!! MITES !! VERY SICK CHICKEN, PALE NOT EATING/DRINKING

[yayIlovechickens]

She is about two or three years in age. We have been having problems with mites but we have ben lacking lately. She has been sleeping in the coop while hte other chicken has been avoiding sleeping in there. This morning I found her weaker than ever. She is covered in mites and pale because of the blood loss I think.

I am very worried. I gave her water and gatorade with a siringe but she wont eat her favorite treats. She is very tired and weak. I put Diatomaceous earth on her.
How do I get the mites off and her happy and eating?? PLEASE HELP!!

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hi! Shes anemic, can you dose her with molasses and some cooked beef? Or beef liver?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Where are you located? You really need to get permethrin garden dust or permethrin 10 spray and treat them. Mites cause anemia, weakness, and eventually death. DE won’t treat this outbreak. Your other birds, coop, nests and roosts need to be treated once bedding is removed far away. Treat the birds every 7 days until no mites are alive.

 

[Eggcessive]

Beef or liver is good for iron. Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell are good tonics that have iron and vitamins. At Tractor Supply and some other feed stores, they sell Martins or Gordons permethrin 10 concentrate which has to be mixed with water. Do not use it without diluting it 1 tsp per quart of water. It is good to spray the coop and floors as well as the roosts. The diluted permethrin can be used on the chickens, but the dust may be better so they don’t get wet and cold.

 

[yayIlovechickens]

Welcome to BYC. Where are you located? You really need to get permethrin garden dust or permethrin 10 spray and treat them. Mites cause anemia, weakness, and eventually death. DE won’t treat this outbreak. Your other birds, coop, nests and roosts need to be treated once bedding is removed far away. Treat the birds every 7 days until no mites are alive.

We are in Denver, Colorado. It is relatively warm right now so the spray would be fine probably.

Our other hen is isolated from the sick one. We will go to tractor supply to look for those supplies.

 

[yayIlovechickens]

Hi! Shes anemic, can you dose her with molasses and some cooked beef? Or beef liver?

@SmiYa0126 Ok, I was thinking of how to get her iron and this seems great except how do I get her to ingest it if she it not eating?

I could blend beef and use the syringe??
And mix the molasses with water?

 

[SmiYa0126]

You can force feed her, if you're right handed, put her on your left thigh, pull on her wattles or carefully pry her beak open with your left hand and feed her with your right hand. For the molasses, dip her beak into a measuring spoon and see if she'll take some of it. If she gets stressed, take breaks.

Side note do they have access to dust bathe?

 

[yayIlovechickens]

You can force feed her, if you're right handed, put her on your left thigh, pull on her wattles or carefully pry her beak open with your left hand and feed her with your right hand. For the molasses, dip her beak into a measuring spoon and see if she'll take some of it. If she gets stressed, take breaks.

Side note do they have access to dust bathe?

@SmiYa0126 Thank you so much for the advice. They do have places where they can dust bathe but we are working on making them a designated place. Right now they just find divots in the ground and do them there.
I tried force feeding with some scambled eggs a little while ago but she just closed her mouth with the food inside.

I will try again more forcefully.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Let's whet her appetite a little, if she's not swallowing then it will be hard to feed her. Can you give her sweetened water? Need to boost her blood sugar.

 

[yayIlovechickens]

Let's whet her appetite a little, if she's not swallowing then it will be hard to feed her. Can you give her sweetened water? Need to boost her blood sugar.

I will give her sweetened water. I also gave her cheerios mixed with water for iron.