sick pullet. advice welcome!

[hooktontravel]

I have 8 poultry (well 9, because I just got another duck today, but he's separate at the moment). I have 7 chickens & 2 ducks. the chickens are all but 1 from early june hatch. one chick and the duck are from early July. They have a small house on a pallet outside (i'm currently building their grown up house so it will be ready before winter). There is a 200 foot fence enclosing a pen for them under some pine & maple trees. They get organic grower/starter but I have some layer too because they're almost old enough. they have had some already, but I haven't switched them over fully. I free range them in the evenings when i'm home, but found if I let them free early in the day they tend to migrate to the neighbors. Also the cockerels get much more uptight and attack the hens & each other more when they're loose for some reason.

The pullet in question is a 4.5 month old Salmon Faverolles pullet. We noticed her start to be a little off about a week ago. she seemed sleepy all the time, but she still came to eat treats (mealworms & seed mix). normal poops when I noticed them. I was gone over the weekend and my neighbor noted she didn't 'come out to play' with the others right away in the morning... so Monday I checked her out. I found dirty junk on the roots of her feathers around the bum, decided it looked like a mite problem, and went to get some dust right away. dusted her butt, neck, and under wings. (it's a garden & poultry permethrin dust) I figured it would kill mites & she'd perk up. I also cleaned out the house, dusted that, and caught & sprayed everyone else with some insect killer too. None of the others were having a problem, and only one had any bugs that I saw (2 black bugs. they ran away into his feathers. he didn't have any signs of irritation or problem).


She's been in the garage for 2 days now and is still listless. she'll talk to me when I make chicken noises to her. drinks a fair bit, but only picks at food. ate raisins this morning from my hand and some she gulped right down, but others she acted like she couldn't chew apart. She'd spit them out 4 or 5 times before finally swallowing them. I put her on the deck right outside my back door with water & a couple of food options to see what might entice her. I figured sunshine & fresh air can't hurt! She does perk up when I come out and she talks to me, but otherwise she seems to sleep. Definitely not eating enough and I can feel that she's super thin! She shakes her head a bit, but she always has (all my faverolles birds do - I have wondered if it's because of the fluffy feathers by their eyes). i don't feel any bulge in her crop or anything. She prefers to lie down rather than stand mostly... I don't know if her feet hurt or she's just weak. I don't see anything wrong with feet & legs. She looks like a strong wind will blow her right away! She has soaked/fermented grower, grower crumbles, and some layer pellet available to choose from, also some mealworms. She ate a few mealworms and a few bites of food this morning, then just stared at the dish and closed her eyes to sleep.














(the towel poop was from noon time. I had her in a box for a while. the two on plywood are from the morning.)

I'm wondering if she just had messy poop from something other than mites and it got all over her feathers and I thought the wrong thing. I looked at her poop this morning (she did just a little bit, and it was one normal lump and one with extra water, but no blood or anything unusual in it. basic brown. her bum is still filthy because I was waiting to bathe her to let the bug stuff do it's work for a couple of days.

Any thoughts on what I should do for her?

Thanks so much!

 

[minihorse927]

Is she thin through the breastbone?

 

[hooktontravel]

yes. quite skinny. she's obviously dropped weight lately.her little bones are sticking out! She started trying to clean her feathers this afternoon and pooped twice (normal looking chicken poops), but still isn't really tucking into the food...

 

[minihorse927]

yes. quite skinny. she's obviously dropped weight lately.her little bones are sticking out! She started trying to clean her feathers this afternoon and pooped twice (normal looking chicken poops), but still isn't really tucking into the food...

I believe you are dealing with coccidiosis. It does not always present with bloody poo. I would get her on corid quick.

 

[minihorse927]

Keep her drinking and eating. Cocci usually isn't what directly kills them, they usually end up starving to death or dehydrating completely.

 

[hooktontravel]

Thanks. I will get some corid for her. I was wondering about an internal parasite, but couldn't figure out from the lists of options what would be best to dose her with 'just in case.' She has been drinking plenty! I am letting her eat anything she finds interesting at the moment, figuring even if it's not highly nutritious it's better than not eating at all (i.e. she can have all the raisins and mealworms she wants for now)


She did come out and eat some crumbles right off this morning.


and should I dose the others at all? I usually don't like to give meds/use the poisons unless there's demonstrated reason - both for myself and my animals. no one else appears even a tiny bit unhealthy...

 

[minihorse927]

Cocci is always going to exist on every single animal out there. It is when it overloads the animal that it becomes a issue. I would check the others to see if they are in good weight and go from there. If they seem thin I would dose them all. If not I would dose the sick pullet at 1.25tsp per gallon of water for the powder or 8cc per gallon of water for the liquid. She should start to improve within a few days of starting medication.

Let us know how she does.

 

[hooktontravel]

I will get some tomorrow and mix it. Thanks for the dosing info, that's very helpful! Today she had a bath and blowdry (not a full-on bath, just a 'cleaner on bottom than you were, because poopy feathers are gross' bath) and she's been hanging in the kitchen. watching my nephew do school and eating food and raisins, and some mosquitoes who made the bad choice to come in the house. drinking water. pooping a few times. just like a 'normal' chicken. I would rather make sure she stays on the mend, so corid it is!

We had chicken stir fry for dinner & I told her she was too skinny she didn't need to worry about getting cooked. she blinked at me and said 'merp merp merp.' obviously completely unconcerned.

Thanks so much for all the help!

 

[hooktontravel]

She is much better and has been outside with one friend in a small pen beside the others 2 afternoons now. I didn't end up doing the corid because she improved so much, all of a sudden. Tractor supply is right around the corner so I can pick it up in 5 minutes if she seems to sicken again. I just hate to pump chemicals in if they're not actually needed. I'm thinking it really was either mites making her miserable, or more of the birds were picking on her than I knew and she just was very unhappy. with half a day of house time and a couple days in the dog crate in the garage she is quite chipper again. I'll keep her separated for a while to build up weight, and she can sleep inside for a while longer. the older Faverolles hen never picks on her, and they seem happy together. I am going to keep this bookmarked because having the dosing information for corid is probably going to come in handy!

thank you again for the help and information!