Sick hen - pale crown and lethargic - looking for advice

[geomenke]

I have a two year old barred rock who's crown started fading in color a few weeks ago. That was the first sign of trouble but she was still acting normally and laying. This weekend she is getting really lethargic. She sits a lot and isn't interested in food. She looks like she is losing weight and is getting weaker I haven't seen her lay in a week or so. No one is picking on her and she has space to be by herself. I haven't de-wormed them and assume that could be an issue. What are the recommended de-worming treatments? The rest of the flock looks great. Any suggestions for either a good vet or treatments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[klmclain1]

It sounds very much like worms... and I'd guess it's bad. Do a quick search here for keywords Valbazen and dawg53. He is the guru on these issues. You'll probably want to de-worm all of them. Then you'll need to repeat in 10 days. If I can find dawg's post real quickly, I'll post it here for you!

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Deworming would probably be worthwhile. If you can, separate her and bring her to a warm place. Make sure she eats and drinks. You can try Wazine-17, it has worked very well for me and is fairly common. Make sure you deworm the entire flock, because since they are all in the same coop, if one has worms, they likely all have worms, or might soon. Also, after deworming, it may be a good idea to give them some probiotics to help with their digestive system.

 

[klmclain1]

OK... here's a PM dawg53 sent me regarding worming. Lots of details, but towards the bottom is your immediate solution!

Alot of people have a worming program with their chickens, including me. The bottom line is that if their feet touch the ground, they'll get worms eventually. The environment where you live plays a role in how often you worm. Here, where I live, it is hot...moist and high humidity most of the year. I live near the coast, a river and a swamp. Our soil is warm,damp and moist...it is mosquito heaven and worm soup. I worm mine quarterly. If you live in a cold or mountainous environment, it may only be necessary to worm once a year...the soil isnt condusive for worms. You could worm semi annually or worm every 9 months or 14 months....the choice is yours when you want to worm.
Other people only worm when they only see symptoms, or when they see worms in the poop. When a chicken is acting lethargic, not eating or drinking, basically not acting like a chicken should...it could be worms. Unfortunately those symptoms describe alot of problems a chicken could have. Some people never worm, then they post on BYC wanting to know why their chicken is sick. Worms weaken their immune system then it opens the door for all kinds of illnesses...then the chicken dies from the lack of nutrients that the worms are stealing from the chicken.
The best thing to do is take a fecal sample into a vet and have them look at it. That's the only way to tell for sure. For me, it's easier to have a regular worming program....saves me time, money and gas.
DE is not a preventive for worms and it certainly wont kill worms. DE is a drying agent that was originally put in grain bins to keep moisture from spoiling the feed after a harvest. The government has labeled it "food grade" for that purpose. It doesnt mean it's to be added to food to be eaten. More importantly, when DE gets wet it is useless until it dries. The insides of chickens are wet, therefore it is ineffective. If your going to use DE, sprinkle it inside your coop or run to help keep it dry....I dont use it for lice or mites neither. I use sevin dust, to kill them....DE doesnt work on lice/mite infestations. DE is silica and can cause lung damagr if inhaled not only to humans, but chickens as well.
Eprinex has no egg withdrawal and it is a pour on , never to be injected nor given orally. It goes on bare skin on the back of the neck of the chicken. The problem with using one wormer all the time is that worms can build resistance much like bacteria can build resistance to some antibiotics...you've heard that on the news I'm sure. I've been reading articles here and there that ivermectin pour on has been losing its effectiveness killing roundworms in chickens...that's the most common worm that chickens get. I've read that eprinex might be heading that way as well because of it's overuseage, just like ivermectin pour on. I have 4 or 5 wormers that I have used over the years in rotation. I recommend you purchase a couple as well. Eprinex doesnt kill all types of worm neither for your information.
I recommend Valbazen(albendazole) liquid cattle/sheep wormer, Safeguard (fenbendazole) liquid goat wormer or Safeguard equine paste adding these to your wormer inventory. All of them have a 14 day egg withdrawal....a small price to pay for healthy chickens that will lay eggs for a long time. Valbazen kills all types of worms that chickens can get including tapeworms. Only equine pastes with praziquantel can do that...but liquids are easier to provide to chickens than pastes in my opinion.

 

[geomenke]

Thanks so much for the quick replies! Looks like I'm heading out to the feed store.

 

[geomenke]

An Update:
Saturday I went to every feed store in town and all they had for poultry was wazine 17. So I applied that this weekend. I haven't seen any worms in the droppings.

Last night she didn't join the rest of the flock on the roost. After doing more reading it sounds like mites can cause some of these symptoms.

This morning I gave her a bath and checked out her vent which was pretty dirty. I cleaned her up and found that her feathers on her bottom below her vent are really thin and there is a lot of bare skin. I applied some Sevin 5% there and under her wings and around her neck. The skin and her vent looked very healthy though. I nice yellow like the rest of her skin.

While I was cleaning her up I noticed that she had labored breathing. One other symptom is that she shakes her head a lot. However, she has done that her entire adult life. So I never paid much attention. This along with the breathing makes me to wonder if she has gape worm. I'm pretty certain wazine won't touch gape worm. How can I test for gapeworm and what would I use if she has it?

 

[geomenke]

An Update:
Saturday I went to every feed store in town and all they had for poultry was wazine 17. So I applied that this weekend. I haven't seen any worms in the droppings.

Last night she didn't join the rest of the flock on the roost. After doing more reading it sounds like mites can cause some of these symptoms.

This morning I gave her a bath and checked out her vent which was pretty dirty. I cleaned her up and found that her feathers on her bottom below her vent are really thin and there is a lot of bare skin. I applied some Sevin 5% there and under her wings and around her neck. The skin and her vent looked very healthy though. I nice yellow like the rest of her skin.

While I was cleaning her up I noticed that she had labored breathing. One other symptom is that she shakes her head a lot. However, she has done that her entire adult life. So I never paid much attention. This along with the breathing makes me to wonder if she has gape worm. I'm pretty certain wazine won't touch gape worm. How can I test for gapeworm and what would I use if she has it?

 

[lucyday]

Hi there, I've been having a similar problem.
I'm new to chicken keeping we got our first 2 Australia's 3 weeks ago and one had a slight yellow tinge to her face.,we liked it,it helped tell them apart. But she seems to be getting paler and paler, she still seems to be eating and drinking but always seems to sleep on and off all day and hasn't laid an egg since getting her,where as our other girl started laying after 6 days. I treated her for worms yesterday but I've not seen any difference in her yet.any suggestions please,I've tried giving her boiled egg yolk with yoghurt and adding d.e to their food as I heard that can help.