Pale comb, no interest in food, and diarrhea. Please help.

[Ederle]

The feed store doesn't have permethrin. I'm looking on Amazon for it and can't seem to find anything that looks exactly like what you have, but I did find this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HHSIYQ/?tag=backy-20

Can I use it for mites?

In the meantime I used the natural spray on Vivienne and the others, while also cutting off any feathers that had mite eggs on them. I do have a question, though: would mites account for all of Vivienne's strange symptoms? Even the green diarrhea? I only found three mites on her after a thorough search, while some of the others had many more and are still acting fine.

I haven't seen her poop today, but if I do I'll get pictures.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The feed store doesn't have permethrin. I'm looking on Amazon for it and can't seem to find anything that looks exactly like what you have, but I did find this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HHSIYQ/?tag=backy-20

Can I use it for mites?

In the meantime I used the natural spray on Vivienne and the others, while also cutting off any feathers that had mite eggs on them. I do have a question, though: would mites account for all of Vivienne's strange symptoms? Even the green diarrhea? I only found three mites on her after a thorough search, while some of the others had many more and are still acting fine.

I haven't seen her poop today, but if I do I'll get pictures.

The Nu Stock is not used to treat mites/lice on the body. You should be able to find a Permethrin based poultry spray or dust at you local feed store like Tractor Supply, look in the horse section. Sometimes the dust you will find in the garden section.
I added a few photos below of examples of what you might find, the link has a few others.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pesticides-approved-for-poultry-in-the-us.1151513/

You mention cutting mite eggs off the feathers - are you dealing with mites or lice? They are a little different in the timeline that you treat them. If you are seeing eggs at the base of the feathers you are probably dealing with lice. See this link for identification. https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

It would be a very good idea to get a sample of her poop and take it to your vet for testing too.

 

[Ederle]

The Nu Stock is not used to treat mites/lice on the body. You should be able to find a Permethrin based poultry spray or dust at you local feed store like Tractor Supply, look in the horse section. Sometimes the dust you will find in the garden section.
I added a few photos below of examples of what you might find, the link has a few others.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pesticides-approved-for-poultry-in-the-us.1151513/

You mention cutting mite eggs off the feathers - are you dealing with mites or lice? They are a little different in the timeline that you treat them. If you are seeing eggs at the base of the feathers you are probably dealing with lice. See this link for identification. https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

It would be a very good idea to get a sample of her poop and take it to your vet for testing too.



View attachment 1794575View attachment 1794576View attachment 1794577

It's definitely poultry lice, not mites--my bad. I assume treatment is the same? Is there any way to permanently get rid of them, or will they just keep coming back like they have been?

Would you happen to know if a normal vet would test chicken poop? I'm not sure how different that process is for different animals.

Vivienne refused to eat again today. She won't touch the food in the coop at all, in fact she won't even look at it. I gave her grapes (her favorite) and she completely ignored them. She usually LOVES grapes, so this is pretty worrying...Should I try to do tube feeding with her? She could not possibly have less interest in eating, and it's worrying me. She is still walking around with the other hens when I let them out and even dug in the dirt a little bit, but she still is a bit slow when compared to them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Treatment would be the same. To help eliminate external parasites, you will need to remove all bedding from your coop and treat it as well. Repeat according to directions on the product label.

You will have to ask your vet if they can do the test for you. Some vets will not perform the test.

Can you get a video of Vivienne or photos of her?

 

[Ederle]

I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you guys--I finally was able to get pictures of her and her poop this morning. She is still walking around, a bit slower than the others but otherwise she looks normal. She still won't really eat anything, the only thing I have seen her eat was a roach. Other than that, she has refused to touch food.

There isn't much to take video of, but if that would help in diagnosing the problem I think I could figure out how to get a video of her.

The feathers on her rear look unkempt in the photo, this is because I had to trim them--they were covered in poop.

I have also noticed that one of my ducks is not very enthusiastic about food today, which is very unlike her--but it is around ninety degrees outside, so I think her weird behavior might be due to the ridiculous heat.

@casportpony @Wyorp Rock @Texas Kiki

 

[Ederle]

Also, I asked my mom about a vet visit--I can't take Vivienne myself--and she has confirmed that that is not an option for me.

I did get all of the lice off of Vivienne and the rest of the flock yesterday, and I thoroughly cleaned the coop too. I am putting Rooster Booster in the water, and I have seen Vivienne drinking it, but so far it doesn't seem as if it has made a difference.

I am starting to suspect internal laying. Vivienne's abdomen seems very firm, definitely different from the other hens' abdomens. Is there any way to confirm that she has internal laying? And if she does, would it be worth it to try to drain her, or would it be better to just try to make her last days as comfortable as possible without putting her through that stress?

 

[jshep]

Ten of my girls have already gotten coccidia once, about a year ago, and I treated them with Corid. So I do have Corid on hand, but if it's coccidia, why is it just two members of the flock that got sick? I remember when they got coccidia, they were all acting very ill and lethargic at the same time.

Can you tell me a little more about your problems you had I have a chicken that is ill lethargic with a pale comb and does not move very much at all she has diarrhea thanks I have 8 more new chickens that i want to add with my other chickens and i do not want them sick at all can you please help or steer me in the right direction thanks for any information you can give me

 

[Ederle]

Can you tell me a little more about your problems you had I have a chicken that is ill lethargic with a pale comb and does not move very much at all she has diarrhea thanks I have 8 more new chickens that i want to add with my other chickens and i do not want them sick at all can you please help or steer me in the right direction thanks for any information you can give me

How old is your chicken?

Sadly, Vivienne had internal laying or something similar. Her abdomen filled with fluid until it became hard, like a water balloon, and she ended up passing away after a few months. I didn't noticed the fluid until later on, after I posted this.

If your hen is younger, I would assume that it's probably not internal laying (all of mine who had it were over three years old), but you can check by feeling around her abdomen (under the tail and between the legs). If you feel a lot of swelling or it seems like it's filled with water, then it's either internal laying or something similar like reproductive cancer. I think liver failure can also cause this.

If that's not the case, it could be coccidia--are any other flock members showing symptoms? When mine had coccidia, they all got sick at once, and some of them had bloody diarrhea.

I think she most likely has worms, just based off of my experience. Is she really thin, but still eating? If so, definitely worms. You can sometimes actually see the worms in their poop, so you could check.


Hope she gets better soon, I'm sorry you're dealing with this ❤

 

[jshep]

How old is your chicken?

Sadly, Vivienne had internal laying or something similar. Her abdomen filled with fluid until it became hard, like a water balloon, and she ended up passing away after a few months. I didn't noticed the fluid until later on, after I posted this.

If your hen is younger, I would assume that it's probably not internal laying (all of mine who had it were over three years old), but you can check by feeling around her abdomen (under the tail and between the legs). If you feel a lot of swelling or it seems like it's filled with water, then it's either internal laying or something similar like reproductive cancer. I think liver failure can also cause this.

If that's not the case, it could be coccidia--are any other flock members showing symptoms? When mine had coccidia, they all got sick at once, and some of them had bloody diarrhea.

I think she most likely has worms, just based off of my experience. Is she really thin, but still eating? If so, definitely worms. You can sometimes actually see the worms in their poop, so you could check.


Hope she gets better soon, I'm sorry you're dealing with this ❤

She is three years old none of the others are sick but this morning she was still on the roost with her eyes closed she felt thin the other chickens are the same age and seem to be fine. But I had to get rid of her today i can not take the chance of her getting my other chickens sick and i have 8 new ones real close to the older chickens. Sad but i have a Mother in Law that is in hospice so I really don't don't have the time for major problems thanks for the info I hope the others chickens will be okay this is the first time have chickens the first three years where fine this seems to be my first problem at all again thanks for the advice