Nearly 5 year old lethargic shaking head

[craftymelissa]

Will treating her for mites help her? She probably has had mites for a while but just Saturday became lethargic. I don't want to play chicken vet it is not going to help her.

 

[BantamLover21]

Will treating her for mites help her? She probably has had mites for a while but just Saturday became lethargic. I don't want to play chicken vet it is not going to help her.

Treating for mites will certainly help her, since mites basically suck energy from birds and cause constant irritation. However, it may not completely solve whatever is wrong with her. Five years is decently old for a chicken, so she could have an internal egg laying problem, organ failure, and/or an underlying disease. The mites could be opportunistically attacking an otherwise weakened bird.

I would treat the mites with sevin dust or poultry dust/pymethrin. I would also recommend isolating her from any other birds in a warm, clean place. Put some poultry vitamins/electrolytes in her water if possible and offer anything she'll eat. Worming her would be a good idea, too. Valbazen or Safeguard are great worming options.