Need help with diagnosis!

[dfchaser]

We got some chickens a few months back. There was one that was missing a ton of feathers from her back. We have named her Naked Hen, anyway, she was always in good spirits, needed help getting in the coop and roosted since she could only fly a foot off the ground, her flight feathers were not really there. She would lay daily. Over the past 2 weeks we have gotten no eggs and noticed that she just sits in the nesting boxes. Her crop was always empty and she began to loose weight. Finally last week, I snatched her up and set her a nice place in the basement in hopes to fatten her up and get her to get some good feather growth. After a week on water with vitamins, a mix of layer pellets/chick crumbles/corn and meat scraps we have still not really gained any weight. He feather growth is improving, weight not so much and now she has pale waddles and comb. And her comb has become droopy. She sleeps a lot and drinks a lot, and eats a fair amount. She likes to come out of the cage and walk with me around the basement. He poop is normal with the exception of a large amount of liquid that comes with it. Figured it was just because she was drinking so much water. Her crop feels good each night, not 100% full, but def not empty.

I have done a search on Maraks and dont think that the symptoms fit, but from what i understand every bird is different.

I am also assuming she is not well since we have not had any eggs in a while. Could be a combination of the weight loss and molt.
Any ideas/Suggestions?

 

[elmo]

Have you considered the possibility of worms? You could take a stool sample to the vet and have them test for worms. When a bird is weak/sick, worming them can be a stressful proposition, so you wouldn't want to put her through that without being pretty sure she has worms.

 

[dfchaser]

My DH thought of that, but we figured it was a no since there was nothing visable in the stool. A test is not a bad idea. I will have to call the vet tomorrow!

 

[elmo]

From what I understand, by the time you can see worms in the poo, the bird probably has a very heavy load of worms.

The other thing I thought of was to check your chicken carefully for mites. Just do a search here on this forum and you'll come up with information on how to search and what you're looking for.

Good luck! I hope your bird gets better soon.

 

[Plain Old Dee]

Could she just be going through a really hard molt? I know she had missing feathers when you got her, but maybe the stress of growing them back in is causing her to loose the weight? This might be part of the explanation - more food energy going into growing feathers than into gaining weight?

 

[nnbreeder]

My vote would be worms too. All a bird usually sheds is the eggs and they are way to small to see with the naked eye.

 

[ArizonaNessa]

My first thought even before reading what others have suggested was worms. If she is eating and drinking and still no weight coming on after all you have done then something must be taking the nutrients from her and that would be worms. I could be wrong but I bet a good worming would cause you to see improvement. I would also check her for mites or lice as someone else here already suggested. Heck it wouldn't hurt to dust her for them even if you don't see the bugs. I would think after dusting and worming there couldn't possibly be anything else that could be sucking up all her nutrient.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Worming in the fall is always a good idea. The egg production is down, they are molting anyhow and you really do not want to throw a lot of feed at your girls if all your doing is feeding worms.

Do not go with a heavy duty treatment. Wazine in the water for a few day and then again in about 10 days will most certainly tell you if your bird are indeed carrying worms.