Hen loosing weight, messy feathers, pasty - parasites?

[krthaymp]

I have a polish hen that looked rough yesterday. She's been fine, but I've been watching her, as she seems to have slid down on the pecking order ladder lately. Yesterday she had a wet crest (it was a little rainy, but no one else was wet or muddy), fecal matter built up on her rear, and when I collected her I could tell she's underweight.
Initially I'm thinking stress from getting lowered in rank and being picked on, but there's a little worry in the back of my mind that says it may be something more. This is the same hen that's been hit by a hawk twice and had an eye injury that I initially thought could be mycoplasma (it wasn't).
It's also really cold right now, so she's going to be housed in a kennel in the living room until we figure this out.
We've got rooster booster in the water, regular pellets and some scrambled eggs and mealworms. Her appetite is good. She does have watery poop. I don't see any evidence of mites or lice, and nothing in her poop that I can tell. Her comb color is a little pale, but she's not laying and I don't think it's 'sick' pale if that makes sense.
I was considering dosing her and the rest of the flock with pour on ivermectin, which I've never done before. I did oral last time, and I'd like to avoid doing that again. I'm sure the flock agrees. It wasn't pretty.
This is what I'm looking at:

Durvet Ivermectin

Does this seem like just stress to you all, or worth dosing everyone? Or something else entirely?

If I do use the Durvet pour on, I'm a little uneasy about the dosing and dilution, but still trying to read up and make sure I understand how to use it correctly.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

I've used that product four times now for SLM (scaly leg mites) on our silkies. They seem to get those about once every two years.

There is a measurement for it here on BYC, but I wanted to use an eyedropper, so I found the breakdown for it elsewhere.

How I do it is go in at night, take them off the roost. Part the feathers on the back of their neck and put one drop for the smallest ones, two drops for the hens, and three drops for the roosters. It's by weight, so my silkies are 2-3 lbs and the roosters 3-4. You do not dilute it.

Otherwise, with what you're doing with vitamins and other things, that should be working. I'd also give some probiotics as well. It might help with diarrhea and improve her digestive system.

 

[krthaymp]

@Debbie292d I also wanted to use an eyedropper and nothing I was finding matched how I wanted to use it, so thank you - that was SUPER helpful! I think I was on the right track, and that link confirmed it and added some info I was missing.

My only other hesitation now is to dose or not to dose. I can't confirm yet this is worms or parasites and everyone else is acting great and have clean bottoms. I'd hate to dose unnecessarily, but maybe that's not as harmful as I'm thinking.

 

[krthaymp]

UPDATE: She gave me a good scare last night. I got her washed up and dried off and she was way too docile about the whole deal, then just laid down and refused to move in the crate, eat or drink. So I let her be. This morning she devoured a poached egg and the water level is down a little, but I haven't witnessed her drinking anything. I am going to hold off on deworming until she's bounced back and gained some weight, then I'll dose them all. I'm worried it may be too much for her body right now. I'll try to get a pic of the setup when I can - I know people like to see that, lol.
I do not regularly weigh my birds, and I guess I'll count this as lesson learned there. If I had regularly weighed I'd think I'd have caught her decline a lot sooner.

 

[krthaymp]

Update: She’s still pretty lethargic tonight. She’s not interested in pellets but I crumbled some up on another egg and she ate some and drank a little. She’s just had another bum bath and has fallen asleep in the towel in my arms. I’m getting more worried about her.
Her skin looks good, though a little pale. No pests or parasites. Her poop is solid and normal. Her eyes and throat are clear. No injuries I can find.
Just low energy and no appetite.

 

[krthaymp]

UPDATE: Her appetite comes and goes. I trimmed the feathers around her vent to assist with the accumulation of fecal matter. Sometimes she's got her tail up bust mostly it's clamped down and she's hunched like she's egg bound. Sometimes her fecal matter is super watery, sometimes it's normal looking, but small. It was green the first day which I think may have just been bile from not eating.
I've soaked her - nothing. There's no evidence of water belly or impacted crop. I can't feel anything abnormal in her abdomen. She's not really an old hen, but I'm starting to think she's going something going on internally and I really am leaning away from egg bound. Through everything, she's remained alert, though she is a little weak. I got her to roost last night on a rolled up towel.
What else can I be looking for or trying?
I'm feeding probiotic yogurt, eggs, her normal feed, some dried BSL. Her water has vitamins, electrolytes and minerals in it to support her.
I'm also concerned about keeping her away from her flock for an extended period, but temps will be dropping below freezing every day this week and in her current state, they'll demolish her.

 

[Eggcessive]

If using a 1 ml syringe without a needle, available free at most pharmacies, the dosage of Ivermectin (5 mg per ml) is 0.1 ml for each 2 pounds of weight, or 0.05 ml per pound. Apply on the back of the neck over the spine. Repeat in 14 days.

 

[Debbie292d]

If using a 1 ml syringe without a needle, available free at most pharmacies, the dosage of Ivermectin (5 mg per ml) is 0.1 ml for each 2 pounds of weight, or 0.05 ml per pound. Apply on the back of the neck over the spine. Repeat in 14 days.

A drop of water is 0.05 ml. I think either way works; syringe or eyedropper, but I've seen a post outright say not to go by drops. I don't disagree with anything; I just wanted to make doing this for 50 fuzzy chickens the easiest possible way, and for fewer chances of accidental overdosing. Thus, the eyedropper.