Sick new hen

[DevGoddess]

Ok, so on Sunday we bought two new Isa Browns that we were told are both 10mos old... One of them is in great shape, full plumage, bright red comb and wattles, drinking, eating, etc. The other one... she looks like she's been through it.

It was our first time buying chickens from anyone, and honestly it's probably on me for not speaking up more (severe social anxiety ftw). Her left eye is shut, looks kinda swollen, she has feathers all over her back missing, has black scab-looking things on her shut eye and over her comb.

She keeps sitting all scrunched down, but then sometimes she will get up and kick around, drink water (I mix electrolytes and probiotics into it for them..!), and eat food. The first evening of having them, they both went to town on the food like they were starving (even though they look and feel like a good weight), and she would chase the other hen from the food, so we thought maybe she just liked to fight? Lol? I've supplied them with oyster shell, some lettuce as a treat, and yesterday I made some scrambled eggs mixed with crushed shells from our other two chickens -- she absolutely went to town on it!

Yesterday I noticed tiny black specks on her fluff, and so I went searching on old posts here. I settled on maybe mites? Maybe lice? I went and got a 7gal cow feeder, peat moss, permethrin 10 concentrate, and chicken dust. I mixed some peat moss and chicken dust (and even a tiny amount of DE... I worry about their respiratory systems, but some people say do and others say don't?) into the cow feeder as a place to dust bathe.

This morning she and her sister/friend were kicking around! But then as soon as I went out there, she squatted down and became kinda despondent again. Her comb and wattles are pale, but her eye is looking a bit better. Last night I lifted up her back and vent feathers and tried to get some of the chicken dust in there to help.

I really just... don't know what to do. Her previous owner had a rather small piece of land with a few full-size goats, two smallish pigs, some ducks, and a whole bunch of hens with maybe 3 roosters. So maybe she got into it with the other hens and/or roosters?

I just want to help her.

 

[Eggcessive]

What is your general location? I don’t buy started hens from anyone because you can bring in a disease that may affect your flock for life. They frequently are not honest with you, and may say they were picked on. She may have been pecked and feather picked by other chickens. If they had a rooster, some of the feather loss may be from rooster damage or overmating. It sounds like she is used to fighting a bit.

It is always best to keep new birds quarantined away from your existing flock for about 30 days to looks for lice or mites, to worm them, and watch for any symptoms of disease. The way she is hiding her head under her wing can be typical of a sick bird. Could she be molting? What do her poops look like?

I would clean her eye with saline and apply some Terramycin or Neosporin ointment twice a day. Saline is 2 tsp of salt dissolved in a quart/liter of water. Boil it to sterilize and cool. I would look her over for lice and mites crawling on her skin under her vent, belly, under wings and elsewhere. Some mites only come on them at night in the dark,,hiding in the coop during daytime. Permethrin garden dust is good for dusting the birds, and permethrin spray may be used to treat the coop. Retreat at 7-10 days. For worming, I recommend Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer.

 

[DevGoddess]

What is your general location? I don’t buy started hens from anyone because you can bring in a disease that may affect your flock for life. They frequently are not honest with you, and may say they were picked on. She may have been pecked and feather picked by other chickens. If they had a rooster, some of the feather loss may be from rooster damage or overmating. It sounds like she is used to fighting a bit.

It is always best to keep new birds quarantined away from your existing flock for about 30 days to looks for lice or mites, to worm them, and watch for any symptoms of disease. The way she is hiding her head under her wing can be typical of a sick bird. Could she be molting? What do her poops look like?

I would clean her eye with saline and apply some Terramycin or Neosporin ointment twice a day. Saline is 2 tsp of salt dissolved in a quart/liter of water. Boil it to sterilize and cool. I would look her over for lice and mites crawling on her skin under her vent, belly, under wings and elsewhere. Some mites only come on them at night in the dark,,hiding in the coop during daytime. Permethrin garden dust is good for dusting the birds, and permethrin spray may be used to treat the coop. Retreat at 7-10 days. For worming, I recommend Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer.

We're in the near-coastal part of North Carolina right now! And... lesson learned :') I have her and flockmate quarantined in our old coop and run, and a good ways from our other two hens, and not letting anyone free-range during the quarantine.

Her flockmate laid an egg today! She seems to be doing really well at the moment.

With 3 roosters, is it possible it was a mix of overmating and fighting with the other hens? And yes... she really does seem like a fighter, but she lets us handle her without a struggle. I don't know if it's because she doesn't feel well, or just her personality.

Should I worm the both of them just in case?

And maybe molting..? One of our og hens is at the end of her molt, but I've never seen much more than that. I looked at other molting posts on here, but tbh I'm still not sure. She's eating a lot, but I haven't quite catched her poops yet. Looking around where there are droppings, though, they look normal.

Would any type of antibiotic ointment work? Or does it need to be terramycin/neosporin?

I will definitely do the saline to clean her eye!

Thank you so so much for your help! And on another note, I love your username, lol!

 

[DevGoddess]

I just went out to watch her and gave them some "moist" crickets and mealworms. She ate it right up! Then she went and drank water for a good minute. Aaand then pooped, which looked normal!

I feel like for the most part, if she's not eating, then she's loafing out :/