Should I worm? Chicken hasn't laid eggs in about 4 months

[riverpie]

Quote:
I'm just north of Nashville Tn., Thanks for all the info!

 

[BamaSilkies]

Oh I just saw where you bought some alfafa hay to give. I have seen probably a hundred people on here with impacted crop from hay consumption. You may not have any problem but I would not give free choice on it I would finely cut up some and put with feed. You take some of those poultry scissors and cut it up or one of those hand choppers. Mix it in with the feed so they dont gourge themselves on just the hay. I prefer to give sprouts in the winter. You can get kits for spouting at the pet store in the parrot section or online. They also have the sprouting mix. Depending on the sprouting method that you use. You can cut the sprouts yourself or use a tray planter(the soil method) and let them have them in the evening while your doing evening chores and then take them back in to sprout again. I use these as a treat.

 

[BamaSilkies]

Looks like there is a Pilgrims Pride and Purina feed mill there locally so thats the brand I would get. It will say on the bag where it was processed at. The Co op should have it just check the bag to make sure it was milled there.

 

[riverpie]

Quote:
Yes, she would be in pain. The muscles in the gizzard act constantly with a strong grinding movement, which means anything sharp would get completely stuck. But if she's acting fine that's probably not the case

And on your last comment -
She should have 'layers pellets' available constantly. They contain all a hen needs and she could live on them with nothing else at all. If you don't have one already, you should buy a feeder, as such: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?q...2&tbnw=131&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0 , fill it to the top, and leave it with her all the time. To make sure her water stays clean you could get a waterer too.

Scratch is all completely free-range chickens need, but not if they're kept in a coop.

At the moment, does she occasionally have large amounts of scratch? Even if you give her smaller amounts, if the intervals are too large she'll gobble it and impact her crop. Chickens need to eat small amounts constantly. I haven't read all the other comments on this thread, but if scratch is all you give her deficiencies could be a problem too.

Remember, happy hens lay more, so if it's possible let her free range more or if the dogs are a problem build her a bigger coop. We've just moved house, and ours had to stay in their little run for a few days. They hate it - two out of the three layers stopped laying completely. So happiness is also a big factor.
Try getting a 'flock block' http://poultry.purinamills.com/OURPRODUCTS/Products/FlockBlock/default.aspx to keep her occupied and give her some seeds and things too. My chickens love lettuce, cabbage, pears and apples - take a whole one and secure it to the side of her coop for her to peck at.

As I said YOU REALLY NEED TO BE ABLE TO EXAMINE HER PROPERLY!

Could you possibly upload a picture?
I hope she's better soon!! D:

Here's a pic of her and the rooster from last year.

I need to learn how to handle them better if I'm going to examine her. Maybe I should try to find a You Tube Video on handling chickens.
She has plenty of water but we just put what we think she will eat in a day in there. I was scared of possums or racoons trying to get in but we just put hardware cloth up over the chicken wire yesterday because a dog or coyote almost got in the other night so I feel like we can probably put food in there now. She never has eaten from anything I hung on the side of the coop. She prefers to eat off the ground. She dumps the food over and like I said I was scared to leave food hanging on the side due to predators. She paces when she's confined. She wants to be out with the rooster. We've just had to many close calls with dogs to let her out when we aren't here. I will look up those blocks. I bought some type of small block last summer but they didn't care for it much.

 

[chickenbaguette]

Ok

Are you sure you can't take her down at night? She'll be sleepy then, and relatively easy to hold. Take her out with your thumbs on her back and your fingers down over her wings and around her. Then put your hand underneath her so she's facing your arm - outwards - and hold her legs with your thumb and little finger, and hold her close to you. Like this you can use your other hand to look at her comb, wattles, nostrils, eyes, etc. If you need to, you can hold onto her legs and let her hang down - she'll flap and then calm down - you'll just have to hold on - , and if you're lucky she'll relax down with her wings half out and her eyes closed. At least she'll go still so you can look at her underside and cloaca.
Put a sock over her head and take her into a bright room so you can see properly if you need to.

You might find this useful: http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/inspecting-a-chicken-for-good-health.html

Also massage her crop with your hand. It should be full at night (hard and stony) but empty in the morning. It shouldn't be small and soft - she hasn't eaten enough - or overly distended and hard. In the morning if it's still full she has a compacted crop which needs to be treated straight away or she won't be able to eat and the food will start to ferment inside.

 

[chickenbaguette]

And wow that rooster is beautiful!! :O

Do you give her grit too?

 

[riverpie]

Quote:
I don't know what a crop is but I'll look it up. She pecks at me when I've tried to look for an egg after dark so I end up waiting until morning. I wish someone that knew how to do it could come here and show me but I will try to figure out a way to look at her. Thanks for that link. That will be helpful.

 

[riverpie]

Quote:
Thank you. I don't give her grit.
That's an interesting link you gave me. She might have scaly leg mites. I noticed lately she is holding her left leg up and biting at it some too. Her legs have a white flaky look to them. I am just going to have to grab her and hopefully figure out what's normal and what's not when I look her over. Thanks for all the help.

 

[chickenbaguette]

Thank you. I don't give her grit.
That's an interesting link you gave me. She might have scaly leg mites. I noticed lately she is holding her left leg up and biting at it some too. Her legs have a white flaky look to them. I am just going to have to grab her and hopefully figure out what's normal and what's not when I look her over. Thanks for all the help.

That might be a problem. She MUST have grit to be able to grind up her food and digest it. I wonder how thin she is? Feathers hide a lot, you know.

If you don't like the pecking, put on gloves and grab her firmly over the wings. When you have your hand under her holding her legs she can't escape and it's much harder to peck. You have to go for it like you mean it, be confident and don't worry about distressing or hurting her - chickens are pretty bombproof. Holding her tightly won't hurt her, just try to keep her wings pinned to her body. You have to have confidence or she'll sense it and take advantage of your nerves. The sock over the head will also stop the pecking

Yes, then it's pretty certain she has scaly leg. She'll try to peck at the mites because they cause a lot of irritation. When you get to pick her up, look for raised scales and a crusty look. Have some vaseline or cooking oil ready to smear/dip her legs in - this suffocates the mites. Repeat the smearing or dipping every day when (if you can), you take her down at night.

Scaly leg mites live in wood, and you coop is wooden isn't it? I'd clean it out completely and spray it with insecticide when she can free range for a little while. It's safe if you let all the fumes go before you let her back in again.​

 

[chickenbaguette]

I don't know what a crop is but I'll look it up. She pecks at me when I've tried to look for an egg after dark so I end up waiting until morning. I wish someone that knew how to do it could come here and show me but I will try to figure out a way to look at her. Thanks for that link. That will be helpful.

The crop is the bag at the front and slightly to one side of a chicken, which stores food when it's eaten and feeds it slowly into the gizzard. The crop should be full at night and empty in the morning. You'll find it if you smooth your hand down her front from her neck - it's like a ball covered with thin skin when it's full and it's quite low down, and very bulgy and hard if she's eaten properly.

Here's a diagram of the digestive system: http://rootbeet.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4jvpn1
and here's how it should work and everything you should look for: http://www.ca.uky.edu/poultryprofit...natomy_and_Physiology/Chapter3_digestive.html​