Underweight Chicken

[chickenmad129]

Hi BYC!
Need your help! I have a pekin bantam who is about 26 weeks and is underweight. You can feel her bones and she doesn't walk much- she isn't very active. Her vent is also quite dirty too. She is eating quite a lot so thought it may be a internal parasite? However i wormed the flock about 5 weeks ago. Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Pyxis]

What did you worm with? Some wormers do not work on all parasites. I would put her on a high protein feed to allow her to start putting weight back on, maybe chick feed. Cat food would help too, but don't overdo it - maybe give her some a few times a week. You can also scramble some eggs for her and she'll gobble those down really fast.

 

[chickenmad129]

What did you worm with? Some wormers do not work on all parasites. I would put her on a high protein feed to allow her to start putting weight back on, maybe chick feed. Cat food would help too, but don't overdo it - maybe give her some a few times a week. You can also scramble some eggs for her and she'll gobble those down really fast.

Flubenvet. Thank you- will do that.

 

[Pyxis]

With the dirty vent you might also try some plain yogurt with probiotics - she might have an imbalance in her digestive tract and that'll help sort it out. You can also try reworming again with valbazen if you can get ahold of it - it's the best wormer you can use for poultry and kills just about everything. Do it once, then again ten days later to get any worms that may have hatched from eggs in that time.

 

[vick01]

I have a Lohmann Brown who is over 2 years old. She stopped laying over winter, and started molting. I thought she'd come good now that the weather is warming up (I'm in a Sydney Spring), but she's now looking worse. About 2 weeks ago, her comb flopped, and I found out she was being bullied by the Australorp (which now seems to have eased). She's also rooming in with 6 juvenile Lohmanns. Her vent is dirty also.

I will try the yoghurt and worming the flock, and also the high protein food. Is there anything else I should do? Is she now past laying age? I read somewhere that Lohmann's only lay for about 2 years. Is this true?

 

[chickenmad129]

Hi, everyone at BYC i lost my little girl (only 28 weeks) the day after this was posted- after that the whole flock went on wormer and antibiotics! I feel so unlucky already lost 3 chickens even though i spoil them rotten and do everything by the book!