- Sep 27, 2013
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We just had a chicken with a purple comb on the back half and some of the tips. Then she started showing signs of lethargy. She has poultry lice, so I dusted her to help with that. I was going to worm her because we thought she might have worms. And since it seems that purple comb can mean just about anything, we went to the feed store to ask what they thought. The lady that helped us was wonderful, and just for an FYI for people in the future that have maybe this problem and don't know what to do, She directed us to this feed called Calf-Manna. It's super high in protein, it's supposed to be a protein booster. We made a mash with the regular chicken feed and added about a teaspoon of these pellets and baby bird feed to the mash. After a day and a half of her eating this mash she is back to her old self.
We didn't worm her because if a chicken is sick it could be too much for her to handle. Also the lady at the feed store informed me this really interesting fact, and since it is all over the internet and backyard chickens I thought I would just throw it in here. DE doesn't actually work with deworming chickens. You can keep putting it in their feed but it doesn't actually work. The gizzard breaks down the DE before it gets into the intestines. Which I didn't know. So it's not effective as a wormer. Makes sense since they eat stones and break them down in the gizzard and since DE is basically like stones, well then it gets broken down. I'm putting it in the feed still but, just thought I would share that. Can't hurt.
Calf-Manna helps with sick chickens, but you don't want to feed them to much because it is so potent. It probably is good for the molt which honestly I think that and the change of weather is what made her feel down along with the lice.
We didn't worm her because if a chicken is sick it could be too much for her to handle. Also the lady at the feed store informed me this really interesting fact, and since it is all over the internet and backyard chickens I thought I would just throw it in here. DE doesn't actually work with deworming chickens. You can keep putting it in their feed but it doesn't actually work. The gizzard breaks down the DE before it gets into the intestines. Which I didn't know. So it's not effective as a wormer. Makes sense since they eat stones and break them down in the gizzard and since DE is basically like stones, well then it gets broken down. I'm putting it in the feed still but, just thought I would share that. Can't hurt.
Calf-Manna helps with sick chickens, but you don't want to feed them to much because it is so potent. It probably is good for the molt which honestly I think that and the change of weather is what made her feel down along with the lice.
