hen not feeling well off and on

[jburts]

older hen don't know how old she is we just ended up with her three years ago
she is on the downside of laying eggs, she laid four eggs this summer after not laying for a year,
she had runny pooh to start with and puffed up feathers
then her pooh is normal but then I noticed she is not pooping as much and I ck her and seems to be ok down there.
she does not want to roost anymore she sleeps in nesting box, she poohs in there a little more firm maybe too firm
she seems ok most of time but has periods of not feeling good.
she eats and drinks,
they eat layer crumbles and free range
snacks are meal worms and fruit,
they get a little corn
other hens are fine,
let them out this am and she seems fine,
getting a little colder out around in 60 during the day
she does not have some tummy feathers due to dog attack in June which she survived.
they are in fenced back yard now, we have a big yard,
never wormed her or others don't notice any worms in pooh
any suggestions
Julanne Burts

 

[cafarmgirl]

I would start out by deworming everybody with a good, broad spectrum dewormer. Then you at least know that base is covered and she's not trying to survive while supporting a big overload of worms. Chickens can be full of worms and you may never see them in their poop.

Other then that, this could be a whole lot of things, especially in a bird older then two or three years old. But since chickens are often very hard to diagnose all you can do is start by ruling out the most common problems and go from there.

 

[jburts]

ok thanks
it is really hard to tell she has been all over the yard and more energetic today she eats and drinks still,
will de-worm her and see what happens,
I noticed that the de-worming comes in food pellets which I will have to crush up they won't eat the pellets they like crumbles.
in chickens will the worms come out and be noticable like in dogs?
will go to store and get de-wormer meds

 

[jburts]

ok I went and found a liquid de-wormer that will be easier to give, found some advice on line about putting in their water for a day then not eating the eggs for 10-14 days or two weeks after.
will see if this helps

 

[cafarmgirl]

I usually use Valbazen or liquid Safeguard for goats. 1/2cc orally and repeat the dose in 10 days. WIth the Safeguard you can also dose 3 days in a row with no 10 day repeat.

 

[jburts]

well de-wormed the whole flock just to be on the safe side,
she has been doing ok she poops every night and it is normal
she does fluff up but now she is in the nesting box and we have some fake eggs in there and she has been making sure those are under neath her, she kinda of did this through the summer but not too determined to hatch eggs
I notice that she has been doing this off and on and then we did get a egg
so she is not real broody but maybe a little bit.
so there may not be anything wrong with her except for a little broody
who knows with chickens I covered by base and see what happens
Julanne