Just Noticed a Hen with a Gritty Crop

[Lolliegee]

Okay, I know I've seen this on here, but of course now that I'm looking for it I can't find it. I realized she is looking a little tattered and felt her crop and it feels about half full and kinda gritty. What do I do about this?

 

[threehorses]

I'd wait until the morning and check her then before she eats. (Take up their food tonight.) If it's still full, then she has a slow or impacted crop. Let us know and we'll go from there.

If it's empty still let us know and we'll try to figure out the reason for her tattered looks.

I wouldn't yet flush the crop or anything until you for sure detemine it's not emptying (without new food input).

 

[Lolliegee]

Thanks Nathalie, That's what I'll do. I'll let you know tomorrow what I find.

 

[Lolliegee]

Okay, so I checked her again today and her crop is completely empty. I realized last night that what I was feeling was probably river sand. (We put a pool up recently and used a lot of river sand to help level things out). However, she has definitely lost weight. And is looking kinda scraggly. I got lucky enough to see her poop right in front of me and it looked normal. She seemed to be eating and drinking normally as well. I took some pics of her to see if that would help. I don't know if they'll help or not, but here they are.

The one wing feather is the way it normally looks. The person I got her from said the person she got them from had clipped the wing strangely. She is only a little over a year old...She just started laying last Christmas and she's a RIR.

 

[threehorses]

I'm very glad her crop was empty this morning.

Has she ever been wormed? I think I would do that first. Weigh her, if you can, before and see if you get any weight gain in the following week.

If you don't know her worming history, I'd use Wazine and then repeat later with something else stronger like fenbendazole, ivermectin, levamisole, etc. Then you don't have to keep repeating every 6 weeks so not as many tossed eggs.

If she's laying there's a 2 week discard time on the eggs with anything you use.

What about her feed? What's she eating now?

I was just thinking about you as I've caught SIX possums at my place in the last month. Five within the last four days. It just made me heartsick.

THe hen looks pretty lovely. It wouldn't hurt her to get some yogurt this week, maybe a day with some OACV in her water just in case. But I bet she was loading up on that nice river sand! Silly girl!

 

[Lolliegee]

Wow! Six! That really stinks. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, my mom has been in the hospital and things have been kinda crazy. But, she's getting out tonight, so things are getting better.

As for the worming history, I don't know of any. Can I get the de-wormer at a feed store? And if so, is it obvious how to dose it?

Her feed is a an all-purpose layer crumble. She gets scratch fairly regularly and is let out to "free-range" into our back yard every couple of days.

 

[threehorses]

Yep, six - seven if you include the one last month or so.

I'm sorry to hear your mom's been ill, but glad to hear that things are improving. I bet she'll be glad to get home!

On the worming yes, you could get some at the feedstore. Being as she hasn't a known history with wormers, then I'd buy a thing of Wazine and a thing of either Ivermectin pour on (if you can get the generic small 250ml sized bottle), or fenbendazole solution (Safeguard 10% for goats - ask for directions), Wormazole (fenbendazole - labeled for poultry but usually you have to order it online like at Smiths or Randall Burkey, etc).

You could get the Wazine 17 now (piperazine 17% solution) - it's in the cattle/swine section if you don't find some in the poultry section. Worm with that, and then order whatever other wormer you want to use for the follow up in 2-4 weeks. Wazine itself has to be followed up as it paralyzes only adults, leaving the larva to emerge into adulthood and reinfect the flock. It's meant to be repeated. But instead of repeating and repeating, I just do the follow up with the stronger wormers that kill larva - the ivermectin, fenbendazole, albendazole, etc. I prefer ivermectin and fenben personally and they're very safe.

The reason I'd still do Wazine first is that you really don't know her parasite load. It could be light, but it could also be heavy both in larva and adults. So you don't want to overload her with too many DYING parasites which can clog if the infestation is really bad, or cause shockiness. So paralyzing and expelling the worms with Wazine helps reduce the parasites that are actually effecting the birds (adults) without overly stressing them. When you go back to use the heavier wormer as a follow-up, there aren't so very many worms so it's not as hard on them.

Any time I worm, I always do a day or two of yogurt (sometimes oatmeal) to combat any diarrhea from the stress.

Just be sure with this girl to give her granite type grit free choice as well as oyster shell. She'll need both for different reasons. Birds given granite grit are also better at gaining weight.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

to add to Nathalies answer here is some options using the wormers she discussed

On the worming with Ivermectin
I would suggest that they be wormed first with wazine or peperzine
then Ivermectin pour on is 5% Ivermectin
1% ivermectin is the shot or down the throat kind

the reason for worming 10 days apart is this

the first worming with piperzine or wazine is to take and kill or expell the woms from the gut of the chickens
and that will ease the pressure put on the chickens body from being poisoned by too many killed or expelled round worms at one time

then give the wet mash probiotic inbetween the peperzine or wazineworming
and then the Ivermectin worming

you can call Smith poultry supply in Ks that had the pour on for $29.00 which was a good buy

Smith Poultry & Game Bird Supply

14000 W. 215th St., Bucyrus, KS 66013-9519

Ph. 913-879-2587 - 7:30 A. M. - 3 P. M CST Monday-Friday

24-hour Fax. 913-533-2497



Do ask them if it is pour on( generally blue in color) so you know if it is 5% drop on flesh
or 1% water soluble for down the throat or in shot with propolene glycol? drops of propolen glycol to one drop of Ivermectin 1% and each chicken gets 4 drops ivermectin for females and 5 drops ivermectin for cockerels adding the appropreate amt of proplene glycol with each drop of ivermectin

Wet mash probiotics are neccessary for the good gut flora to come back after poisoning the worms that were in the chickens gut

worms are very hard on chickens and getting them wormed chemically is very hard on chickens
so a need for wet mash probiotics
better to be safe than sorry

worming twice a yr is plenty with these two wormers
and the wet mash probiotic is for all times when not using mycin antibiotics
yes on a rainy cool spring the wild birds spread the round worms as they eat a lot of earth worms which have the round worm egg larves in their manure
another good reason not to feed earth worms

My friend Randy Henry did a lot of study on worming in his 17 yrs study on Veterinary
here is some of his usage of Ivermectin 1% soluble and 5%

Also severl people use Ivomec wormer 1% water soluble
or 5% and put on the neck skin of the bird.

Injectable 1% is
used inside the bird in injection or in the water also given down the throat
. And
5% is used on the shoulder or neck flesh of the bird only. Not inside the birds mouth.

Directions for 5% ivomec put on shoulder or on the neck
only not internally.
(1 1 drop small bantam such as female OE
(2 2 drops large bantam male like OE
(3 3 drops most bantams
(4 4 drops larger bantams and smaller commercial hens
(5 5 drops commercial large fowl and smaller large
fowl
(5 5 drops Large fowl chicken
(7 7 drops larger males of large fowl breeds of
USING ALL METHODS OF WORMING/SEVERAL PEOPLE HERE
06/21/09 at 15:38:39 DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORMING
Read all this carefully and decide what is your best plan of doing the worming
the 5% drop on is time consuming but the best over all method in my opinion
Nathalie Ross discusses this on her spot here
Glenda L Heywood Brookings SD
http://www.gkpet.com
click on pet forum for articles on poultry
[email protected]




HERE IS SOME ANSWERS TO USING WAZINE FOR ROUND WORMS AND iVERMECTIN FOR THE OTHERS AND LICE AND MITES
try reading and answering most of your questions on usine
wazine or peperzine for round worms
and Ivermectin 1% water soluble or 5% oil based
ANY QUESTIONS EMAIL THEM TO ME
Glenda L Heywood

ANSWER
my friend Pam Hogan gives this info on using Ivermetin 1% water soluble

Dr. Ron Dickey, of Rogue River Veterinary Hospital, gave us the
following formula for worming with Ivomec, which is safe to use on
any bird, because it goes by the weight of the bird.

Use only 1% injectible cattle formula of Ivomec—not the pour-on.

Dilute the Ivomec 10 fold. Use 9 parts water or propylene glycol to
1 part 1% Ivomec. Use .1cc per lb. of body weight. For smaller
birds, dilute 20/1 and use 1cc per lb. of body weight.

If you are using water, Ivomec is not stable in water, so you have
to keep shaking it well before you draw a dosage. Ivomec is stable
in propylene glycol, and it works much better. You can buy a big
jug of it at most feedstores/farm supplies—it is used for pregnant
sheep, goats and cattle.

Ivomec is effective against internal parasites like trachea worm,
and also takes care of the external parasites. Levasole gets the
capillary worms and some others that the Ivomec doesn't get.
Pam Hogan

ANSWER
My friend Randy Henry did a lot of study on worming in his 17 yrs study on Veterinary
here is some of his usage of Ivermectin 1% soluble and 5% oil based

Also severl people use Ivomec wormer 1% water soluble
or 5% oil based and put on the neck skin of the bird.

Injectable 1% is
used inside the bird in injection or in the water also given down the throat
. And
5% oil based is used on the shoulder of the bird only. Not inside the birds mouth.

Directions for 5% ivomec with oil base put on shoulder
only not internally.
(1 1 drop small bantam such as female OE
(2 2 drops large bantam male like OE
(3 3 drops most bantams
(4 4 drops larger bantams and smaller commercial hens
(5 5 drops commercial large fowl and smaller large
fowl
(5 5 drops Large fowl chicken
(7 7 drops larger males of large fowl breeds of
Chickens.

(A 5% oil type Ivomec Stays on the birds for at least
6 weeks. and is the reason it is only used on the out
side under the feathers on the shoulder of the
chickens. Slow release time.

(B 1% water soulable is injectable and can be used in
the water. also given by mouth

USING 1% IVERMECTIN IN THE WATER
WHICH IS NOT MY PREFERRED USE OF IT????
you have to treat 4 times a yr GLH


Iona wrote:
I leave treated water (4 cc per gallon of water) in the coops for 2
days. It is the only water so everyone drinks. I change the water
mixture every day and more often if it gets dirty. There is a great
margin for safety when using ivermectin so I don't worry about a bird
over dosing on it. I have been using injectable ivermectin mixed with
drinking water for 5 years now and have never had a problem.
GAILsaid this
I use the injectable 1 % solution mixed at 8 cc. per gallon of water to
treat canaries for air sac mites and to worm chickens, budgies,
canaries, cockatiels, etc. I take their water away the night before and
use this solution as the only source of water for 24 hours. It is
important to treat again in 10 days to get all the mites that have
hatched out since the treatment BEFORE they can lay eggs again. For
scaly face/leg mites I treat the birds at least four times.
To prevent heart worms and treat round and hook worms in dogs I use the
same 1% injectable diluted 14 cc. of ivermectin to 86 cc of propylene
glycol, administered orally once a month at a dosage rate of 1 cc for
every ten pounds body weight. This works very well for me, although I
would use caution in giving ivermectin to collies or collie crosses. I
have not had any problem with shetland sheepdogs or border collies, but
your results may vary.

Gail

you can email me with any questions