Sick Chickens help!

[Wyorp Rock]

We have 1 year old Barnevelders and 8 of them should be laying but stopped 6 months ago. We are thinking mites bc we don’t see lice and we’ve read mites can attack at night or hide in vent feathers.

We’ve tried permethrin spray (three times a week for two weeks), neem oil baths (we’ve done 5!) and they still aren’t laying and have pail combs. They’re obviously itching but have good appetites. Even took one to the vet and she suggested a respiratory infection but after THREE 5 day treatments nothing changed.

The poop is dark brown now and most have it I’m thinking from antibiotic? It’s soft and slippery like diarrhea. The vet suggested another round of it to see if that would help. What is a reproduction infection?

What is the antibiotic the vet prescribed?
In one post you say vet suggested "Respiratory Infection" do your hens have any symptoms like coughing, sneezing, mucous, facial swelling, wheezing, etc. that would indicate respiratory symptoms?

Not molting the vet said they have fevers (everyone has feathers on).

Please post photos of your birds!
They all have fevers? What is temperature the vet says they have. Please give the temperature.

Something is making them all itch a ton even during the day

What do you feed your birds, including treats?
Please post photos of the birds and their housing.

Have you added new bedding or straw to the housing?
When you treated them with Permethrin, you treated both birds and housing?

You see dandruff, are your birds molting? Do they have new pin feathers coming in?
Are they itching or preening?

They’re all looking so pale, bad dandruff from malnourishment, and getting worse. Only thing I can think is worms we can’t see in stool? What’s a reproductive disease?

Since you are seeing the vet, did they run a fecal float to check for worms?
If you feel worms are part of the problem, then deworm the.

You can find (Fenbendazole) Safeguard liquid goat dewormer or equine paste at TSC.

Dosing is by Weight.
To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm - Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row. No Repeat.

Alternatively, you can purchase Albendazole (Valbazen) online. It's also dosed by weight.
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

 

[Trinityoaks]

@Wyorp Rock thanks sooo much for taking the time to respond! All helpful!

This is the respiratory meds she prescribed- did 5 total doses and didn’t help at all. We would hear random sneezing but that’s it. I think it might just be one? Really random though not often.

They looked at the stool under microscope but not float. How do I do that? Today will be the second day of the worm treatment. I’m really hoping that’s it. There was a day one or two looked like they were choking? I read about a worm attaching to their throat?

We just moved the whole coop to this new location two weeks ago. We thought mites so burned lots of stuff and completely started over (they were missing vent feathers and itching) but after looking even at night we see no mites. Thinking just so malnourished that their skin is dry? Only think we can think is worms not showing in poop (which the vet said wasn’t possible) or Myerks decease. But no muscle issues and this started 6 months ago- very gradual decline.

 

[azygous]

The vet does a fecal float from a poop sample. To test an entire flock for worms, you would gather two or three random fresh poop samples and give the to your vet and ask for the fecal float test. It takes less than an hour and most vets can do it right in their office. It should also be very inexpensive. It will show if internal parasites are present in substantial numbers and will also tell you exactly what species worms or other parasites. This will let you know exactly what to treat for.

But now that you're worming, it's not necessary unless the chickens aren't improving after a month.

 

[Trinityoaks]

@azygous thanks! Ok I’ll stick to it till Wednesday. You said this medicine doesn’t need to be repeated in 10 days?

 

[azygous]

"This medicine" meaning the Tylosin or the worming med? No on the Tylosin, worm again in two weeks.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

This is the respiratory meds she prescribed- did 5 total doses and didn’t help at all. We would hear random sneezing but that’s it. I think it might just be one? Really random though not often.

There was a day one or two looked like they were choking? I read about a worm attaching to their throat?

We just moved the whole coop to this new location two weeks ago. We thought mites so burned lots of stuff and completely started over (they were missing vent feathers and itching) but after looking even at night we see no mites. Thinking just so malnourished that their skin is dry?

What are you feeding that you think they would be malnourished?

At this time of year, they are probably molting. In the photos I don't see anything to really indicate sunken eyes, bubbly eyes or mucous which are sometimes seen with respiratory illness.

Looking like choking, do you provide them with grit (crushed granite)? Could be they are just adjusting their crops or if you've moved them to new ground, they are finding a few different materials to eat. Hard to know.

 

[Trinityoaks]

What is the antibiotic the vet prescribed?
In one post you say vet suggested "Respiratory Infection" do your hens have any symptoms like coughing, sneezing, mucous, facial swelling, wheezing, etc. that would indicate respiratory symptoms?



Please post photos of your birds!
They all have fevers? What is temperature the vet says they have. Please give the temperature.


What do you feed your birds, including treats?
Please post photos of the birds and their housing.

Have you added new bedding or straw to the housing?
When you treated them with Permethrin, you treated both birds and housing?

You see dandruff, are your birds molting? Do they have new pin feathers coming in?
Are they itching or preening?


Since you are seeing the vet, did they run a fecal float to check for worms?
If you feel worms are part of the problem, then deworm the.

You can find (Fenbendazole) Safeguard liquid goat dewormer or equine paste at TSC.

Dosing is by Weight.
To treat most worms that poultry can have except for Tapeworm - Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row. No Repeat.

Alternatively, you can purchase Albendazole (Valbazen) online. It's also dosed by weight.
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

Thanks @Wyorp Rock ! I haven’t done granite before. I’ll try that! They’re definitely sick- extremely light weight; vet said 2-3 pounds and they’re usually 6-9. We have layers feed purina and have used TSC brand before; they love to forage (free range) and we give scraps.

Just finished the 5 day fenbendazole. So no repeat at day 10? I think someone else said yes so just confirming. Their combs are still so pail and they’re so tiny but eating

Doubt molting bc it’s been going on for 6 months with pale combs and weight loss?

 

[azygous]

You do want to repeat the worming at around ten to fourteen days to get any worms that hatched.

 

[Trinityoaks]

Ok thank you @azygous Should we be seeing improvement if that’s what it was? Or takes a while? They still look rough but eating some

 

[azygous]

Worms will take nourishment away from a chicken so you may notice they are losing weight. Once the worms are eliminated, the chicken will regain weight. They will have more energy. Poop will firm up. This will begin to be noticeable within days of worming a chicken acts very hungry. You should see steady improvement from then on.

By the way, most people think worming medicines are a poison. They are not. They work to sedate the worms so they lose hold in the intestines so the food entering the intestines as the chicken eats pushes the anesthetized worms out.

Rarely, these sedated and dying worms can form an obstruction in the intestinal tract causing a chicken to start to act sick and weak. When this happens, a flush can be used to push this obstruction out. This usually only happens when there's a very heavy worm load.