Splash Orpington Sex

[Cetawin]

Orange as in a dark mustard colored? It should never be yellow or orange. They can have a chocolately dark brown almost black looser stool ocassionally which is the normal cecal poo. But orange...that is normally a problem. It is an indication of worms. Worms will keep them skinny and can ultimately kill them. They eat and eat but cannot gain weight and actually lose weight. It is as if the worms starve them to death. When you pick her up can you feel her keel bone in her chest? Is it sharp? Covered by muscle but locatable? Etc etc.

Have your birds ever been wormed? If not, I would strongly urge you to worm them and see if that helps. I use Ivermectin pour on for cattle...adult birds 4 drops from an eye dropper on their back between their shoulders...then repeat in 10 days. Her I would put 2 drops on. Then give probiotics in their water or food to restore the good gut bacteria.

This is Athena at almost 11 weeks old...can you see why I am concerned?

Your girl should be much thicker and heavier than she is. Orps are a very heavy breed and gumpsgirl has thick good stock just as speckledhen does...so she has the genetics to be orp sized and she really isn't.

About the poo is mustard colored or tinged with blood to look orange?

 

[BLaBauve]

Thank you very much for your help. I guess the poop I see is yellowish/orange. I assumed it was cecal poop because I've seen pictures of it that were yellow before.

I am somewhat worried about deworming - I've always heard that the dewormers can effect their eggs forever and should not be eaten. That being said i do have ivomec and will use it, but she's not too young?

My last question- is it dangerous to eat eggs from a chicken with worms?

Thank you again for your help!

 

[speckledhen]

If she isn't round and stocky at that age, I'd say do check her poop for worms or just go ahead and worm her. She does seem quite thin for her age. Sometimes you'll get a thick poop like butterscotch pudding, but that is pretty normal every few poops; the orange doesn't sound quite right.


This is the link to very good pics of poop, idenifying cecal poop, poop with worms, etc. Check it out

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

If your chicken has worms, you must worm her. Worms can kill a bird if the load becomes too great. A healthy bird can carry a small worm load, but when there is weight loss, it is time to worm.

That said, we don't know if that is why she's thin, but it seems likely.

 

[Cetawin]

Thank you speckledhen for correcting me on the "butterscotch" poo.


Your concerns..

It is not usually dangerous to eat the eggs of a chicken with worms, they all carry some amount of worms normally, as speckledhen said it is dangerous to the bird when too many become present.

It is okay to worm a bird that age and size, I just wormed a tiny bantam rooster by using one drop. it is by weight so a 6 - 15 pound bird would get 4 - 6 drops a 1.2 lbs bird like my little roo got one drop. So, I would suggest 2 drops for her but if you want to weigh her and reduce it to one drop, go right ahead. Check the strength of your Ivomec and then post it...we can better help with dosage that way or you can search on here for the dosage for the two different strengths.

There is an egg withrawal with Ivomec, I believe Eprinex is the one that does not have an egg withdrawal.

I toss my eggs for a week after each worming...then go back to eating the, without a problem.

Worming them does not affect their eggs forever...only for the withdrawl period which is normally 10 days.

 

[BLaBauve]

I will worm her tomorrow and I changed their bedding today, so hopefully this will fix her up. Thank you both again - I thought she was just little!

 

[Cetawin]

Better safe than sorry and worming her will not hurt her. The worms will. She just looks too small for an opr, especially from gumpsgirl's stock.

 

[Firearia]

Well... She's a pullet though! A tiny one like everyone has said.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Pullet.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I agree, the cockeral I posted a picture of is from gumpsgirls stock.

 

[NewToFarming]

She actually looks alot like my girls that I was thinking to be andalusians who are about 10 weeks old now. I just got 2 orp pullets that are 3-4 months old that are 2-3 times her size. The Orps are really big compared to my others. I will post a pic of my girls.