Should I be worried?

[Aunt Angus]

She pooped the moment I put her in the crate on a puppy pad. Her pooped looked pretty normal. Maybe a little dry, if anything. It was too dark to check her poop more closely for any worms. I'd like to do that tomorrow.

I've never found any worms in our girls poop. But I have 2 goats who share the run with the girls. The goats do not go inside the coop. They have their own house although the chickens DO go inside the goat house all the time. Anyway, goats are notorious for worms so I imagine they have to have been exposed at some time. I also have horses but I do a rotational worming schedule for them every other month.

I'm glad her poop looks normal! That's always a good sign!

I have goats, too, so I'm always nervous about treating for worms without knowing what I'm dealing with. Resistence is bad juju. I do fecal floats on my goats regularly in order to detect worm and protozoa loads. I've not had to worm anyone yet (knock on wood!). That's why I don't treat without first knowing what they've got.

In your situation, a vet would be good in my opinion, or even just ask a vet to do a fecal float on your chicken if you really suspect worms. But treating with Corid doesn't hurt. Are you still using the Corid? You'll see pretty quick improvement if it's coccidiosis.

 

[Banana01]

Sorry your hen died. What were you feeding her and what supplements are you giving? A hen that is part of a flock of 50, its hard to give her special attention, but she may need some vitamin supplement in addition to the normal feed. Corrid has side effects of vitamin deficiency and a very narrow treatment window. I like feeding them liver pate whem they are really low on nutrients.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm glad her poop looks normal! That's always a good sign!

I have goats, too, so I'm always nervous about treating for worms without knowing what I'm dealing with. Resistence is bad juju. I do fecal floats on my goats regularly in order to detect worm and protozoa loads. I've not had to worm anyone yet (knock on wood!). That's why I don't treat without first knowing what they've got.

In your situation, a vet would be good in my opinion, or even just ask a vet to do a fecal float on your chicken if you really suspect worms. But treating with Corid doesn't hurt. Are you still using the Corid? You'll see pretty quick improvement if it's coccidiosis.

I have an annual vet farm check every February. Horses get Coggins pulled and everyone gets their annual vaccines. I've never had the vet do a fecal on my goats because they've always looked really healthy. However, my doe hasn't been eating well the last few weeks. She's seemed a little lethargic too... I treated her and my buck with some Safeguard 2 weeks ago, as a precaution, when I treated the chickens at the same time. I've never seen any worms in either the chickens or goat poop. I only worm them twice a year as a precaution.

However the horses are on a rotational worming schedule every other month where I switch up what they get since different wormers target different parasites. They were just wormed with Quest Plus in November.

I think the only way I'm going to know for sure is a necropsy which I will do if another young bird dies.

I still have the Splash in the crate and am treating her with Corid for 5 days. I just wish she wasn't so skittish. She flips out every time I walk in the room

 

[TJAnonymous]

I just cleaned out the crate because she knocked food everywhere in her panic. She also knocked over her water so I had to refill it and change the puppy pad. However I took the moment to check her crop. Doesn't feel like she is eating much, if at all. She did have a doughy lump on her chest but I couldn't feel any food in it. Her breast bone seemed pretty prominent to me...

 

[Kiki]

I just noticed you lost a bird back in October.
What exactly do you feed your flock on a daily basis?

I spotted these two...what are they?

 

[TJAnonymous]

The first picture is a mealworm cake that I gave to some chicks in the brooder.

The 2nd picture is indicative of the feed my chickens get. I mix layer pellets (majority of feed) with rolled oats, scratch, and BOSS. In the summer months, I drastically reduce the BOSS to about a cup which is mixed into 2.5 gallons of feed. In the winter, I up the BOSS to 2 cups in 2.5 gallons of feed. I toss the feed around the run so they have to forage for it. I have approximately 50 birds and, of course, 2 goats who also forage on the feed that gets tossed.

Within their coop (where the goats can't go), I have free choice layer pellets with no extras.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Makes total sense about the horses and goats. You are lucky to have a good vet! It's been hard out here because of COVID restrictions. The mobile ver I normally use for the goats is booked up because the other vets have drastically reduced their number of appointments, so folks who would normally go to the clinics are making appointments with the mobile vet. Total PITA.

If you treated with Safeguard, that likely eliminates worms as a cause. I wonder if it's a reproductive disorder, especially since she's so thin and has stopped laying.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Ok, I think something is definitely going on with my flock. The Splash is pretty much the same. But this morning when I was feeding, I noticed a CCLB hen who was not eating. I watched her for about 15 minutes. She just wandered aimlessly around the yard, over to the waterer to get a drink, and then aimlessly around again. She is less than a year old.... Maybe 9 months? Her comb is NOT pale but it is flopped over to the side. I'm not sure if she is laying or not but I definitely know she isn't molting. I'm going to wait until she goes to roost and bring her inside for closer observation.

 

[Mosey2003]

I would wonder about tapeworms, Safeguard as a single dose doesn't take care of them. I use Valbazen which supposedly does treat tapes as well as the rest. I also do two courses, 10 days apart, to get any that hatched after the first dose.

I assume you've thoroughly inspected them for mites and lice?

Otherwise, I'm not sure what would cause those symptoms. Definitely get a necropsy if anyone else passes.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Figured out what is wrong with my CCLB. I brought her inside the house so I could look her over in the light. She was either pecked in the eye or has somehow developed an abscess. It is so swollen, I can't even see if she still has an eyeball.... I gave her a little amoxicillan with an eye dropper since there is clearly an infection. I also put some prescription Neomycin eye drops in her eye. I guess we will see how she looks in the morning? I'm keeping her quarantined in the house. Separate crate next to Splash. Her crop is definitely empty so she isn't eating.... I have her on a puppy pad to check her poop since I have her inside.