sick hen! please help if you can!

[shellyhens]

(Thank you all again for the support.)

Another Update and a Call for More Advice!!

The Sour/Slow crop has seemed to have completely resolved itself, but, my poor hen has a mite or lice infestation that I don't seem to be able to combat. They are the white little bugs.... some almost invisible and some much more so. Some have a dark belly and most of them are all around her eyes (which is breaking my heart). She is so underweight and is becoming weaker every day!

I have given her a wood ash bath, and two diatomaceous earth baths in the last 4 days but they don't seem to be helping. I know a few of you recommended Sevin, but when I went to the store and told them what I was planning on doing with it, the two women working kind of freaked out and made me by the D-Earth instead. Please tell me again any opinions on the Sevin..... I'm kind of assuming at this point that the mites or lice are going to kill this chicken ;/

I havent tube fed her yet b/c I seem to be able to get enough down with a syringe alone. I have been giving her the baby bird food, water, and she seems to mostly eat tomatos and *sometimes* egg all on her own. It's hard for me to tell what is enough though (or too much... aka, i gave her a lot of water this morning scared she was dehydrated, It filled her crop).

I havent given her any bacterial medicine yet b/c I dont know if thats the issue. Her poop is still mostly liquid, sometimes its a little more normal though.

Any more ideas or thoughts please let me know. I feel like we are getting closer to the red zone here even though I'm giving her an incredible amount of time and attention and care. I'm very open to anything else I can try!!!

Thank you!
Michelle

 

[sbhkma]

Clearly the wood ash and DE have not helped (I love DE, but folks seem to give it way more credit for curing things that it really is capable of). She needs to be dusted asap, as those parasites are literally sucking the life out of her.

 

[casportpony]

Like said in a previous post, dust with a proper poultry dust or 5% Sevin powder. I'd aso keep her inside where it's warm, and if she doesn't look like she's about to die, I'd de-worm with Safeguard for goats at 0.2ml to 0.5ml per 2.2 pounds for five days. Do *not* use Wazine!

-Kathy

 

[scratch'n'peck]

(Thank you all again for the support.)

Another Update and a Call for More Advice!!

The Sour/Slow crop has seemed to have completely resolved itself, but, my poor hen has a mite or lice infestation that I don't seem to be able to combat. They are the white little bugs.... some almost invisible and some much more so. Some have a dark belly and most of them are all around her eyes (which is breaking my heart). She is so underweight and is becoming weaker every day!

I have given her a wood ash bath, and two diatomaceous earth baths in the last 4 days but they don't seem to be helping. I know a few of you recommended Sevin, but when I went to the store and told them what I was planning on doing with it, the two women working kind of freaked out and made me by the D-Earth instead. Please tell me again any opinions on the Sevin..... I'm kind of assuming at this point that the mites or lice are going to kill this chicken ;/

I havent tube fed her yet b/c I seem to be able to get enough down with a syringe alone. I have been giving her the baby bird food, water, and she seems to mostly eat tomatos and *sometimes* egg all on her own. It's hard for me to tell what is enough though (or too much... aka, i gave her a lot of water this morning scared she was dehydrated, It filled her crop).

I havent given her any bacterial medicine yet b/c I dont know if thats the issue. Her poop is still mostly liquid, sometimes its a little more normal though.

Any more ideas or thoughts please let me know. I feel like we are getting closer to the red zone here even though I'm giving her an incredible amount of time and attention and care. I'm very open to anything else I can try!!!

Thank you!
Michelle

Although Sevin is often recommended and has been used without ill effects, I guess it really is not approved for use on birds. I have used it myself. I alternated insecticides when I was dealing with a mite problem when I did the second treatment about ten days later to address any hatched eggs, so I have tried more than one method. Another option is flea and tick spray for cats and dogs. It has pyrethrin like poultry sprays at the farm store but has synergistic active ingredients to help kill mites that could be resistant to pyrethrin alone. I googled all the active ingredients in Sergeants Silver Flea and tick spray (like Piperonyl) to confirm they were low toxicity for birds. I know on other threads people have reported success using flea and tick shampoo for dogs or cats.

Try to get as much of the nutrient dense food in her as you can. Maybe you can try mixing just enough tomato into the eggs or baby bird food to make it appealing to her. Too bad tomatoes don't have more protein, she just won't be able to gain weight on mostly tomatoes. Have you tried feeding her greek yogurt for protein and probiotics?

 

[welasharon]

Most of the things we use on chickens haven't been approved for use on chickens because it is costly paying for the testing to get them approved and the number of people doctoring chickens is so few that it isn't cost effective for companies to do so. I tend to go by what people have been using for years and what seems to work.