Weak chicken, very underweight, tired, lethargic

[Chicken Dreams]

Hi
I have a 8 month old silver laced wyandotte who can only stand for five minutes max without falling. she has always been smaller than my other

girls, but i never worried. Now, she has been in the garage for ten days, eating layena with a little plain yogurt, flax seeds, and canned corn. she

may be improving a little bit, but she is such a sad sight

Her feathers are loose and her body is so scrawny. I can almost put both my hands

all the way around her body (off by one inch). i doubt she weighs more than two pounds. when she stands it takes a lot of effort and her

balance is terrible. could this be worms? and what should i do?

thanks for helping

 

[easttxchick]

I think the first thing I would do would be to worm her, see if that helps and go from there.
I would also boost the protein to try to get some weight back on her.
Good luck with her!

 

[jjthink]

If you are in a cold climate and your garage is unheated, she needs to be moved somewhere comfortably warm as she does not have the strength to try to keep warm right now. Do give her 3 drops Polyvisol liquid children's vitamins daily to try to bolster her - administer via dropper gently dribbling along her beak line, so she swallows on her own and doesn't choke. Follow by offering great flavored foods that you know she likes as the taste of the liquid vitamin is not good. Also offer egg, black oil sunflower seed, baby parrot formula - to try to get some weight on her. Wormer will be an added stressor on her body so she needs every creature comfort to try to endure. Sounds like she's been sick for awhile - she may need expert avian vet diagnosis and treatment to get through this, if you are able.
JJ

 

[Chicken Dreams]

YAY! I did a head to toe to vent search on the little

bird and on her rear were tons of mites and lice!

now i know for sure whats wrong! going to buy

sevin dust and vitamins and hopefully she will

be on the road to recovery.

I can put her in the laundry room and

feed her scrambled eggs with the vitamins.

thanks so much

 

[jjthink]

Glad you found the reason. From the sounds of it the situation is extremely urgent.
JJ