diarrhea in 8 yr old hen

[citychickenfarm]

I am extremely new to chickens and with the power of the internet and friends am quickly learning. My situation is this, I have raised a young flock from two days old and have grown quite attached. We just recently got 6 laying hens from a neighbors flock who are all 8 years old. We were assured they were all healthy because I would not have taken them if they weren't. Out of the 6 new ones (I am still trying to properly identify them all) the two in which I think are RIRs are not laying. Tomorrow will be a week that we have had them. One of them has what appears to be a very dirty rear/ vent and getting worse. I have watched all the birds at lengths of time and no one seems to have an issue with lethargy, depression, lack of appetite or bloody stools. My next step is to quarantine the one who's having the diarrhea and clean the coop. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what this could be? Should I quarantine both the girls who are not laying for fear it could be contagious? Could it be old age? Please help out a new chicken mommy.

 

[gritsar]

I'm afraid it's a little like closing the barn door after the horse gets out, if they've already been exposed to your girls. Thirty days is the minimum recommended quarantine time, reqardless of how clean their former surroundings appeared to be.

I would recommend a worming right off the bat for the dirty bottom. I'm know just the person to guide you on that. I'll ask them to take a look see at your thread.

Good luck

 

[BlossomSilkies]

Do 8 year old hens still lay eggs? Maybe you meant 8 months old?

 

[emvickrey]

Maybe stress from the move? IDK really. Maybe try worming them. Eight years old is old for a chicken from what I understand and I don't think old chickens lay eggs anymore. Hopefully somebody with more knowlege on your situation will stumble upon your thread and help out.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yep, they can. Not as often, but they can. I know someone has some 10 year old hens still popping out an occasional egg.

 

[dawg53]

I recommend that you ask your neighbor if they have been wormed or treated for anything else for that matter, that information would be very helpful. If they havnt been wormed, I recommend that you do so. Valbazen is the best wormer, it kills all known worms that chickens can get. It's a liquid cattle/sheep wormer and it is administered orally to each chicken. Dosage is 1/2cc for standard size chickens and 1/4cc for smaller chickens. Ten days later, redose them again. There is a 24 day grand total withdrawal period. If your feedstore doesnt carry it, you can order it from Jefferslivestock.com or call them.

 

[citychickenfarm]

Thank you to everyone who's helped with my post. I did just check her stool this am and as far as I can see there isn't any worms but that does not mean that its not an internal parasite. Her stools are also not very watery and seem to be pretty firm. She came to us with the dirty rump and I just attributed it to being in the small cage with the others and getting dirty. Could this still be the case as she is cleaning herself just not her hind quarters? The previous owner raised them all from eggs so they are all the same age and we are still being blessed with 2-3 eggs a day from the other 4 that are laying. I added some oyster shell to the food as well as have been letting them out to forage the last two days. I know it might be better to be safe than sorry but I am afraid to upset the whole flock worming them when they might not need it. I'm going to catch her in a bit and attempt to clean her up.

 

[gritsar]

Do you have a vet for your other animals? If you can gather up a collection of droppings, most vets will do a fecal float to check for worms for under $10. If you don't want to worm if it's not necessary (although like Dawg, I highly recommend the valbazen), that may be your safest bet.

 

[citychickenfarm]

We are thinking its mites. Swollen vent and when I cleaned her I saw tiny bugs.

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link that will help you in regards to lice/mite treatments by avian experts at OSU.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html