Egg bound, Lice, or something else? Favorite hen sick

[calicokat]

We wormed the whole flock about 3 days ago. all went well.

Today I found Hershy Belle, my Bantum Chocolate Polish hen staying in the coop. Tonight I went to check more on her and she's just standing in the coop, all puffed up, wings a little drooped. I hear her breathing when I hold her. Everyone else is in the yard having treats - she doesn't care.

Thought it might be egg bound - brought her in and ran a sink of warm water, soaked her hind end for about 10 minutes. Her breathing quieted some, and she seemed to sleep. Working off some dirt and poop from her vent area, I find what looks like lice! We've had that before around their muffs, but not vents.

Could lice be causing her distress? Or is she egg bound and the lice is unrelated?

Can I treat her for lice anyway? (we bathed and used lice shampoo)

She's always been a smallish bantum, and doesn't feel like she's lost any weight or anything yet. She's on my lap in her towel and a heating pad around that (the dog is NOT pleased to be sure! LOL)

 

[purpletree23]

Lice and/or mites can kill a chicken. I would bathe her with a flea and tick shampoo or a shampoo to kill lice for people. Make sure she is submerged in the water up to her shoulders and use a cup to pour water on her a little higher up. Watch for the lice to try and make an escape by crawling up to the top of her head. Dry her well and use a blow dryer on low. Keep her inside and feed her lots of treats. Scrambled egg, leftover bits of meat, cottage cheese. chopped up pasta, grapes and even some frozen chopped spinach. A $.79 cent block should last you all week. You might want to give a few blocks to your other hens also. I don't cook it just thaw it and put it in the treat pan. Anything to get her strength back and build up her blood. The lice and mites suck the chickens blood and makes her weak and anemic.

People make fun of me but give her some tiny cubes of beef. Leftovers from the fridge. I'm not saying to make her her own tenderloin. Get some liquid baby vitamins at any pharmacy and (poly vi sol is the name brand get generic) and give her 2 drops on the top of her beak and 2 drops at night.

Put the drops on TOP of her beak so the drops roll into her mouth and she swallows them and doesn't inhale them.

Repeat the lice shampoo in 3 days to kill any lice that have hatched. The shampoo doesn't work on eggs.

Now the hard part. The whole coop needs to be stripped and clean the dickens out of it. Remove all bedding etc. Especially in the nest boxes. After everything is clean and aired out sprinkle the floor, nest boxes and roosts with Sevin dust. Especially dust the corners and the area where the wall meets the floor. Fill with clean litter.

Dust all of your birds with the Sevin dust because I am 99% positive they have lice also. Three days after you dust them do it again and me personally I would do it AGAIN in 3 or 4 more days.

 

[Judy]

What prupletree said, except the usual treatment course is treat then retreat in 10 days because it takes this long for the eggs to hatch. Other treatments for the chickens are Sevin. ivermectin and "poultry dust" (or spray,) usually a permethrin/pyrethrin product. I agree, treat all chickens as well as the coop, then offer extra nutrition. Some sources:

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

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=425486

Good luck, and sorry you are going through this.

 

[calicokat]

I'm just heartbroken. I lost her about midnight last night. I feel terrible for not noticing the lice sooner so this could have been prevented

 

[purpletree23]

Very sorry.......