Sick hen. What would cause comb and wattles to lose color?

[DORA1ST]

Our oldest girl is a 4 yo RIR. We have 7 total free-range birds that are put in the coop at night. (We recently lost 2 to racoons.) As of this morning when they were let out, our oldest is acting sickly. She is slow but will stand on occasion and walked to a shaded area. She will drink on her own but not much and has not eaten. Her comb and wattles that are normally bright red are the palest pink to nearly white. She has no discharge from her nose or eyes and is not coughing or sneezing. Her poo is more liquid than not but seems clear, not green or bloody. She still lets us hold her. She has no mites and her legs and feathers look healthy. They are fed Domor 16% laying feed with vitamins and minerals added. They have never been vaccinated or wormed and none of them have ever been sick. After reading through this forum for two hours we will be starting DE for all of our chickens and our pygmy goats. Anyone know what may be wrong with our DORA girl? and how we can help get her better? Thanks so much for your time. PK

 

[BeckyLa]

I'm so sorry she's not doing well.

The first thing that comes to mind is eggbound. If you search this board using this term you will get lots of info.

Worms could be an issue but there should be signs in her poo.

She also could have sour crop, something else you could look up.

I'm sorry I don't know much about these things, I'm just throwing out ideas so you can research them while you wait for someone with more knowledge to come along.

I hope she gets better real quick.

And Welcome to BYC!!!

 

[Julie in Al]

Worms could be a possibility but when mine molt their combs and wattles are very pale and they lose weight and hide from the roo.

 

[DORA1ST]

Thank you for your suggestions. I've never noticed this when they have molted before. How does molting actually effect a chicken? Would a supplement or booster or something help if that's what this is? I made some calls today and I'll probably have to order the DE online. Any suggestions for best store or other details? Thanks, again. PK

 

[jjthink]

Hi. Since this hen is not eating, she could be very ill. Until someone more knowledgeable comes along, I would at least:

- - keep her warm if its getting cold at night where you are. if she would be too stressed separated from her hen pals, provide warmth in place (how depends on your set up...)
- - since she's not eating, poultry V&E in her water (if not familiar with this, dosages can be found in other threads...and poultry V&E can be found in Agways or other such feed stores, likely wherever you get your layer food)

Vet if you possibly can, as she sounds like she could fail fast if not eating.

If not sure re: eggbound, this needs attention lickety split.

Is there any chance she ate something really bad like poison meant for mice or rats?

I really hope she will get well -

JJ

 

[DORA1ST]

Dora made it through the night with her coop mates. She seems the same today. I'll order the DE today but know it will take awhile to help any of our pets. Hoping for the best - I appreciate your suggestions. PK

 

[dlhunicorn]

you need to get a sample of her poo to the vet for a faecal (worms)... If she does have worms (which is very likely > worms will often show with anemia)
if she does then I will be blunt and tell you that DE is not going to treat this. You need a wormer.
Keep in mind worms often do not show up in the poo and faecals often return a false negative.

 

[DORA1ST]

dlhunicorn - thank you for taking the time to input. What wormer do you recommend? I'll worm all of the girls, then how long do I wait to eat the eggs. Have not been able to get a vet that will look at a sample - can I just worm them anyway? Gave Dora Nutri-Drench and added it to the girls water container. Noticed that Dora is molting today. Waiting to hear from you ...

Thanks, again, PK.

 

[dlhunicorn]

well , if it were me I would go with a broad spectrum wormer... ivomec Eprinex is safe and here is an article on how to use that:
http://shilala.homestead.com/ivomec.html
(use the spot-on method)

 

[DORA1ST]

We wormed all 7 of our girls with Ivomec Eprinex wormer - spot on. Hoping for good report on Dora, soon.

Appreciate all the help. Thanks, PK.