RIR is unhealthy but I'm not sure why...

[puddinbabe]

I have 2 RIR girls. We got them around May of this year from someone who couldn't keep them. One has always looked pretty good and the other usually looked ragged (Scarlett). They had lice to I treated them with DE. They had worms so I bought wazine and treated them. Scarlett looks bad. The majority of her feathers are all broken or missing; there are none on her butt. But her spirit has always been high. Today she seemed different. She just stood in one place with her feathers all puffed up for a long time. I decided to let them run around the yard, but she didn't care that much. They're housed in a 12x12 pen that has nesting boxes, a perch, and plenty of room to scratch and dig. They get as much Layena as they can eat and treats every day. Today they got yogurt. It did get pretty cold here last night (for GA) and the night before, but I'm not sure if that could have anything to do with the problem. Surprisingly, both girls are laying pretty well right now. Scarlett has laid 3 eggs in the past 3 days.

Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[panner123]

Check for worms again. Add D E to the food but only a small amount, for they are not drinking as much now. You might even try putting some D E in liquid vitamins.

 

[speckledhen]

Could she just be cold? The temps here were 23 degrees this morning-I'm in the mtns almost at the NC line. I have some near-naked molting hens and they get cold-I see them all hunched together against the wind sometimes, poor things.

 

[dlhunicorn]

many vitamins are interdependent on each other (meaning all has to be in the correect ratio to each other) ... many times an earlier episode of illness or such will leave a birds intestines damaged in some way and this will affect their ability to absorb nutrients from their feed (any current illness or stress or molting etc can also do this)....
If it were me I would order AviaCharge 2000 as this is one of the few complete nutritional supplements I know of (online from McMurray or Strombergs) and see if this doesnt help in supporting her enough to deal with whatever is ailing her. I would also use ivomec Eprinex as it is broad spectrum and will treat that which the wazine misses.
http://shilala.homestead.com/ivomec.html