Very Sick hen...help please...

[KBLAsMom]

i have a brood of chickens, I discovered one who is very sick. She is 7 months old and I noticed her shivering on the roost this morning with her sisters all being out in the yard. She had slime coming out of her mouth and her crop is huge. I did some research on the crop and thought it to be sour crop. I did what was suggested and tipped her down while massaging and as soon as i tipped her about a cup of liquid came out with some grass in it. She perked up a bit for a while. I also noticed her stool, this was gross...lots of micro sized worms and a little bit of blood on her vent. And the stool seemed very sandy. What can I give her to help. What do I do for the worms, and do I treat the whole flock? I have 18 total. None of the other girls are showing signs of distress. I don't know if this caused the problem, but, I just bought a bag of cracked corn and they've been eating this scattered on the ground for 2 weeks.

 

[downsm75]

You need to worm all. Wazine 17 in their water will help. Are you giving them chick grit or poultry grit? That will help her get her food down better

 

[KBLAsMom]

Thanks, I am giving them grit and they free range every day so I assumed they were getting plenty of grit. How often should I massage her crop? And would this (sour crop) have any bearing on her getting the worms. Her vent is crawling with tiny worms. I understand treating the whole flock but should I give this one a special dose since she is so bad? And did I read correctly somewhere that I need to dispose of the eggs while treating for the worms? How long do I treat with the Wazine? Can you all tell I'm new at this?

 

[soler]

really good article on sour crop here, scroll to the bottom
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/search/label/Answers from the Chicken Vet

for the worms, given you don't know if you have roundworms or something else, use Valbazen. Wazine only kills roundworms.

 

[KBLAsMom]

Well, I came back from the farm supply store with some worming meds and found my little chicken had passed away. She had small worms crawling all around under the feathers on her backside. Almost looks like the little round worms that I've seen in puppy poo before I wormed my puppy last year. There were so many I've never seen anything like it before, I quickly buried her before the other chickens could start eating. Now I'm grossing my self out. This has not been a fun day. I am cleaning everything out of the coop and burning the bedding. I bought some food grade DE but when I got it home I noticed it was red dirt DE. Will the still be effective? I have some pool grade DE in my garage would this be safe to spread around my yard? Should I spread any DE at all around?

 

[soler]

I am so sorry

I believe you are only supposed to use food grade DE around the chickens, so best not to use the pool grade. You might want to disinfect the coop as well, and i would definitely worm all your other chickens. There is a good chance they are carrying them too. If you got one of the broad spectrum wormers, i would use that one so you have your bases covered.