Questions about Illness & Prevention

[CrystalAnon]

I have a gal (Lucy) who is not showing any signs of illness other than a pale comb. I know that is a sign of underlying illness. But I do not see anything else that tells me what might be wrong, and therefore not sure what to do for her.
She has a healthy appetite, she’s drinking plenty of water, her crop is working well, she still has fluffy butt feathers, she talks to me anytime I’m around her, she’s active, she’s thin… but she has always been smaller than our other breeds, along with her sister of the same breed, who does not have a pale comb. I checked for mites, I put all new food in their feeders. I have been changing their water regularly, I add ACV as well as Mimi’s Fulvic/Humic acid to one of their 3 regular waterers. Have given them an extra (4th) glass water bowl with Hydro-hen mixed in. I noticed a huge swarm of mosquitos after Hurricane Debby passed through here with 1ft of rain, so I got a battery fan that is quite nice for blowing the mosquitos away from our flock when they’re trying to roost in the coop at night.
My question is… what do you do for hens you see might have an underlying issue, but it hasn’t got so bad where you see a more clear heath issue?
I don’t have enough to go on to diagnose her, but I’d rather not wait that long.
Prevention is better than cure. And catching something early is way better than waiting until there is a clear health issue.
We lost our first hen (Grace) to a rather aggressive sour crop/yeast infection (… or could have been a blockage of some sort) last week, so I’m rather raw emotionally.
I want to do what’s best for my chickens, and that loss was a punch to the gut.
What do you all do when you see a slight issue, but it’s not to the point where you can actually guess what the problem might be?
I thank everyone for any ideas you’re gracious enough to spend your time to respond with!

 

[CrystalAnon]

I have a gal (Lucy) who is not showing any signs of illness other than a pale comb. I know that is a sign of underlying illness. But I do not see anything else that tells me what might be wrong, and therefore not sure what to do for her.
She has a healthy appetite, she’s drinking plenty of water, her crop is working well, she still has fluffy butt feathers, she talks to me anytime I’m around her, she’s active, she’s thin… but she has always been smaller than our other breeds, along with her sister of the same breed, who does not have a pale comb. I checked for mites, I put all new food in their feeders. I have been changing their water regularly, I add ACV as well as Mimi’s Fulvic/Humic acid to one of their 3 regular waterers. Have given them an extra (4th) glass water bowl with Hydro-hen mixed in. I noticed a huge swarm of mosquitos after Hurricane Debby passed through here with 1ft of rain, so I got a battery fan that is quite nice for blowing the mosquitos away from our flock when they’re trying to roost in the coop at night.
My question is… what do you do for hens you see might have an underlying issue, but it hasn’t got so bad where you see a more clear heath issue?
I don’t have enough to go on to diagnose her, but I’d rather not wait that long.
Prevention is better than cure. And catching something early is way better than waiting until there is a clear health issue.
We lost our first hen (Grace) to a rather aggressive sour crop/yeast infection (… or could have been a blockage of some sort) last week, so I’m rather raw emotionally.
I want to do what’s best for my chickens, and that loss was a punch to the gut.
What do you all do when you see a slight issue, but it’s not to the point where you can actually guess what the problem might be?
I thank everyone for any ideas you’re gracious enough to spend your time to respond with!

My other question would be, what deworming solution works best for you? That’s my next idea is to deworm them. But there are so many… what has worked best for you? It might not be parasites that’s causing Lucy’s pale comb, but my chickens have been outside for over a year now. It’s time for all of them.
Let me know what’s worked well for you.

 

[SkyAJK]

I have a gal (Lucy) who is not showing any signs of illness other than a pale comb. I know that is a sign of underlying illness. But I do not see anything else that tells me what might be wrong, and therefore not sure what to do for her.
She has a healthy appetite, she’s drinking plenty of water, her crop is working well, she still has fluffy butt feathers, she talks to me anytime I’m around her, she’s active, she’s thin… but she has always been smaller than our other breeds, along with her sister of the same breed, who does not have a pale comb. I checked for mites, I put all new food in their feeders. I have been changing their water regularly, I add ACV as well as Mimi’s Fulvic/Humic acid to one of their 3 regular waterers. Have given them an extra (4th) glass water bowl with Hydro-hen mixed in. I noticed a huge swarm of mosquitos after Hurricane Debby passed through here with 1ft of rain, so I got a battery fan that is quite nice for blowing the mosquitos away from our flock when they’re trying to roost in the coop at night.
My question is… what do you do for hens you see might have an underlying issue, but it hasn’t got so bad where you see a more clear heath issue?
I don’t have enough to go on to diagnose her, but I’d rather not wait that long.
Prevention is better than cure. And catching something early is way better than waiting until there is a clear health issue.
We lost our first hen (Grace) to a rather aggressive sour crop/yeast infection (… or could have been a blockage of some sort) last week, so I’m rather raw emotionally.
I want to do what’s best for my chickens, and that loss was a punch to the gut.
What do you all do when you see a slight issue, but it’s not to the point where you can actually guess what the problem might be?
I thank everyone for any ideas you’re gracious enough to spend your time to respond with!

I am sorry for your loss of your girl Grace.

You have done a lot caring for your chickens. Next is worming like CrystalAnon stated. Internal parasites could cause her to lose weight.

Might be the fan causes her some discomfort.

How pale is her comb? Could you post a photo of it?

I once had a hen that was so healthy, one day her comb looked purple. It was sudden, I checked her all over, I treated her the best that I know how, she got better for a few days, then back to purple comb, pooped liquid and other signs of ill health. I finally took her to the vet, had an ultrasound, the vet told me she had load of internal laying eggs, it is kinder to let her go and she was euthanized. Got home, I cut her open to look inside, there was no internal laying eggs.What I found was her intestines were swollen, leaking brown liquid. I send those photos to the VET, they told me she had reproductive issues. I still don't know what health issues she had.

 

[CrystalAnon]

I am sorry for your loss of your girl Grace.

You have done a lot caring for your chickens. Next is worming like CrystalAnon stated. Internal parasites could cause her to lose weight.

Might be the fan causes her some discomfort.

How pale is her comb? Could you post a photo of it?

I once had a hen that was so healthy, one day her comb looked purple. It was sudden, I checked her all over, I treated her the best that I know how, she got better for a few days, then back to purple comb, pooped liquid and other signs of ill health. I finally took her to the vet, had an ultrasound, the vet told me she had load of internal laying eggs, it is kinder to let her go and she was euthanized. Got home, I cut her open to look inside, there was no internal laying eggs.What I found was her intestines were swollen, leaking brown liquid. I send those photos to the VET, they told me she had reproductive issues. I still don't know what health issues she had.

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry for your hen. That is heart-breaking. Sounds like the vet just wanted to stick with their original diagnosis, and not revisit it. But clearly, it was not what they thought & reason for euthanasia. I can't even tell you how mad I would be about that. But I’m sorry for your loss, regardless of how it came about. My dad just lost his fav hen, out of 60-ish. Haley Eagle, a rescue he found on the side of the road with one wing as a pullet. After 2 years of nursing her & integrating her into his flock. A bobcat took her. He warned me. He asked how many chicks I got. I said 11. He said, “That’s 11 little heartbreaks.” But the heartbreak comes from the joy they bring him & myself. It’s so worth it.
Lucy had a purple comb before, so I know what that looks like. Lucy’s comb was just pale pink instead of the normal bright red, this time.
I found out what the issue is, but it was something I hadn’t encountered yet. She was going through a partial molt, but it was mostly underneath her, so I couldn’t see it until I inspected her while she was on her roost. No mites, no redness on her skin. Just a molt. She grew back most of her peach fuzz feathers under her in about a week. Most of my chickens have gone through this same phase now (molt, with a pale comb & low energy). So now I know this is how it’s effecting them. The Azure Eggers even lost the yellow color in their legs until after their molt!
I gave them more protein to help it along. A bit of Kefir too, to help them with extra probiotics. I’ve also purchased some soy-free plume pellets. 20% protein. It doesn’t get super cold here, but I still want all my gals to be well done with molting before it’s below freezing… it goes from very mild to very cold here quick.
When Lucy had canker bad, she had breathing issues & parts of her comb were purple. The tips. Mouth-breathing. I had to learn how to scrape the plaque out of her mouth, trying not to make her bleed. I found that when I successfully scraped the plaque off of the top of her beak inside her mouth, it cleared up her breathing… and her comb went back to almost normal color. It was all over her tongue, cheeks, top, bottom & sides of her beak & some slightly down her throat… all had that nasty, sticky (sometimes hard/crusty), disgusting plaque! I had to do that many times along with daily treatments of metronidazole & fenbendazole. I switched them, one for two days & the other for two days to really kill those parasites! If I hadn’t done anything, I guarantee she would have died. She couldn’t even close her beak when I noticed there was a major problem with her! The next chicken (Xena) I found with canker was a total breeze because I caught it way early & had already learned on Lucy how to get the plaque out with zero bleeding & had everything for my best treatment plan. Xena got everything I learned with Lucy, and I had it all on hand that time. I had to find a specialty tropical fish store for the metronidazole. Amazon would have delivered it, but only in a few days. Lucy didn’t have a few days to wait for treatment, at that time.
I just recently purchased some chicken dewormer. Other than the two gals that had canker, none of them have been dewormed. They will be two years old in Feb. I put diatomaceous earth & pepper flakes in their food, but I need to do a more direct deworming for all of them. Should be arriving today!
Thank you for your response!!
(PS- I didn’t read the post I wrote that this reply was referencing, so if I repeated myself here, apologies!)

 

[SkyAJK]

Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry for your hen. That is heart-breaking. Sounds like the vet just wanted to stick with their original diagnosis, and not revisit it. But clearly, it was not what they thought & reason for euthanasia. I can't even tell you how mad I would be about that. But I’m sorry for your loss, regardless of how it came about. My dad just lost his fav hen, out of 60-ish. Haley Eagle, a rescue he found on the side of the road with one wing as a pullet. After 2 years of nursing her & integrating her into his flock. A bobcat took her. He warned me. He asked how many chicks I got. I said 11. He said, “That’s 11 little heartbreaks.” But the heartbreak comes from the joy they bring him & myself. It’s so worth it.
Lucy had a purple comb before, so I know what that looks like. Lucy’s comb was just pale pink instead of the normal bright red, this time.
I found out what the issue is, but it was something I hadn’t encountered yet. She was going through a partial molt, but it was mostly underneath her, so I couldn’t see it until I inspected her while she was on her roost. No mites, no redness on her skin. Just a molt. She grew back most of her peach fuzz feathers under her in about a week. Most of my chickens have gone through this same phase now (molt, with a pale comb & low energy). So now I know this is how it’s effecting them. The Azure Eggers even lost the yellow color in their legs until after their molt!
I gave them more protein to help it along. A bit of Kefir too, to help them with extra probiotics. I’ve also purchased some soy-free plume pellets. 20% protein. It doesn’t get super cold here, but I still want all my gals to be well done with molting before it’s below freezing… it goes from very mild to very cold here quick.
When Lucy had canker bad, she had breathing issues & parts of her comb were purple. The tips. Mouth-breathing. I had to learn how to scrape the plaque out of her mouth, trying not to make her bleed. I found that when I successfully scraped the plaque off of the top of her beak inside her mouth, it cleared up her breathing… and her comb went back to almost normal color. It was all over her tongue, cheeks, top, bottom & sides of her beak & some slightly down her throat… all had that nasty, sticky (sometimes hard/crusty), disgusting plaque! I had to do that many times along with daily treatments of metronidazole & fenbendazole. I switched them, one for two days & the other for two days to really kill those parasites! If I hadn’t done anything, I guarantee she would have died. She couldn’t even close her beak when I noticed there was a major problem with her! The next chicken (Xena) I found with canker was a total breeze because I caught it way early & had already learned on Lucy how to get the plaque out with zero bleeding & had everything for my best treatment plan. Xena got everything I learned with Lucy, and I had it all on hand that time. I had to find a specialty tropical fish store for the metronidazole. Amazon would have delivered it, but only in a few days. Lucy didn’t have a few days to wait for treatment, at that time.
I just recently purchased some chicken dewormer. Other than the two gals that had canker, none of them have been dewormed. They will be two years old in Feb. I put diatomaceous earth & pepper flakes in their food, but I need to do a more direct deworming for all of them. Should be arriving today!
Thank you for your response!!
(PS- I didn’t read the post I wrote that this reply was referencing, so if I repeated myself here, apologies!)

I felt your hard work caring and treating your girls. Your dad, I can imagine his pain.

Your dad is right, 11 chickens = 11 heartache and tears. Yes, the love chickens give you, but the heartache when they pass is just unbearable at time. I cried until my eyes swollen and pain. Many times I woke up early and thought about each and everyone of my chickens.

A few weeks after the rain, our chickens starting to show signs of worms. Pepper flakes for dewormer, it must work as you had not worm your chickens for nearly 2 years. We do not have pepper flakes, just those power pepper which is not hot. I might get some pepper corns and mince it in the grinder.