Lethargic Hen with Pale Comb

[Alden Chickens]

We have four Red Mix hens. One of them has been lethargic and weak looking for about a month. At first I thought she was just getting picked on, or something minor that would blow over. But in the last few days, she's gotten worse. She just sits there and pecks somewhat at the scratch I throw in. I held her up to the food and she only ate the fine stuff. She weighs a lot less than the others. When I go to pick her up, she runs away like she used to, but then she'll just stand there again, with her head and neck scrunched up, and her feathers slightly puffed up. All the others seem to be fine, so I don't think it would be mites, because aren't those highly contagious? She gets pecked on the neck, hips, and back by the others. I put some "Rooster Booster" in the water as a probiotic, but I haven't seen her drink it yet, but the others have. Her wings don't seem to be as feathered as the others. Also, her crop is quite empty, and her breast bone sticks out a lot more than the others. Any ideas as to what the problem is and how to fix it? Thanks in advance.

 

[Megan Amber]

Have you considered worms? The pale comb and all really sounds like that might be it.

 

[Alden Chickens]

We are going to put real probiotics in the water. We are also going to try to give her pumpkin seeds, as they are a natural dewormer. Also, her wings ar definitley not as feathered as the others. She was sitting on the shelf in the pen, all scrunched up, and she looked like she was anput to sleep, but she kept twitching/shaking her head. It was the kind of twitch that looked like she was trying to get rid of an itch, or something that was on her and it was bothering her. Any thoughts as to what this might be?

 

[Megan Amber]

Sounds good. People will argue the heck with me but I swear by Diatamaceous Earth.

 

[dawg53]

Here's what happens when roundworms infect a chicken; they weaken the birds immune system allowing all types of diseases to invade their system. Here's a link where a BYC'er used DE and other organics as so called wormers....the DE and other organics failed her and the chickens. Proof is in the necropsy report from one of her chickens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ts-is-not-coryza-or-crd-parasites-are-rampant
Another link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/576245/proof-that-de-doesnt-work

 

[dawg53]

Alden Chickens: You're going to have to visually inspect your chickens for lice/mites, especially around the vent area.
Here's a link for you to take a look at.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Michael Apple]

Springtime is the period many see symptoms of the greens aka enteritis, blue comb, mud fever. Heavy rains, sudden changes in weather from warm to cold, picking around in bacteria laden puddles, changes in feed traced to wheat, will cause birds to stand around hunched up, dehydrated, they lose weight, and usually have green diarrhea. I've found that LA-200 at 1cc injected into the breast muscle morning and evening for 5 days is the quickest remedy. If the bird isn't in terrible shape, you can also get Neomycin powder and Bacitricin (BMD soluble) powder, mix equal parts together dry in a jar and give 1 teaspoon per gallon of water for 10 days.

If you go the route of treating for this, know that you should see improvement within 3 days. If not, I'd treat for Coccidiosis with Corid 9.6% liquid, 5ml per gallon of water. If the bird recovers and starts doing better, give the bird a break for three days on some of that Rooster Booster vitamin/probiotic you have in the water. Then worm 'em with Valbazen liquid at .5 cc orally with a syringe. Dawg is correct. DE won't do squat for treating worms.

 

[Michael Apple]

I forgot to mention that it is a good idea to keep grass cut around the yard and range areas. The sun dries out the ground better and keeps the slug, snail, bacteria, and protozoan population down. Plus, the birds won't eat long blades of grass that often cause crop impaction. Also, if you worm with Valbazen, wait ten days and do it again.

 

[Suzierd]

Alden Chickens: You're going to have to visually inspect your chickens for lice/mites, especially around the vent area.
Here's a link for you to take a look at.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

X2

 

[Alden Chickens]

It looks like, from everything we have read, that we may have a lice/mite issue and it may just be getting the one chicken down more than the others. Going to do a "deep" cleaning today and spray entire pen area with Sevin and then treat all the chickens with dust. Unfortunately we moved the younger chickens in to a pen within the big pen before we knew this so we will have to treat them too.
I know it is not related to getting out on green grass- we still have spots of snow and they haven't been out since last Fall when they were moved to the big barn.