Need help sick chickens please!!!! long post!!! stopped laying!!!!

[the4heathernsmom]

No I don't think so on the feed. I watch real close on my feed after having lost a couple goats to bad feed. And I thought too at first maybe the scraps but they are fresh and we take them out immediately after dinners. I use scraps for supplement. I used Wazine I believe it is for worming and treated with sulmet, then now I have been finishing a round of Auromycin sp? on everyone in the drinking water.....I know don't treat them if not sick but I don't want to lose anyone else. Not only is it hard just to lose them but I have four kids who just don't understand and these are kinda pet birds as well as egg layers for us and the kids earn the money off the eggs for keeping pens clean and feeding watering etcetera.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

Am hoping you know not to use any cedar shavings...or the pine that is now mixed with cedar that tsc sells.

Heat will cause alot of problems too. Good luck! You seem to be doing all you can do. Hopefully they will rebound soon.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
I had to laugh because I was just thinking "oh what a wonderful idea" about your kiddos, and then I read your name "The heatherns mom"

It just really made me smile.

Since you are giving aureomycin, don't give any yogurt til you're completely done with that. You can give other types of probiotics if you have them, just not milk or yogurt products. But after it would be a good idea to replace the good bacteria back. So no changes on the Aureomycin then?

By the way, Wazine is meant as a repeat wormer as it only paralyzes adults, not many larva. To really do it best, I like following up with a more broadspectrum wormer in 4 weeks - something like Fenbendazole, ivermectin 5% cattle pour on, or similar.

 

[the4heathernsmom]

ok we have been out there working and cooling them off have ice making in the freezer I still don't see any bugs on them white or red. The ivermectin should do external parasites too right? Ok has anyone ever used cydectin on a chicken? I use cydectin cattle pour on for my goats to worm them instead of buying ivermectin could I just use the cydectin at 5 drops per chicken? externally right on their backs against the skin not feathers? I do NOT want to inject a chicken nope I do good to vaccinate the goats but would not even know where to begin on a bird. ok gotcha on the dairy products. And no the mulch is not supposed to have any cedar in it but 100% not sure.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

>>And no the mulch is not supposed to have any cedar in it but 100% not sure.<<

Cedar is highly toxic to all birds!! better check it out.

I would not be worming anything that is sick or weak...good way to kill them off for sure.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
I haven't used cydectin, not sure of anyone who has, but I have a friend or three who used eprinomectin. There was an old post here on BYC that said the following:

QUOTE:
"I would recommend two drops for bigger chickens and bantams and three drops for most large fowls and maybe four drops for very large fowls. "
SOURCE: http://tinyurl.com/okp7da

That's pretty close to 5% ivermectin's 1 drop for microbantams, 2 drops for small bantams, 3 drops for small chickens, 4 drops for average chickens, 5 drops for large chickens, 6 drops for small "giant" chickens, 7 drops for very large "giant" breeds of chickens.

Again because it's pour on, you will drop drops onto a bare batch of skin on the body (like under the wing, or th eback of the neck). I like the back of the neck as there is very little down there and it's easy, one handed, to position the syringe. I use a 3 cc syringe with a 25gauge needle to drop drops NEVER to inject, and always point it away from the bird - horizontal so if she jumps up it doesn't hit her -just knocks my hand away. For me, it's easier to make one drop at a time with that than with an eye dropper type apparatus.

***However***

If you use any ivermectin products, because of their action on both larva and adults, I would always worm with Wazine if the bird fits the following qualification:

- The bird is thin or has diarrhea
- Any worms have been shed in the flock
- The bird has an unknown worming history
- The bird hasn't been wormed in over 6 months with a 'broad spectrum' or 2 months with wazine
- The bird is under 4 months of age (I worm with Wazine and repeat once with Wazine in 4 weeks for underage birds)

Wazine will paralyze adults but not expel larva. So it won't cause issues with moderately large infestations. Ivermectin can sometimes stress the bird if there ar eheavy infestations, and of course not seeing worms doesn't mean they're free from them. Naked-eye visual inspection of feces for worms is an inaccurate way of ruling them out.

So let that be your guide. but if you have Cydectin, apparently others have used specifically the pour on.

 

[dlhunicorn]

If you are not sure the bird has ascarids (the only worm piperizine is effective against) then it has no use to give it.
see info and chart here:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/439/treatment-of-intestinal-worms-in-broiler-breeders

 

[the4heathernsmom]

ok I don't know for sure if they have worms. Some of the symptoms could indicate a wormload. I think I am more worried about the possible mite problem even though I ahven't seen any. I was just thinking of crossing out the worm problem and then the possible mite problem if I did a pour on worming because cydectin kills external parasites as well as internal. just weighing the options.

 

[threehorses]

Really though there's not a way to be sure the birds *don't* have worms without doing a fecal egg count, which would also eliminate the wazine step as well.

IF they had a low level if any worms, then ivermectin (or cydectin) could be used immediately. BUT if mites, you'd have to treat the coop as well as mites spend most of their time off of the birds, only coming on to feed.

Incidentally, lice and such are still hard to find. I just found a new spot to check - the legs. I've been checking one hen as a follow up to an earlier lice treatment from a month ago. Regularly. SHe's a pet so she gets checked every single day. There was nothing in the regular spots, only some poultry head lice on her skin right up against the skin on her leg feathers.

I really didn't dust them in 7 days so now I pay the price of having to do that again. Thankfully these were the head lice, not the grey sucking lice. They're very difficult to see on a wheat colored bird however. Even looking every single day, I missed them - they're tricky. You just have to keep looking.

Really it's a good habit to pick up the birds, examine them, talk low to them, and let them know that picking up does NOT = chicken dinner. And then you can find the bugs on random spot checks more easily.

 

[the4heathernsmom]

ok we did thorough exam of all kazillion it seems like chickens. We have solved part of the mystery......we found mites on all the newer birds I guess they have had them for a while because they are loaded with them. we got down to checking under wings seperating feathers all the way down to skin in different places and we found them and I got a "ewwww gross mom". They were not red or black they were a yellowish color and very very tiny just everywhere and as soon as you seperated the feathers and exposed the skin they were gone crawling to another place so the healthy chickens with no symptoms we went ahead and treated with the cydectin at the ivermectin dose. Can I just dust the roosts (wood) and bedding that we have not cleaned out already with something cheap like sevin dust. I am doing a trial run here and we will see what happens in the next few days and weeks with having treated them this way with the cydectin. Someone said you have to treat the coop too because they come off of the chickens......hmmm I wonder if these mites are like the lice I have to watch for on my goats. They did not look the same. Horrible thing to find but we are solving the mystery here one step at a time.