Debeaking - Does the beak grow back?

[Aunt Angus]

I know this is an old thread, but my Golden sex links hen has been debeaked - and she has poultry lice...I just discovered why she's been laying shell-less eggs...I treated her yesterday and she laid a normal egg this morning. I've since read that she probably got a lice infestation because she could not remove the lice from her body - because her beak was trimmed.
When I got her from my local feed store, she had already been infected with a respiratory and digestive bacterial infection of some kind - the antibiotics worked...and then she started laying eggs (a young hen), but almost immediately started having problems - because of the poultry lice...so my local feed store is selling diseased birds with parasites. She's never been healthier than she is now though - she is a literally a Spring Chicken and for the first time in her life her comb and waddles are no longer pale....

Thank goodness you've got her! Just make sure she's got a good place to dust bathe.

 

[ChickensRsmart]

Thank goodness you've got her! Just make sure she's got a good place to dust bathe.

Thanks AA. She's taken a number of dust baths lately, but now the rain has started - it would be a mud bath now. I applied a mixture of neem oil and dawn dish soap (in warm water) and I tested it first on some of her poultry lice - it killed them instantly. I assuming it was the dawn soap that killed them as the neem oil takes time to disrupt their life cycle...

Anyway, it's too cold to give her a water bath (with dawn dish soap), so I am going to just apply the mixture I made to one part of her body at a time - one part per day...so she doesn't get all wet when it's cold outside...does this sound like a good plan?

I also sprayed down the inside of her coop with the same mixture (thinking it was mites), but then I read that with poultry lice, the problem remains on the chicken - and not their coop and/or bedding? She definitely has poultry lice (Pacific North West species).

I now wish I had also bought the other 2 hens that were with her in that tiny cage at the feed store...they were probably her sisters.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you have a hair dryer with a low/cool setting? I'd recommend a complete bath because washing one part of her body at a time isn't going to do much good. The lice will just move from one part of her body to another, won't they? If you give her a good bath all over, you'll kill all the lice at once, then blow her dry with the blow dryer on the low and cool setting till she's good and dry all over before putting her back outside. Kill all those lice at once and get it over with. You might also dust her good with Permethrin powder, then you don't have to get her wet. If you have other chickens treat them as well, and I think you have to spray or dust the coop also.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Does she have oyster shell available at all times? I did not know lice would cause shell-less eggs, that's a new one to me.

 

[ChickensRsmart]

Does she have oyster shell available at all times? I did not know lice would cause shell-less eggs, that's a new one to me.

Thanks BBH53.

I don't have a hair dryer, but I can keep her inside (after a bath) with the heat on? Use lot's of dry towels...and keep her warm...?

I read while trying to figure out what is wrong with her egg laying that mites and lice can disrupt a hen's egg laying (and even cause shell-less eggs - or no eggs at all...I think the mites and lice might be so tormenting, that is can cause a hen to stop laying or to prematurely lay). And it lists the causes of shell-less eggs and internal and external parasites is listed as one of the causes. Here is the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I thought it was possibly due to a lack of calcium too - and she's had access to oyster shell from the day I bought her...and I can not tell that she knows to eat it either...I haven't seen her eat it - she had to learn from my rooster how to eat a lot of other foods that she's never seen before...it's entertaining actually to watch my rooster teach her. lol

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thanks BBH53.

I don't have a hair dryer, but I can keep her inside (after a bath) with the heat on? Use lot's of dry towels...and keep her warm...?

I read while trying to figure out what is wrong with her egg laying that mites and lice can disrupt a hen's egg laying (and even cause shell-less eggs - or no eggs at all...I think the mites and lice might be so tormenting, that is can cause a hen to stop laying or to prematurely lay). And it lists the causes of shell-less eggs and internal and external parasites is listed as one of the causes. Here is the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I thought it was possibly due to a lack of calcium too - and she's had access to oyster shell from the day I bought her...and I can not tell that she knows to eat it either...I haven't seen her eat it - she had to learn from my rooster how to eat a lot of other foods that she's never seen before...it's entertaining actually to watch my rooster teach her. lol

You can give her calcium tablets. And I often feed them back their egg shells. They think it's a treat!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

don't have a hair dryer, but I can keep her inside (after a bath) with the heat on? Use lot's of dry towels...and keep her warm...?

Hmm. Can you put her in a wire dog crate and put a table lamp above her for warmth so she doesn't chill after you towel her dry? Or else keep her snuggled in dry towels to retain her body heat as much as possible? (She may not stay but it's worth a try.)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm off to bed. Good luck.

 

[ChickensRsmart]

You can give her calcium tablets. And I often feed them back their egg shells. They think it's a treat!

Thanks AA! I will try feeding her her own egg shells! I am encouraged by the normal egg this morning, but I will try to load her up with some extra forms of calcium - I've also been feeding her yogurt for the last few days - which she loves.

 

[ChickensRsmart]

Hmm. Can you put her in a wire dog crate and put a table lamp above her for warmth so she doesn't chill after you towel her dry? Or else keep her snuggled in dry towels to retain her body heat as much as possible? (She may not stay but it's worth a try.)

I can even use a heat lamp - while she's snuggled in her dog crate...I've been keeping her indoors since I bought her - until she's 100% healthy again. lol