Sick hens

[minifarmkat]

A few of my marans (about a year old) have what looks like diarrhea. Their feces are liquidy and cover their backsides. One of the hens is having trouble walking. We have not changed their diet and their water and food containers are clean. Any ideas what's wrong with them? I don't want to lose any of my girls!

 

[Eggcessive]

Some causes of diarrhea are coccidiosis, worms, and vent gleet. Are they acting sick--acting lethargic, not eating, or having any blood in the poop? Sometimes trimming the vent feathers will keep them from getting messy. Put some probiotics in their water a few days a week. Probios is supposed to be a good brand. Until you get it you could try a small amount of plain yogurt or buttermilk. Corid would be the treatment for coccidiosis, but if they are not acting sick it is probably not that. Here is a link for gleet: http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment.html

 

[hrhta812]

The first thing I would suspect is coccidia. Do you have any Corid? You can get the powder at TSC [it's labeled for cows] and mix 1/2 tsp per gallon of water. Make sure they have only the treated water to drink for 7 days. I'd probably also want to offer all of them plain yogurt, to help maintain good gut bacteria. The one that's acting off probably needs some extra intervention; I would keep her in a warm area, feed her scrambled eggs and make sure she's drinking Corid water.

The ones that have pasty butt need a soak to clean up that area or other problems can happen. When I have to do that for any of mine in the non-summer time, I do it in the house and keep the bird in a small dog crate with clean pine shavings in it, in a warm room, to dry; some people use a blow dryer to dry off the bird. I've not been that brave yet. LOL

 

[minifarmkat]

There is only one acting lethargic. She is walking on her knees.

 

[minifarmkat]

I thought about coccidia too since I've seen that in chicks before. The only reason I thought otherwise is that there was no blood in their poop. I will stop by the feed store and get some of that and hope it helps.

 

[Wyandottes7]

The first thing I would suspect is coccidia. Do you have any Corid? You can get the powder at TSC [it's labeled for cows] and mix 1/2 tsp per gallon of water. Make sure they have only the treated water to drink for 7 days. I'd probably also want to offer all of them plain yogurt, to help maintain good gut bacteria. The one that's acting off probably needs some extra intervention; I would keep her in a warm area, feed her scrambled eggs and make sure she's drinking Corid water.

The ones that have pasty butt need a soak to clean up that area or other problems can happen. When I have to do that for any of mine in the non-summer time, I do it in the house and keep the bird in a small dog crate with clean pine shavings in it, in a warm room, to dry; some people use a blow dryer to dry off the bird. I've not been that brave yet. LOL

Actually, I believe that the dosage for Corid powder is about one teaspoon (though I know that quite a few people have used 1/2 teaspoon).

 

[minifarmkat]

Thanks so much everyone the others are doing fine. We still have one who is sick and walking on her knees. She's not acting lathargic, I just feel bad for the poor girl. Any ideas why she's so much worse?

 

[Eggcessive]

There are several diseases that describe sitting or walking on the knees. Mareks is one of them, but hopefully it isn't that. I would google it and do some reading.