Loose stools, losing weight, pale comb help please

[diamondie]

Hi, my beloved chicken has been losing weight, she has very loose brownish stools, now i noticed her feathers are coming our under her beak. Not sure if thats molting but I dont think she has laid in weeks. She is active and eats just looks sickly to me. I have wazine but never dewormed. Any thoughts what my first step should be? Please and thank you.

 

[AZ Chicken Mama]

I would quarantine and give her the Wazine ASAP!! Mine had a lot of similar issues loosing weight pale comb etc. we couldn't figure out what was wrong til I actually saw a worm come out of her . That worked like a charm. Luckily none of my other chickens got worms and she rebounded quick and is doing much better. Is she loosing any feathers? Mine was also doing that so we thought it was a molting issue but it wasn't! Good luck! You will have a lot of opinions on this subject so this is just mine. Hope she gets better. I just noticed you already mentioned about the feathers....

 

[RodNTN]

The feather loss is probably molting, but I agree with the above, deworm ASAP.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @diamondie Welcome To BYC

It looks like she is molting. Birds that are molting can lose a bit of weight, they usually don't eat as much and don't feel well. Their combs will also become pale and shrink.

If possible having a fresh poop sample tested by your vet for worms would be best - this way know will know if worms are a concern and what kind she has so you give her the proper de-worming treatment. Wazine works for roundworms only.

Since she is molting she would benefit from extra protein in her daily diet and some poultry vitamins a couple of times a week.

 

[diamondie]

Thank you so much. My vet wants $160 for exam and stool test, will not do stool test without an exam.

 

[AZchickens17]

Hello. Has she been eating or drinking anything, and what do her poops look like? Could you attach some photos?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much. My vet wants $160 for exam and stool test, will not do stool test without an exam.

That's pricy

Is every poop loose? What do you feed?
Check her crop to make sure that it's emptying overnight, just to make sure a crop problem is not causing weight loss.

Worms can cause weight loss, so if you have the Wazine you can try to see if that makes a difference.

Fenbendazole (Safeguard/Panacur) and Valbazen take care of more worms, but she is molting - I have read the Fenbendazole can cause deformed feather growth in molting birds. So you if need to treat her for more than roundworms, it would be best to treat her with these after she finishes molting.