Very dirty chicken-found a worm. Help!!! Added pictures

[Cajunrose]

I have pictures, but I can't post them right this second. Quick history...it has been raining and raining....complete downpours with several inches of rain every day. My chicken coop has been a muddy mess. My husband has done everything he can to divert water. They DO have a dry place to go inside but mostly stay outside in the mess for some reason. I let them into the grassy yard for several hours a day to give them a reprieve. I have opened up my end of the season garden to them so that they can dust in it (the soil drains well in there so they can dust in it thankfully).

One of my buff orphingtons this morning, looked really sad for lack of a better word. Her sister looked normal. This little gal's feathers were dark and droopy and she looked *really* skinny. She hasn't looked this way until today. I noticed it right after she dusted in my garden. None of the other birds looked this way. After the torrential downpour stopped (the chickens were put back in their coop when it started raining), I went back out to check on her. I caught her (she never lets us catch her so that in it self is something). Her feathers were completely matted with mud/dirt (it was dry). It was all the way to her skin. I have never seen anything like it. I checked really well for bugs and such and only found 1 teeny tiny worm hanging from a feather. That could have come from my garden though.

I bathed her in dr. bonners soap (it's mild). She tolerated it fairly well surprisingly enough. The amount of mud that came from her was amazing.

What the heck happened? Why did she get this way and none of the others when they dusted in the same spot? Could something be wrong with her?

Time to go blowdry the bird (my dd has been town drying her while I post).

 

[Cajunrose]

Ok, I just finished with her. I def. think something is wrong. Her feathers won't clean. I got most of the dirt off but they still don't look good. The color is off and she's skinny I think (I need to go out and pick up the other buff for comparison). They are going on 4 months old by the way. Please help me. I'm a first time chicken mama and this is killing me!

Stephenie

 

[bustermommy]

You might try to get a pic. Hope this bumps you so someone who can help will see it.

 

[yankeedoodle300]

You should try getting Wazine De-Wormer and feed her A LOT of food, if they are worms ( Which they probably are ) that will help. I'm a Chicken Farm Newbie and this De-Wormed mine, But it was too late for her : ( Feed her and hope for the best, Separate her and Dust her... That's all i can think of but GOOD LUCK. ps. look at other stuff on BYC

 

[Cajunrose]

I did a search before I posted but didn't find much. She pooped in my tub and it looked normal and there were no worms in it. Just that one in her feathers that could have been from my garden. The only thing now is that her down on the bottom half of her body is very dirty despite her bath. I'll post pics of before her bath in a minute.

 

[Cajunrose]

Before bath (nearly every part of her body looked like this). It was dry dirt just stuck to her feathers.

After bath (her feathers are dry even though it doesn't look like it)

 

[bertman]

Pretty bird, cajunrose.

I hope you can get her back to good health.