Sick or Broody Hen?

[Chickety Charcoal]

I have a one year old hen that hasn't laid an egg in a little over a week. She is just sitting on the nest as if she is broody, but her crop feels slightly bloated and soft. I thought it was sour crop but when I try to drain it by pointing her head down and pushing the crop, nothing comes out. Her comb is kind of shriveled and darker colored where the other hens' combs are bright red and stand up. She is a little lethargic but will get up to eat and drink occasionally and when she does she acts as the other chickens do, but then goes right back to the nest. She also has loose stool or diarrhea.

Her vent, eyes, nose, throat and breathing all seem clear and normal. No sign of pests or worms in the poop. Do I treat her with yogurt and ACV? I have started to put ACV in their drinking water. What do you think? Is she broody and sick or just one or the other?

 

[klmclain1]

Does she scream or growl at you when you try to move her off the nest? That's MY sure sign that they're broody.

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

She never screams, she makes a 'churring' sound and points her beak down to her crop while her hackles and tail feathers raise. I have to pull her off the nest, literally, like getting my child out of bed for school. She goes limp until I put her in front of food.

My concern is the diarrhea and crop. Can this be a sign of some other problem? Do I treat with yogurt and ACV? She seemed mildly interested in it yesterday- but only mildly.

 

[terryg]

Huffing up and pecking at her chest are sure signs of Broody. I just broke my buff orpington of being broody. Read this blogpost and see photos.
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/2012/04/what-to-do-about-a-broody/
It took less than 3 days in the anti-broody coop and she's back to laying and is no longer henzilla.

However, a sick hen will take to a nest box, too. A broody hen leaves the nest once a day and leaves gigantic, stinky broody-poop. You should see that if she's broody. BTW, don't fuss with her crop, and you can do more harm than good trying to squeeze stuff out the mouth. If it's hard, you can massage it and dribble in olive oil to get things moving. Epsom salts can work wonders when there's an imbalance. Check my recent blog posts. I've written about that this week.

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

Dang. It's worms.

I saw two of them this morning in her loose stool. Now the question is: What to treat her with? I would like to do this as organic as possible but I realize once I see the worms, she's got a bad infestation. What do you recommend I buy for treatment and what do I do while I wait for it to be shipped here? She's a bit thin and lethargic.

@terryg- I will check out those posts. Thanks for the info!

 

[klmclain1]

This is not an organic treatment (I haven't seen anyone here yet that has cured worms with an organic treatment - sorry but if you don't hit them hard and fast, your chickens will die) - but this is the info I received from dawg53 on here - he's the guru when it comes to worms and wormers.

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.

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

The best I could do today was get some pelletized Safeguard. Has anyone used that for deworming? Do I just mix it into the feed?