My Anna is 1/2 her weight

[Heidi65]

On August 28th we weighed all of our girls and in grams Anna weighed in at 2270g. She looked like she was starting to molt as she had some feather that need to be replaced. Most of the time we don't need to pick up our girls when we put them up at night as we bait them and they all just go into their pens.

Over the past week it has been cold and one after afternoon I noticed her not running out when they were out so I went and picked her up and she weighed NOTHING! I held her, the sun was out and she napped in my arms as I pet her. After a while she jumped down and was back to her normal self. John, my hubby, has been make warmed oats for them since it has been so cold and all of the girls love it and she has been eating a lot of it. She still runs around the yard flapping and scratching for stuff, eating what greens they find and bugs.

Last night we weighed her and she is down to 1340grams! We were shocked! It is raining and cold outside so we have her in the greenhouse with a heat lamp. John just fixed her some oats, gave her some corn, their favorite, water and some of our parrots highly fortified food, another of their favorite. After she ate I held her and she went to sleep, while John found the heat lamp and then I put her down under it and she is closing her eyes under it. Next time he goes out he will take some of her food out there.

Any suggestion on what to do? Her comb is still good color and other than it looks like she is molting, her feathers look good. My daughters friend who knows chickens was here and looked and said she didn't have mites but that is all we got, we just met her. We have 12 hens including Anna and she is the only one who is losing weight and we have no idea what to do. After feeding her oats and corn her dropping was loose but still formed and looked normal.

Thank you.

 

[azygous]

Keep doing what you're doing. Your thin minnie is dropping weight because of molt. I have a tiny hen who is a light weight during the best of times, but during molt, a light breeze would blow her away like a dry leaf. She also acts subdued, not her usual friendly self. This is all quite normal.

Your girl will return to her normal weight soon after she has most of her new feathers.

 

[Heidi65]

Thank you, we are doing anything and everything we can think of to keep food in her because she is so light! She is so deceiving to look at, she look great
until you pick her up then she is nothing but bones. If you think of something else after looking at her let me know. She has a lot of feather shafts on her head that you probably can't see in this picture. We are just worried because it is taking her FOREVER to molt. Now our EE (I think that is what they actually are) will use any ole excuse not to lay, they are our little slackers and are milking their molt but Anna has been "molting" for months.

Thank you again Azygous!

 

[Heidi65]

Thank you, we are doing anything and everything we can think of to keep food in her because she is so light! She is so deceiving to look at, she look great
until you pick her up then she is nothing but bones. If you think of something else after looking at her let me know. She has a lot of feather shafts on her head that you probably can't see in this picture. We are just worried because it is taking her FOREVER to molt. Now our EE (I think that is what they actually are) will use any ole excuse not to lay, they are our little slackers and are milking their molt but Anna has been "molting" for months.

Thank you again Azygous!

 

[Weehopper]

How long since you wormed all of your chickens?

 

[Heidi65]

Umm, I don't remember if we wormed them we brought them home or not, (my memory isn't good with the meds I'm on) and she is almost 2.

What would we buy to worm them? I have TSC and a Pet Headquarters that carries some chicken supplies. I'll order something if I have to.

She spent yesterday in the greenhouse where the temp was between 85-95 most of the day so she seems to warm up. We just put her back in there now but of course it will take about an hour for it to warm up since it is so cold out but she is eating oatmeal again. She also loved eating snow yesterday that we would put in there for her.

 

[Weehopper]

I am using Rooster Booster, multi wormer triple action.
I think I got it through Jeffers Pet online. You keep a small amount all of the time, in their feed. It has the added benefit of vitamines.
But there are several good workers on the market. A lot of people like Ivomec. You would have to look in the forums to find out which kind and dosage.

 

[Heidi65]

Ok, We found some Ivermectin and wormed her and we will do the rest of our girls later this evening. We also found some Nutri-Drench and gave that to her. One thing we have noticed with her being in the green house is she is NOT eating her chicken food! We have been feed our girls Purina Layena Crumbles and Pellets. Is it possible for her to all of the sudden to NOT like the food? If so what are our options? I'm going to do a search here and see if there is such a thing a homemade chicken feed but we need something that is going to help soon. I don't think I could stomach fermenting food and I've heard also bad things about it.

Again, ideas?

 

[Weehopper]

I switched my girls from laying pellets to Flock Raiser. I keep oyster shell available in a cup hanging in the pen. They like the Flock Raiser way better than the laying pellets. Higher protein.