Injury or disease?! Help!

[Catiesings]

I need help. Please watch the video and tell me what you think. I came out to feed the chickens and they were pecking her. She was making loud noise but wasn’t moving.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You have a sick bird.

First thing I noticed is she has severe scaly leg mite (the crumbly looking stuff on her legs and feet).

Flocks don't like sick flock members and will pick on any that don't appear well.

My guess is she is anemic from parasite overgrowth to the point of frailty. Some swift TLC would be in order to save her at this point.

Since she likely also has internal worms as well as the external scaly leg mites, I would treat her with Ivermectin cattle pour on 1% drops (5 drops at base of neck). That will address the scaly leg mite, any lice or mites, and internal worms (if the area worms have not been overly dosed with ivermectin before).

Some vitamins and electrolytes in water. Isolation so she is able to eat and drink unaccosted by the others in the flock

My thoughts.

LofMc

 

[Catiesings]

I have none of that on hand (I’m out) and I’m stuck in a rural area looks like she gave up the ghost anyway what can I do to rectify the coop? I’m a new owner and this is my first flock. I got them a few months ago and use the diatomaceous earth. I also clean once every week and a half. What else can I do?

 

[Boonie Stomper]

Has she eaten, drank, pooped, laid today, is she hotter or colder than normal, is her crop full, vent clear ... All information could shed light on what could (or could not) be wrong.

She looks very poorly and deathly to me. Also examine for any bite marks or discharges from mouth/nostrils and listen to her breathing, make note of any sign of pain when handling which could indicate injury or infection.

Edit: you posted while i was typing. So missed her passing. Sorry for your loss. Examination would still be useful to know what the cause was and whether it be a threat to the flock.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I was told not to use Ivermectin for parasites on/in chickens cause you'll never be able to consume their eggs since it isn't approved for poultry.

Diatomaceous earth does nothing for any type of mites.

 

[Catiesings]

Okay, so what do i do?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Okay, so what do i do?

Get some actual mite treatments, & treat all of your birds? Like Permethrin, or Poultry Protector. I'm using Poultry Protector for my birds, it's all natural.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Ivermectin pour on is safe to use on birds, though "off label."

It is every owner's discretion as to whether they want to use "off label" products.

The eggs are clear from Ivermectin approximately 7 days after treatment (per studies I have seen), but most hold off for 14 days. The eggs are "safe" to eat immediately as the amount of Ivermectin in the egg is negligible and something that is used for humans (especially in Africa with river worms). So, there is no medical question for safety, unless you had someone in the household with who is especially sensitive to medical additives.

As to "never eating the eggs again" comes from the idea that the FDA views off label products as non-allowable in chickens whose eggs are used for commercial human consumption, ie factory layers. As to the small holder, your risk would only be if you sold eggs locally that made someone sick, and they tested with a non-FDA approved product, you could be held liable for damages and fines for using an off label product.

But there are no egg police for small holders, that's only farms with 3000 birds or more. Therefore, if you do not sell (or share eggs) to the public but consume your own, there is no FDA legality to come in question.

So it is personal choice to choose something off label unless you sell eggs to the general public.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Okay, so what do i do?

It is not uncommon to occasionally have one "off" bird that dies. (If it happens too often, like more than one bird a year, you will need to investigate.)

It sounds like she was unthrifty, and that can simply happen. If she was very low on the pecking order, she may not have been getting enough food to eat which would have ran her down, which would have invited parasites, which would have produced the anemia, frailty, and death.

Keep your eyes open for any symptoms like bubbling eyes, wheezing, coughing, or other signs of ill health in the flock. Likely you won't see anything.

Check your flock for scaly leg mite (uplifted scales on legs), lice (straw colored slow moving critters around the vent with rice looking nits stuck to base of feather shafts), and mites (fast moving pepper looking specks). Check at the vent as that is the most common location for lice and mites.

If you see more scaly leg mite, you can coat every bird leg with vaseline. Retreat every few days. Keep that up until the legs look clean.

If you suspicion lice or mites, dust each bird at vent and under wings with permethrin type dust (usually called Poultry Dust). You can also get liquid spray permethrin (Gordon's for example) to spray the coop. Lice and mites live on the bird, so usually a good clean out of bedding with dusting of permethrin in the coop and on the birds does the trick. Retreat in 10 days.

If you see red pepper looking specks moving quickly on the bird at night, with clumps of pepper on the roost post or in crevices, that is Red Roost Mite, and your whole coop will have to be thoroughly cleaned and deeply sprayed with chemicals. Gordon's can help, but often you need stronger chemicals as RRM are very hard to get rid of. Most of us have the Northern Fowl Mite (grey specks seen during the day), that are much easier to treat as they do not live long off the bird.

If your birds look and feel thin and haven't been wormed, you can spend the big bucks for the poultry formula Aquasol, which is fenbendazole, or purchase fenbendazole as goat liquid wormer Safeguard. You can also get a Safeguard horse paste (pea size given in beak). It's the same drug, which is FDA approved for poultry, but only the "Aquasol" is actually poultry approved. It will be personal discretion how you feel about using "off label" products, especially the same drug. If I remember right, one treatment is enough (but check BYC forum).

Or, if you have a mind, and don't sell eggs, especially labeled organic, to the general public, you may consider treating with the Ivermectin which will treat scaly leg mite, mites, and the most common poultry worm type effectively (round worm) unless you've used it a lot and they have built resistance.

It is getting harder and harder to find meds for poultry at the feed store since the FDA's changed policies in 2017 determined to remove most meds from agriculture. It's unfortunate as animals need care, vets are expensive, and most vets don't treat common poultry. The big farms simply turn over flocks every 2 years or cull. They also have the room for proper field rotation to keep parasites down.

My thoughts.
LofMc

 

[MysteryChicken]

@Folly's place