Sick Chicken... Don't Know What to Do

[SunshineChick14]

I haven't been able to get a chicken dewormer, though I have been asking around. Meanwhile, I have been feeding my flock some crushed garlic in their feed every 2-3 days. Hazel, the originally lethargic hen, is still skinny and smells but is acting more spunky and is even maintaining her place in the pecking order.

Will feeding my chickens garlic help with deworming at all? And I have read that pumpkin seeds help also. Is this true?

 

[enola]

Ok, I am going to say this in the nicest way I possibly can....... Your hen has been sick for over a month now. The best way to figure out what to do for a sick chicken is to worm her. With a chemical wormer. No if's and's or but's.

There are lots of proposed 'natural' wormers that are supposed to 'help with immunity' to worms. I really doubt that they do. But, your hen is waaaaaay past that stage. She needs to be wormed ASAP with a good wormer. I recommend Valbazen so the worms are killed slowly to prevent a blockage from dead worms. But, Safeguard is good too. I would dose her every day for 5 days so you know you killed every type of worm that it is possible for chickens to get.

After you get her feeling better you should worm the whole flock. Worms WILL slowly but surely kill a chicken.

 

[casportpony]

I haven't been able to get a chicken dewormer, though I have been asking around. Meanwhile, I have been feeding my flock some crushed garlic in their feed every 2-3 days. Hazel, the originally lethargic hen, is still skinny and smells but is acting more spunky and is even maintaining her place in the pecking order.

Will feeding my chickens garlic help with deworming at all? And I have read that pumpkin seeds help also. Is this true?

Where do you live that you can't find Safeguard? Heck, even my Walmart sells it. Go to Tractor Supply, or a proper feedstore and buy either liquid Safeguard for goats or Safeguard paste for horses. The active ingredient you're looking for is 10% fenbendazole. I am very OCD about dosing, so I weigh my birds then I give 0.23ml per pound orally for *five* consecutive days. Ignore the instructions on the bottle or tube, they're for grass eaters, and grass eater get way less *per pound* than chickens.

-Kathy

 

[mankatogirls]

Hi sunshine.
Whatever your chicken has, it sounds like mine has the same thing and have been struggling for weeks now. I have been dealing with the weight loss, stinky green runny poo, not eating. I did treat for cocci, and electrolytes and started deworming two days ago. I just found a chicken vet to come out and he found a round worm egg in the girls stool. I am so glad that I started it. Definitly bring the girl inside for warmth, a clean bath for her bum, and give for protein rich foods. Corn, peas, etc.

 

[enola]

Hi sunshine.
Whatever your chicken has, it sounds like mine has the same thing and have been struggling for weeks now. I have been dealing with the weight loss, stinky green runny poo, not eating. I did treat for cocci, and electrolytes and started deworming two days ago. I just found a chicken vet to come out and he found a round worm egg in the girls stool. I am so glad that I started it. Definitly bring the girl inside for warmth, a clean bath for her bum, and give for protein rich foods. Corn, peas, etc.

What are you using for wormer?

 

[Michael Apple]

Young birds are more likely to contract worms and have less immunity to Coccidiosis. Always have a Benzamidazole anthelmintic wormer on hand like Albendazole and always have Amprolium/Toltazuril in the cabinet. It takes longer than 16 weeks for birds to build immunity to coccidiosis. No amount of gradual introduction to dirt or Cocci vaccinations will prevent Coccidiosis during that first year of life. Proper diet and supplementation of high quality vitamin-trace mineral-probiotics in drinking water will help develop strong immunity and protect the intestinal tract. In young birds, when the intestinal tract is irreversibly damaged from enteritis due to endoparasites or bacterial infections, their growth will be stunted, and be more prone to disease as adults. I don't know how many times I've mentioned it on this forum, but cannot stress the importance of this enough.

 

[mankatogirls]

I'm using wazine for the first round and in 10 days the safeguard. Hoping that will be it

 

[SunshineChick14]

My birds have all been immunized for Cocci since they were chicks, and they are about 6 months old now. I haven't seen any signs of this in the other birds, except that a few of them do have runny poo every so often. We don't want to deworm them with a strong chemical dewormer, in case that they don't have worms and it kills them or damages their intestines. We also haven't seen any eggs or worms or anything in their droppings.

 

[casportpony]

My birds have all been immunized for Cocci since they were chicks, and they are about 6 months old now. I haven't seen any signs of this in the other birds, except that a few of them do have runny poo every so often. We don't want to deworm them with a strong chemical dewormer, in case that they don't have worms and it kills them or damages their intestines. We also haven't seen any eggs or worms or anything in their droppings.

Safeguard is a mild de-wormer and it's used in cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, pregnant mares, breeding stallions, young foals, cows, calves, bulls, pigs, goats, reptiles, small mammals, poultry, waterfowl, caged birds, etc.

This is what happened to a 3 month old chick because it was not worrmed properly:


I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you asked for advice, advice was given, you made excuses saying you couldn't find wormer and now you're saying you don't want to worm?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

And BTW, you ain't ever gonna see eggs in their droppings, they're too small. The chick above, no worms were seen in it's droppings either, but clearly it had enough of a worm load to kill it. Only worms you're likely to see anyway are roundworms and tapeworms, 'cause cecal worms and capillary worms are almost too small to see without magnification.

-Kathy