bird feed all winter, just switched to layer feed to see if it would help the rubber egg layer about 6 weeks ago, it did not work. they also get boss and dried meal worms and free range. my feather picker is cluck-cluck, she wears pinless peepers. all the other hens have finally stood up to her, but goose (the ill one) has not yet. I don't believe it is egg impactation, she is 1 year old, started laying last october, quit in november, and has not restarted laying yet this spring.

Where would I get corrid from? where would she get cocci from? I check them every evening and morning when they are on the roost (just after dark and at 4:30 before work), I feel their crops and check their vents for any issues, i've not seen lice or mites.

I'm dumbfounded.
 
Thanks dawg53 I've had my hens on game bird feed all winter, just switched to layer feed to see if it would help the rubber egg layer about 6 weeks ago, it did not work.  they also get boss and dried meal worms and free range. my feather picker is cluck-cluck, she wears pinless peepers. all the other hens have finally stood up to her, but goose (the ill one) has not yet. I don't believe it is egg impactation, she is 1 year old, started laying last october, quit in november, and has not restarted laying yet this spring.

Where would I get corrid from?  where would she get cocci from?  I check them every evening and morning when they are on the roost (just after dark and at 4:30 before work), I feel their crops and check their vents for any issues, i've not seen lice or mites.

I'm dumbfounded.


You can get Corid at feed stores or Tractor Supply, in the cattle section. It usually comes in a liquid or a powder mix. I only know the dosage for the liquid which is 9.5 ml per gallon water for 5 days, change water daily. I'm sure the dosage for the powder mix can be found here by a search.
I have a couple of hens that lay thin shelled eggs to shelless eggs. They don't eat much layer feed I guess and they won't eat the oyster shell. They also free range. So, when they are near me and I can grab them, I give them half a calcium pill. Works like a charm. I will get shelled eggs from them for a couple of days before it's time for another pill. Not a practical solution for most people as they don't have the time, but keep some in your pocket and catch them on the roost at night and pop one in the back of the mouth and see if it works. I used half of a Citracal tablet, but I'm sure most any calcium pill would work.
 
Thanks, I'll run up to the tractor supply, they open at 8. I'm so scarred, she is just sleeping. I brought her in the house and gave her 10cc of water with a dropper, 1/2 cc at a time. When I get the corid i'll mix it with the water like you said then give her 10cc every hour or two I suppose...
 
OK, ran to tractor supply, they only had corid powder, got that, put it in one gallon of water mixed with 3/4 tsp of powder from another thread. But here I did get a poo sample photo. first time she poo'd while in the separate cage. she is still just sleeping. I gave her the corid mixed with water, about 10ml 1/2 ml at a time by syringe. she had enough energy to put up a fight here and there. Hope this starts working fast. Does anyone know about how long it takes before I see any improvement? I figure i'll give her the meds once every hour or so...

 
Well, it is going ok. she doesn't seem to be getting worse, kinda just hanging steady, very sleepy still, not much noise, very raspy peep if she says anything at all. I'm able to get her to drink the medicine water by lifting it up to beak height and putting her beak in it, a couple times she drank on her own when I lifted the bowl. She also took about 4 tastes of some babyfood sweet potato I have down in her pen, I lifted that as well, then she took those bites, I left it in there incase she starts feeling better and want something more to eat, I also have the water solution in the pen incase she is thirsty between hourly dosings. but so far she just sleeps and doesn't move between waterings. I have a heat lamp on her and put a seedling mat under her under some paper towels. the temp says it is about 75 where she is located with the heat lamp, I didn't want to over heat her. fingers crossed...
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Well, it is going ok. she doesn't seem to be getting worse, kinda just hanging steady, very sleepy still, not much noise, very raspy peep if she says anything at all.  I'm able to get her to drink the medicine water by lifting it up to beak height and putting her beak in it, a couple times she drank on her own when I lifted the bowl.  She also took about 4 tastes of some babyfood sweet potato I have down in her pen, I lifted that as well, then she took those bites, I left it in there incase she starts feeling better and want something more to eat, I also have the water solution in the pen incase she is thirsty between hourly dosings.  but so far she just sleeps and doesn't move between waterings. I have a heat lamp on her and put a seedling mat under her under some paper towels. the temp says it is about 75 where she is located with the heat lamp, I didn't want to over heat her.  fingers crossed... :fl


Well, if it's that, and she is getting enough medicated water, you should see some improvement in a few days. If she is egg bound, or an egg busted in her(which may be more likely if she was laying shelless eggs), she may not make it. A busted egg inside causes infection that would take some antibiotics to help recover from that. Closed eyes usually indicates pain. All I can see from the poo sample is she isn't eating much. Something does look yellow in that though. I don't think it would hurt to give her a calcium pill. Make sure she isn't exposed to extra lighting. You don't want to fire up the egg laying factory right now. If she is in pain you can give her a half a baby asprin maybe twice a day. Wouldn't do it too many days though.
 
Sorry this is confusing, This isn't the chicken with the egg laying problem. Baby had the shell less eggs, this is goose. She hasn't laid an egg since November, so no, no egg issue with her other than she hasn't started back up laying yet...
 
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Well, she ate alot more sweet potato baby food, loves that, i'll have to get more. she ate some crumble wet with her medicine water, a couple sips of yogurt. now to bed. we'll see what happens tomorrow. Thanks for your help everyone. I sure hope she gets better, her poo is still bright yellow, with just a small amount of green in it.
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her crop feels really soft and squishy, I don't know if it is because i've been pushing liquids all day or if she has sour crop. i'll check it in the morning.

I should add it wasn't like that this morning...
 
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