lethargic chicken

[melindaharlin]

We have a chicken that was given to us and was told it was "wormy." We've been treating it with the diluted water that was recommended at the feed store and she rallied a bit, but she's not moving much, pecks a bit at food, and I had to clean out her eye that was crusted over and clean the other one that was getting a bit nasty. They were fine yesterday. Help! We know our chickens have mites and have been treating them for it, and diatomatous earth we mixed into their dirt bath helped some, the feed store gave us some sulfa for refractory mites, but it says not to use around pets. What should we do?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

We have a chicken that was given to us and was told it was "wormy." We've been treating it with the diluted water that was recommended at the feed store and she rallied a bit, but she's not moving much, pecks a bit at food, and I had to clean out her eye that was crusted over and clean the other one that was getting a bit nasty. They were fine yesterday. Help! We know our chickens have mites and have been treating them for it, and diatomatous earth we mixed into their dirt bath helped some, the feed store gave us some sulfa for refractory mites, but it says not to use around pets. What should we do?

1. worms-
2. diluted water
3. crusty eye
4. mites
5. DE
6. sulfa

OK for the worms- what diluted water are you referring to? Wazine medication mixed with water? There are several types of worms, and Wazine only treats large roundworms. It is not approved for layers (nothing is approved for layers and Wazine is the only wormer approved for chickens).

For the crusty/nasty eye, that could be an indicator of a chronic respiratory infection but I am not sure. You should put her in quarantine, not only for the worms (all those worm eggs deposited on the soil will infect your other chickens) but for a possible respiratory infection (some chronic respiratory disease in chickens will render them asymptomatic carriers after it "goes away" and will infect other chickens and even chicks within the egg for some diseases.

For mites, I recommend buying Poultry Dust from the feed store (permethrin) and they have a coop spray also (permethrin). Dust every 7 days until bugs are gone to kill the hatching eggs. Spray the coop and discard all litter each time. I do this every 4 months year round to keep mites away, repeating in 7 days. Mites can kill chickens. You need to get under the wings and the vent area too. I turn the chicken upside down on the ground in a plastic bag lined box, and use a tied-off sock to powder puff them everywhere except the face.

I have not used Sulfa myself. DE is a preventative at best.

If you wish to know which worms you are working with, some vets will do a fecal test for worms for a small fee but false negatives are possible. There are other wormers people use off-label and recommend on BYC like valbazen, safeguard, etc. and you can do a search or ask if interested and I am sure you will get the information. But it is all not labeled for chickens and so if you sell eggs etc. you have to be aware of that. You must toss eggs for at least 2 weeks is what I read on BYC for these wormers (including Wazine). I hope you will research it carefully and please note that Wazine needs repeating as the bottle states at 30 days to break the cycle of worms (not every 30 days forever).

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044
There are diagnosis charts at bottom, and you might have a look especially at Mycoplasma Gallisepticum. I don't know what is wrong with your chicken, but it is apparently a common one for eye drainage.

Here is an eye link:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps031