Sick Hen - Pale Comb, Less Active

[jackiehershfeld]

Over the past three days, my white hen has stopped laying, seems less active, and today especially I have noticed that her comb is pale compared to the normal red it usually is. I thought I saw some little yellow bugs - chicken lice - but have not seen any sign of them since I first thought I saw them on Tuesday. She has also been having some liquid bowel movements, that resemble an egg white - that same clear, white-ish color, and about the same consistency.
I went to my local feed store, and purchased some DE, and gave the coop a good cleaning today, as well as dusted both of my hens with it, thinking that it might be lice, but I am really concerned about her. Any suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.
Thank you!

 

[cafarmgirl]

If you saw lice or mites they are still there. Get something like Garden and Poultry dust from tractor supply or Sevin. I use the poultry dust on the birds but I like to use the Sevin spray in the coop because, to me anyway, it's easier to get the spray into all the nooks and crannies where the bugs hide. You need to re-treat all of the birds as well as the coop every 7 t 10 days until you no longer find any bugs, that is their hatch cycle and dust/spray does not kill the eggs. And then just keep a close eye because they are very hard to get rid of. You only have to miss a few and they just repopulate. DE is not likely to solve the problem. It can maybe help as a preventative, I don't even depend on it for that, but if you have an outbreak you need to use something really effective.

Have your birds ever been dewormed? I would do that as well if they have not. Internal and external parasites can kill your birds if not kept under control.

 

[jackiehershfeld]

I think I saw lice. I will go to the feed store again tomorrow and get something stronger.
As for deworming - no, these are two birds that we were given, and how do I even go about that process?!

 

[cafarmgirl]

When you go to the feed store look for Valbazen or liquid Safeguard for goats. Give each bird 0.5 ml, you can use a small, needless syringe. Feed store might have syringes or you can get some at a pharmacy. Repeat the dose in 10 days. You do need to discard eggs until 10 days after the last dose.