New hen that eats voraciously!!!!

[chooniecat]

I originally posted about this BO hen as she is new(2 weeks to me) and I have her seperated to observe her and noticed pretty bad diarrhea and assumed worms. Her diarrhea is gone(poo looks perfect) but she still attacks the bowl(and ME if I don't move quick enuf!) when I put her food in and gobbles every speck I give her(well-let me edit that because yesterday I put her in dog kennel for the day and she had a HUGE bowl of food available and finished ALMOST all). my point is I don't know WHY she is such an agressive eater and am still concerned she may be ill(???) before I intigrate her with my other 25. can't afford to take to vets and I am certainly not going to cull her unless she seems unhappy/truely ill. Any ideas on why a hen would be starved acting(yet her weight is good)?neurotic?

 

[Break an Egg]

Have you felt her to really make sure her weight is good? She could look fine because of how fluffy BO's can be. You should be able to feel the breast bone, but it should be padded.

If her weight is good, I would say to worm her with wazine, put it in her water, then 2 weeks later wazine in the water again.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I don't know, but DO NOT put that bird in your flock!

 

[linben]

It could be that she was at the bottom of the pecking order and did not get all the food she wanted so now she is like a kid with candy.

 

[emys]

Did you worm with something specifically for tape worms? Most wormers don't kill tape worms, and she could very well have some.

 

[dolly85]

BO are decent sized birds and mine eat a lot too. If she had tapeworm you would see the egg packets sticking to her feathers around her vent and on the ground. I would just suspect she is not used to having so much food available and thinks she needs to eat excessively fast.

 

[chooniecat]

OK-this is SO frustrating. I have had animals my whole life(dogs/cats, know how to do the topical worm/fleas/tick prevention stuff)) and i have TRIED to get answers on here about wormers and am not getting clear answers. I went to TSC and ALL they have is wormers for dogs/cat/bovine/porcine. can THOSE be used? what is the PERCENTAGE of wazine to use???? they offer a couple of strengths in bovine. I will go to another TSC today to see if SOMEONE there knows or maybe THEY actually have the chicken wazine. she came to me as having been in an urban setting(single chicken in backyard kennel) because the girl had recieved it as a gift(WHY do people do this-so cruel) and she was no longer interested in caring for it. the hen is 2 yo and her breastbone can be felt but shes not scrawny.and she is appx. 4 1/2 lbs(but she looks small for a normal BO anyhow). I don't want to get into too many wormings but I have no problem(if i can get some precise dosage/percentages of wazine/ivermectin from TSC) worming the whole bunch THIS time as i have NEVER wormed in my 7 1/2 yrs. of chickendom. I am afraid for my other girls but I have to figure SOMETHING out. like i said her poops look perfect and she's shiny, active, plays with her bells(came from previous home-OMG) so I don't know how concerned I SHOULD be. worrywart!!!

 

[chooniecat]

forgot this-thanks-will look that up promptly!!!
Quote:

 

[chooniecat]

The little bit I can find says to use Fenbendazole(safe guard for dogs) and that it is safe if you manage to overdose. otherwise everything else gets confusing and there are so many opinions. just want to keep my chickens healthy and not have to go in debt! I just went out and disected her ton of well formed poop from last night and can find no visable tapeworms. mayhaps i will ask the vet how much to put under a scope to identify pests.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

A dab of Safeguard/fenbendazole paste 10% about the size of a small pea will do the trick.