Lethargic, dehydrated, not eating, head shaking... hen progress....Day 5

[darncat]

Ok day 5 with my RIR gal who is 3yrs old. I am posting this in hope that I can get interaction in comments as for what I have done so far and what is going on with her.

1. Thought that since my one hen had the runs that I had worms so treated with Wazine 17 ...the entire flock (4 hens). Next day noticed that one gal was lethargic isolated her and syringed her with electrolytes. Drank for an hour and half straight. Would not eat.

2. Bathed her as her butt was nasty and syringed her again with electrolytes still would not eat. This was day 2.

3. Day 3 ...ran to store and picked up safeguard and put on a piece of bread the size of a pea safeguard...she ate it. Still syringing electrolytes. Would eat clover from the back yard that I picked and hand fed her.

4. Gave her yet another bath to clean up the butt...then husband claimed he saw a bug on her.....ran back to the store and picked up poultry dust and dusted her down. She frantically was picking at herself after. Guess we have a mite or lice issue. She is drinking on her own pretty much..but have purchased vitamins/electrolyte combo in water. Picking yet more clover and hand feeding her...she could care less about treats or food.

5. Shocker alert: She is eating dried mealworms and clover and drinking on her own today. She is still in wire crate. Head shake is still there but not as bad. She still could care less about her food. Been trying to keep her crated till I could observe real poop but very little since she was hardly eating. what little poo there was I could have sworn I saw a worm...but could be my imagination as I have been obsessed with her the last 5 days.


I saw a video online where a guy uses ivermectin on the back of the hen's neck where the body joins to treat for mites lice and worms every 6 months. Don't know whether to wait to apply since she is compromised or if waiting could make it worse.Don't know if anyone even uses this method on the forum. Good news...she is still alive....

I have order Ravap EC to treat the coop and should be here next week. It has been extremely wet here this week and needs to dry out anyhow in the pen.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[darncat]

here is the link to the ivermectin application for worms, lice and mites. I am looking to see if anyone has done this and if they recommend along with whether I should wait to do since my gal has been compromised.

 

[darncat]

Hen still eating clover but doesn't want to eat food...why would it be drawn to the clover?

 

[darncat]

since I have not received any responses I did check through a search on this site and found that clover is poisonous for chickens...go figure. How can clover be poisonous? I cleaned it all out of the crate and put grass in there too since she has no desire to eat chicken food.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I use Eprinex which is an ivomec pour-on for cattle. I can be used on chickens at 1/2 cc for standards and 1/4 cc for bantams.

Since you have dusted her I probably wouldn't also treat right now with topical ivermectin just yet. If she did have lice/mites you'll need to re-treat her anyway, and the rest of the birds and premises, every 7 to 10 days until you don't see any more bugs. So you could try the topical at that time if you wanted to.

As far as her symptoms, it could be a lot of things. Something to consider, since you mentioned is has been wet, is a cocci outbreak. If she or the other birds are immune compromised as result of a heavy parasite infestation it is possible they could get an outbreak of coccidiosis. Just something to consider.

For future deworming you might try Valbazen or liquid Safeguard goat dewormer. The Valbazen is very effective and if you want to use Safeguard the liquid is much easier to dose, in my opinion anyway, then the horse paste.

Oh and as for the clover, my birds eat it all the time and have for years, if it is poisonous nobody ever told them and they are all still alive!

I think I would encourage her to eat her regular feed and if she won't maybe try some hard boiled or scrambled egg so she'll get some protein at least. The meal worms are good too.

Good luck with her!