My husband came into the house today to inform me that one of our hens - one we hatched - was sitting on the floor of the hen house facing the wall. I asked her if he tried to get her up, and he hadn't wanted to 'disturb' her. I sent him back with instructions to try picking her up, and if she let him, he was to bring her in for me to examine. He showed up a few minutes later with our lovely black orpington. She looked really dejected. In the process of feeling her out to see if something was broken, I turned her over and discovered these big (1/2 a cm) white blobs at the base of the feathers on her 'belly'. Moments later, looking closely at her skin, we spotted parasites - she is crawling with them.
I have to own this: we have been completely negligent in checking our birds for parasites or doing anything preventative. (Please don't berate me on the fact - I'm guilty and know it). I know we need to clean out the entire hen house and treat it with dusting powder and/or lime, but in the meantime, I need to deal with this sick bird. Given that she's not mobile, can she be saved? Aside from thoroughly dusting her, is there anything I can do? Should I move her into our house in a box, or would the stress of that make things worse? (Hen house is going to take several days to deal with, perhaps a week... it is about 200 square feet... so I want to get her out of the parasite infested environment asap). Would an Ivermectin topical be suitable? The only thing I have on hand is a mixture of Ivermectin, mineral oil and DMSO. How can I get the hen to drink water? Do you think she'd take a syringe?
Tomorrow we'll check the other hens. All of them are mobile, though, so they should be okay if we get the house cleaned and put out dusting powder for them.
Thanks for the help.
I have to own this: we have been completely negligent in checking our birds for parasites or doing anything preventative. (Please don't berate me on the fact - I'm guilty and know it). I know we need to clean out the entire hen house and treat it with dusting powder and/or lime, but in the meantime, I need to deal with this sick bird. Given that she's not mobile, can she be saved? Aside from thoroughly dusting her, is there anything I can do? Should I move her into our house in a box, or would the stress of that make things worse? (Hen house is going to take several days to deal with, perhaps a week... it is about 200 square feet... so I want to get her out of the parasite infested environment asap). Would an Ivermectin topical be suitable? The only thing I have on hand is a mixture of Ivermectin, mineral oil and DMSO. How can I get the hen to drink water? Do you think she'd take a syringe?
Tomorrow we'll check the other hens. All of them are mobile, though, so they should be okay if we get the house cleaned and put out dusting powder for them.
Thanks for the help.