Hens having a few different problems/illnesses ~ Please help!

[CK Chickadilly]

I acquired these 8 laying hens. I have them quarantined.

1) Quite a few have scaley leg mites. I have washed their legs & treated them with Vet Rx & Vaseline. How often do I need to treat this problem? How long before it goes away? A couple have it pretty bad. Is having scaley leg mites something to cull over?

2) One sounds raspy when breathing. How do I treat this? I am giving electro-lytes & Vet Rx in the water plus vinegar.

3) A few have tiny black spots (not many spots) on their combs. I rubbed Vet Rx on them. Anything else I can do for that? What are the black spots. SHould I be concerned about them?

4) One girls eye is swollen shut & seems to have dark bumps around the eye, kind of like warts. It seems painful to her when I treat it. I am using neomycin ointment (after I had cleaned it well). I also administered Vet Rx in her palette like the directions said just in case she had eye worms. Nothing seemed to come out of her eye. Maybe she has a possible injury from another hen? Is this something to cull over or should I wait to see if it gets better?

5) Between their legs they seem to be loosing feathers & skin looks irritated. I rubbed Vet Rx on the skin. Are these mites?

I have also sprinkled their cage & feathers with Python dust for mites & sprinkled their straw with it too plus I totally took all their straw out today & changed the bedding & sprinkled it again with stall dry which has DE in it.

I also made a mash with powdered dry milk for cocci, but also gave them 1 day of Sulmet in their water. Their poos seem much better already except 1 still has the squirts a bit.

Honestly, I don't think had much to eat where they came from & obviously didn't have proper care which makes me sick!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As far as I can tell, they seem to be eating well & laying about 4 eggs per day between 8 hens.

Do you think this is all a loosing battle????

or not?

 

[Chicabee19]

I also made a mash with powdered dry milk for cocci

I'm wondering what the powdered milk does for cocci? I've never heard of that.

I hope you can get them all healthy!​

 

[speckledhen]

First, dont do just one day of Sulmet or you'll create antibiotic resistance. They need a full course if you start it. The milk coats the intestines, basically, and helps prevent damage from the protozoan. The black spots sound like fowl pox. The raspy breathing could be anything.
I'll say something some may not agree with, but that never stopped me. Quarantine is not really to treat illness, but to see what they have and if contagious, cull them. I would never treat respiratory illness in a quarantined bird. I would never allow it into my flock. You are adding illness if you didn't have it before because many diseases make birds carriers for life-in other words, they may be asymptomatic, but still be ill.
Molting makes them lose feathers. Many of mine are molting now and the underlying skin often appears red and irritated. May be mites, may not. I would dust the bird for those, certainly. I'd also worm any bird in quarantine before it went out to my flock. Those things are very treatable.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Yes, I always quarantine new chickens coming in (which isn't often that I get new ones) but you can definately see what their problem is if they do have one when locked up. These definately have some trouble. That is why they will be in lock down for a good month if not more. I don't need any trouble with my other ones.

How many days do you give sulmet? I hate using this stuff cause of the eggs. But if it necessary then I do it. I don't treat just because, I treat if there is a definate problem.

Is it best to use Wazine (what is the withdrawal time for it???) or use the herbal pumpkins seeds & buttermilk?

And what about the hen with the sore eye? And the fowl pox, I can't treat & it runs its course correct? Would the electrolytes be beneficial to them trying to get over their illnesses & such?

What do I do with the hen that is raspy?

Thanks for your help!

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Sulmet is full strength for 2 days then half strength for 4 more days, according to my bottle. Wazine will only get roundworms, but they are probably the most common. Certainly, even if you give that, you can also do the pumpkin seeds and buttermilk, which will work if they dont have a huge worm load. After that, some do a molasses flush to get the paralyzed worms out.
Fowl pox will just run its course. You can put a drying agent on the lesions, but near the eye, that could be tricky. Now, it sounds like fowl pox, but I haven't seen a picture to be sure.
The raspy hen I would cull myself; that is the reason for quarantine-not so you can treat illness, but so you dont give anything to your current flock, however if you want to treat her anyway, I'd use Tylan 50 injectible. The problem is that you will mask the symptoms and she could still be a carrier of whatever she has. Raspy breathing can be several things, so I cant say what it is for certain.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Thanks Cyn....
I'll give it all a try. See what happens. I can try & get a pic of the hen with the eye problem. It is really quite nasty.

If I can get the scaley leg mites gone, will their legs even look normal again? I have heard of spraying their legs with alcohol, that kills just about everything. But would it dry their skin out even more?

Would the Wazine have about a 2 wk. withdrawal?

I guess I will have to cull the raspy hen. She isn't real bad. I was actually thinking of culling a few of them.

Oh well.
Thanks again!
CK

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
I've heard that the scales may never go down, but you can keep oiling and rubbing them and eventually, they may actually fall off. Mine lose scales from time to time, especially during molt. The alcohol would be very drying, I'd think. And most do a 2 week withdrawal after Wazine, if I recall. I've never used it myself, but maybe someone can tell us who does use it.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Quote:
I was just thinking about this raspy hen. If I was to treat her, I use Tylan 200 on the goats. Can I use this for chickens but in a much smaller dose? or would I have to use the "Tylan 50"? & where do you inject a chicken?

What about using the terramycin powder in water? Does that do anything? I will have to listen to her better tomorrow & see how bad it sounds, when I listened today, is wasn't to bad.
Thanks!

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, you can use Tylan 200, but I think 1/4 as much since its stronger. You can inject it in the breast, but I was instructed once to do it under the skin-pinch the skin at the back of the neck and inject it there. Someone else can probably tell you the exact dosage of Tylan 200. Terramycin is a very weak antibiotic. You could try it, but you may be back at square one if she doesn't come around and still have to use the Tylan. Since she isn't going anywhere, you certainly could wait and see if she worsens or changes in any way.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Quote:
How much Tylan 50 do you give a chicken. These girls weigh about 7 - 8 pounds. I could probably figure it out too for the 200. So it is a sub Q injection in the neck. I normally use a pretty large needle for the goats which would be much to large for a chicken. I am not really even sure how thick Tylan is & if it would inject thru a dog needle which is much smaller....hum....well with a chicken I am sure you would give them a very small amt. so it shouldn't be a problem (I hope)

Thanks!