URGENT: Mites or Lice on Already Near-Dead Hen- How to Remove?

[Judy]

Quote:
Yeah, what she said. No one can decide for you. Hopefully the chicken will turn the corner and you won't have to do something you don't want to do!

It may be she got so infested with lice because there was an underlying problem, which I imagine you're already suspecting.

About permethrin/pyrethrin (sold in combination, at least around here.) This is an alternate to Sevin and DE. Supposedly somewhere inbetween in its severity. Available around here as "poultry dust" in the feed store, or Adams flea and tick spray/dust from the vet. I have used it and DE in the litter, no infestations yet, but I'm sure my day is coming.

Some people can find DE locally but many have to order it online. On the FAQ page there are three threads listed that talk about DE. It is a bit controversial. Do read up before you decide to use it.

 

[chickeepoo]

Thanks- I do feel like I need to try a little longer if she doesn't just up and die on her own. I just gave her one more drink of the electrolyte/vitamin water with terramycin before covering her cage, and she seems the same as last feeding- leaning to the left, head pulled to the side with eyes closed, and loss of coordination to hold herself up and move.

She seemed to be doing better after I got rid of the lice, but you're right that I suspect something more severe as the underlying problem. The loss of coordination and strength in her left leg plus the new tendency to turn her head to the left had me thinking of Marek's or something, AND another BO hen from the same source turned up with similar symptoms in the loss of weight, appetite and strength and a puffed up face, eyes and throat to the point she couldn't open her eyes or swallow food for a time. That hen still has strange lesions and purple scars on the right side of her face around the eye, although the swelling went down after a couple of weeks. The hen I'm treating here never had any facial swelling, but she's got something going on… can anemia from the lice damage them to the point of no return?

Oh- did use the Sevin dust last week- no more lice. I would like to keep the other products on hand for future use.

 

[montcapu]

I would try until there is no need to try anymore.. its always worth trying

 

[emilyweck]

Time will tell! Keep your chin up.

 

[countrybum]

You can go to the store and buy Iron tablets in the vitamin section. They are small, so crush one and add it to her water. Iron is great if she is anemic.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
???

People here often recommend children's liquid vitamins, but when doing so, they always say don't get the ones with iron. I have never researched this but would not give iron til I did.

 

[countrybum]

You can also mix 2 tabs in a 1/2 gallon of water. I have used Iron tablets on mite filled chickens that I bought at auction. No research, pretty much was going to be a test and it worked. Maybe you can get her to eat some spinache or liver instead, I feed my chickens spinache a lot, but not liver (liver is just good for iron).

 

[jjthink]

See if you can entice her at all with interesting things like yogurt with bits of wonderful cut up fresh fruit (grapes, blueberries, blackberries), or just the fruit by itself if she hates yogurt. Can also try watermelon, cantelope. The fruit is as much for hydration as for spirit. Sunflower seeds, egg, whatever she will accept. The polyvisol liquid childrens vitamins - a few drops a day.

With any luck, nutrition stolen by the bugs is causing the problems you note and she will improve in time with getting back up to speed with nutrition levels.
Hoping for her...

JJ

 

[chickeepoo]

Hi all, updating here… I can put anything you think would help her in her food as long as it'll run through the blender - she is unable to eat on her own, just swallow what I put in her by syringe. The past 2 days it's been almost exclusively the crumbles with the vitamin/electrolyte water plus antibiotic, with occasional blurb of scrambled egg or yogurt or collard green. Her poop looks normal to me in color now, light brown with a little white, albeit a little splooshy from all the liquid in it. I put 3- 4 syringes-full (about 8-10 ml each one) of the blended food in her every 1 1/2 - 2 hours plus a smaller syringe of the water to clear things down her throat (even though she swallows well), UNLESS her crop seems packed- then just a little water and I wait for her to poop more and make a little space in the digestive tract. Last week she had more collared greens in the mix, but I couldn't tell if the green poop was more from that or poor/non-digesting on her part. She doesn't have much energy to fight me on the feedings today; she seems resigned to it. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein keeping her going like this, but I keep hoping she'll pick up energy and weight and get back on her feet. I'll look for info about adding the iron in… she could be getting some from the collards too. Any comments, if you can tell from my info, if I'm giving her enough/too much/too little of anything? I'm guessing she's about 2-2.5 pounds at this point, around 10 months old, just a lot of fluff (and some of that's falling out too- feathers).

Edit for spelling

 

[chickenfever]

I'm no expert, but I would be careful with the electrolytes in her water. You don't want to accidentally cause an electrolyte imbalance.