Emaciated chicken

[joywisch]

My chickens have all the feed they want yet have lost three in three months , an they looked like they starved. I have wormed them but it happened Again

 

[BantamLover21]

My chickens have all the feed they want yet have lost three in three months , an they looked like they starved. I have wormed them but it happened Again

The symptoms you are describing sound like worms to me. What did you worm them with? Some wormers, like Wazine and Ivermectin, only work on one type of worm. This makes them rather ineffective in treating larger worm infestations. Better choices include SafeGuard (its sold for goats), Valbazen, and the Worminator (it contains Flubenvet, and is what I use). All of those wormers kill nearly all, if not all, types of worms that chickens can get.

Another possibiltiy is external parasites, as those can make chickens anemic if there is a large infestation. Check all of your birds for mites: look under the feathers/on the skin on the neck, beneath the wings, and near the vent. Mites will appear as moving black specks, while lice will look like yellow blobs. If your birds have any mites/lice, treat by dusitng with 5% Sevin dust, poultry dust, or by spraying them with another mite/lice spray. Clean out the coop, spray the walls and floor with vinegar, a mite/lice spray, or liquid Sevin, and then put in fresh bedding. As a preventative (not a treatment), you can dust diatamaceous earth through the bedding and the birds' feathers.

Also, how old are your hens? Do you provide them with oyster shell and/or grit to help them digest their food? If any more become ill/die, check them for impacted crop (the crop will be hard, even in the morning), sour crop (the crop is balloon like), or any other abnormalities.

 

[joywisch]

The chickens are about 5 months old. They are my father in laws chickens. He wanted to know if I had the same problem which I have not. I will pass on the info much appreciated.