Food obsessed hen, losing weight! Help!

[scalci]

So I talked to the vets office and they dont do the fecal tests in house, they have to be shipped out, so the soonest they will have the results would be tomorrow, but it could be longer. Then if worms are present I would have to bring her in for an examination and to get a dewormer.

The vet bill would be at least $100 if not more!!! I love my chicken but I really dont have that kind of money, especially with all of my own medical bills. I really dont know what to do.

I did examine her poop tho and there are teeny tiny little white strings (a few centimeters long, about the width of a very fine tipped pen mark). From the hour I just spent looking at pictures online it looks like they are cecal worms. The issue is that I am having a lot of trouble finding a dewormer that treats cecal worms and is egg safe. I mean at this point I would settle for any kind of dewormer that treats cecal worms if I could find one, and then give it to just her for now, then try to find a egg safe dewormer for the other 2. It looks like the only way I can get it is if I order it online and then pray that it is available through amazon prime so I can get it this weekend.

On a positive note, I gave her the wet mash and her crop is full!!! She actually almost looks normal now and not so skinny. So I am hoping that the mash will be helpful for her going forward. Now I just need to find a dewormer.

 

[azygous]

Most feed stores have Safeguard on the shelf where the horse supplies are. It will kill cecal worms as well as other species. You will need to repeat the treatment several weeks from the first.

It's probably safe to eat the eggs (I do), but they just don't feel like sticking their necks out with an official proclamation.

You are probably seeing round worms. Cecal worms are so small, you would barely be able to make them out with the naked eye.

 

[azygous]

Here's an old thread on the discussion of eating eggs of de-wormed hens. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-soon-after-worming-can-i-eat-the-eggs.292757/

 

[Nksg75]

Can someone post the link to the mail order fecal test?
I would love to have the info on hand.
Thank you

 

[strangeanimal]

I agree this is worrisome. You can rule out worms or have it confirmed and what variety by a simple fecal float test. Any vet can perform it for you if you bring them a sample of her poop on a cotton ball. You can then get the right worm medicine for whatever worms she has if that should be the case.

Another possibility is tumors, and since she's four years old, that's not outside the realm of possibility.

If you rule out worms, I would say there's a greater likelihood she has tumors that are consuming all the calories she's taking in.

that is not correct , sorry to bump in like that but a chicken with tumors has LOSS of appetite or no changes in that at all , depending on where the tumor(s) are manifested .

About worms : some worms can not be seen with just your eyes , i wouldn't rule them out before you have some poop tested , could be flaggelates , could be worms , could even be an infection she has inside . Or the circumstances : what do you feed them , how much a day / each ? and did u change anything in the feed or not ? what feeder do you use and if there is a lot of spoiling , is the floor clean eaten or not ? so many answers and possibilities here , could even be a desease you do not see showing symptoms ( yet ) and like said , tumors is a possibility for losing weight too but NOT for an INCREASE in appetite ( This info , the last one comes from a vet btw )

 

[azygous]

The first thing to do is locate a lab to do a fecal test. All labs will accept the fecal material through the mail. When I needed a test done the first time, I called up my local university agricultural extension office and asked them if they knew an ag lab I could contact. They directed me to the lab, and I called the lab to get instructions on how to gather the specimens and mail them.

 

[azygous]

To the OP: I don't believe the question was ever answered that @sourland asked - Is this hen's crop ever empty?

Is the crop full at any time during the day? How full? Is it so full it hangs down low and swings when she walks? Is it empty completely in the morning when she's still on the roost?

I don't believe we ever examined crop issues as a cause for the weight loss.

 

[rebrascora]

Can someone post the link to the mail order fecal test?

https://www.amazon.com/Reptiles-Rab...hi-20&linkId=7e573db2b13eef989e9e8c8cfa911b1d

The above doesn't specify chickens but does include birds and since the testing is the same for all those animals there is no reason why they should not do poultry but an email might be best to confirm.
They seem a bit expensive compared to the approx. £12 here in the UK though and that includes a prepaid envelope to send the sample to the lab from what I remember. The company I use here in the UK for horses and chickens is Westgate Labs. at Morpeth and I have found the service very efficient and the staff very helpful in giving advice over the phone..

 

[scalci]

Thank you everyone, and sorry for not posting for a while- I had some not so great things happening and no time to come back on here once I seemed to figure out the problem...

So I tried the wet mash (just the layer pellets and water) and gave her some of that. For the first time in i dont know how long her crop was very full. Later that day I tried to give her more and she wasn't even that interested (which scared me at first) but I think it was because she was full. I did that for 2-3 days and in just that short amount of time she looks the healthiest she has looked in a year or more!! She looked like she already put some weight on.

I guess since she spent so much time at the food dish I assumed that she was getting some pieces here and there, but who knows how many of those pecks she was getting food from. Then when she would be outside in the yard when I would see the pieces disappear as she pecked (maybe she was able to eat pieces off the ground easier) or being hand fed she would go into a feeding frenzy and attack the others.

I feel terrible that I thought she was a pig this whole time when she really was struggling to get food! Now when I go to clean or fill the food dish she doesn't even go in. Before she would run in immediately, she doesn't spend all her time in there eating now, she just eats the mash that I give her!

The odd thing is that her sister who also has a clipped beak rarely ever eats, she doesn't even like scratching for food when they're out roaming- yet she is very plump. Their sister (who died a few years ago) also had the clipped beak and was also very very plump. It's very odd!

But thank you everyone! I appreciate all the concern and advice, especially for how quick everyone posted!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Really glad she is doing better!

I have no idea why wetting the pellets has such an effect on them. Mine really do either wait in the coop for me to put it in the dish or rush back in leaving the scratch I already spread on the ground.

I have to trust them that there is something super good about it.
I have no intention of giving it a try myself!