Worms & Lice & a Very Sick Bird

[LydiaK]

Hi. I have a very sick pullet and I need help urgently.


We have had our chickens 5 weeks. They are 12 and 13 weeks old.
I have 7 chickens, the coop itself is 4x4' +nest boxes, with lots of ventilation (we live in Georgia). The run is 12x10' and we intended to free range as much as possible and use deep litter method.


A few weeks ago, my most friendly and greedy pullet started showing signs of sour crop. I tried taking her off feed, and emptying her crop to no avail. It seemed to return to normal sometime last week, then came back. She began to fall behind her sister who was originally smaller in size.

A few days ago she started limping and I assumed she had been injured. I checked her over repeatedly and didn't see anything wrong. About 2 days ago she began tripping over her own feet and having trouble standing, but still has perfect head and neck control. I tried to narrow these symptoms down and posted video here and FB for help but nothing was conclusive. Her crop was still swollen and her vent feathers were a mess but I couldn't bathe her yesterday.

This morning I found bloody, mucousy poop and two very large (2-3" long) white worms dead in it. I believe they are roundworms.

I bathed her today and found she's absolutely covered in lice. She's just skin and bones and probably under a pound now. The only positive is she has no open wounds or maggots around her vent. My chicken keeping friends and I now believe the stumbling and inability to stand well is probably weakness from malnutrition and anemia.

I am planning to treat the whole flock for worms and lice and R for malnutrition but I am completely new to this and I need direction. I really need direct 1, 2, 3 steps because I don't know where to start.

They all receive chick crumbles still and daily ACV in their water. I have also set up a dust bath with FSL in it, and dusted R with it after bathing her today, and treated the entire coop with it, but I know I will need to replace all the bedding at the veryleast.
Side note, my husband would like to do this as budget-friendly as possible. I can't spend hundreds to treat them, but I will do everything in my power to help them.

Thank you for reading all that!

 

[Eggcessive]

Permethrin 10 concentrate mixed with water in a spray bottle or the garden dust can be used every 7-10 days to get the lice and the newly hatched eggs before they reproduce, at least 2-3 times. Ivermectin can work, but then you would need to toss the eggs for awhile after. Completely empty the bedding from the coop and nests, and treat those and the roosts. Add clean new bedding.

For worming, Vabazen can be used, and it is available online and in a few stores. SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer is more easily found. It is given orally to each chicken, 1/4 ml per pound once and again in 10 days for roundworms and cecal worms. Treat for 5 consecutive days for those plus capillary or gapeworms. A fecal float would tell you what worms they have beside the roundworms you saw.

Hopefully, she does not have something like Mareks disease that is causing the balance and walking problems. Sour crop is kind of rare in a young pullet. An antifungal powder such as Medistatin (nystatin) can be ordered online to help treat a fungal infection that causes sour crop. Some use Monistat or miconazole cream orally for that. Here is an article about sour crop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[Duckpooper]

You could treat all of the chickens with food grade diatomaceous earth to get rid of the lice and parasites. With the sick chicken, you should separate her from the rest and give her food grade DE asap(on the outside of her body, but it's ok if she accidentally eats it)since those parasites are eating up the food she's eating. Then, you could give her iron/protein rich foods so that she can regain her blood and weight loss, such as some scrambled eggs and 1 tablespoon of grounded up cooked chicken thighs daily(it might sound like canibalism, but it works), and you could also give her 20% protein food, but right when she looks like she's starting to get better, return to her regular feed and lower her pedialyte intake, since too much supplements can do the same harm as none. And you should give her some vitamin c rich foods so that she will absorb the iron, such as some strawberries. And lastly, you should give her some electrolytes so she could regain her energy, such as duvet vitamins and electrolytes or plain pedialyte. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. I hope she feels better soon

 

[Eggcessive]

Before buying DE, I would read this article:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk/
DE will not treat an outbreak of lice or mites. An 8 ounce bottle of Gordons or Martins permethrin 10 concentrate at aTSC is less expensive.

 

[dawg53]

DE is a waste of time and money. Permethrin liquid concentrate or permethrin dust will kill the lice and mites. Since you use the deep litter method, I'd advise you to use the 5 day dose of safeguard liquid goat wormer. Use a syringe without a needle to administer the wormer orally to each chicken. Make sure you treat ALL your birds with the wormer and the permethrin.

I dont recommend deep litter method in hot and humid states, particularly Georgia. That's where I'm from, but now live in north Florida. Deep litter is known to harbor worm eggs, particularly capillary worm eggs among others including large roundworm eggs. This is why you should treat your birds with safeguard for 5 days, specifically for capillary worms and it will get rid of the large roundworms also. Get rid of the deep litter and put sand inside the coop. It's easy to clean and keeps everything dry in the humid environment.

I suspect the worm and lice infestation has weakened your pullet to the point you're seeing symptoms of a weakened immune system, malnutrition, and starvation due to the parasites. Each day, twice a day for 7 days, give your pullet 1 drop of Poultry Nutri Drench orally. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals which will help her recover.
Additionally, a 4x4 coop is going to be too small to eventually house 7 grown birds. Four feet wide is fine, but it would best to expand lengthwise to 8 feet. In other words, add another 4 feet lengthwise.

 

[LydiaK]

Update
Copied and pasted from my FB group.

I feel like I'm failing at helping my chickens.
If you've seen my recent posts, my 14wk old flock (have had them for 6 weeks) is dealing with what I believe to be gapeworm, roundworm, and lice. Add to that a possible respiratory infection, but I'm trying not to overwhelm my chicken's already low immune systems so I'm treating only for gapeworm right now.

I've repeatedly treated everyone and the coop with FSL for the lice. I treated everyone with ivermectin for the worms because I have one chicken struggling to survive and wanted to eradicate the worms before it got that bad for everyone else.

I replaced all my coop bedding and run with sand ($$$ and approximately 1,600# of single handed hard labor!) And this is where I'm getting frustrated.

We originally were trying to do deep litter method. However, our yard has a lot of drainage issues, and I think the litter staying damp in 1/3 of the coop led to most of the issues we're dealing with. Now we have sand which is supposed to help with the drainage and make it easier to treat the worms and lice, but my girls are still having so much runny poop, I can't even go scoop it!!!! How am I supposed to prevent more worms when I can't get the poop out of the coop???

I'm just getting so discouraged. We put a LOT of money and a LOT of work into trying to build more sustainable practices for our family, and at this point I can't even cull and replace our flock (I don't want to but it wouldn't help) because everything is contaminated. I am hand feeding my weakest bird, and seeing no improvement, and just so discouraged at not being successful in improving their health or the cleanliness of the coop.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'm sorry you're struggling. You are trying so hard to do right by them. It must be beyond frustrating.

What does their poop look like? Are their crops emptying overnight? You mentioned sour crop. Sour crop is a fungal infection (sometimes bacterial, too). You would need to treat that, too. I have a hen who was starving to death when I got her because of all the things you state is happening to your birds. I treated worms with SafeGuard, lice with permethrin, and the crop with Monistat.

Also, FSL is a preventative, I think. You need to actually kill/treat the lice with permethrin. ASAP.

And the respiratory infection you mentioned should be top priority. If you really think there is a respiratory infection present, you need to involve a vet, I think.

 

[LydiaK]

I'm sorry you're struggling. You are trying so hard to do right by them. It must be beyond frustrating.

What does their poop look like? Are their crops emptying overnight? You mentioned sour crop. Sour crop is a fungal infection (sometimes bacterial, too). You would need to treat that, too. I have a hen who was starving to death when I got her because of all the things you state is happening to your birds. I treated worms with SafeGuard, lice with permethrin, and the crop with Monistat.

Also, FSL is a preventative, I think. You need to actually kill/treat the lice with permethrin. ASAP.

And the respiratory infection you mentioned should be top priority. If you really think there is a respiratory infection present, you need to involve a vet, I think.

The Ivermectin is supposed to kill the lice too, that's why I ended up choosing that product. Only one has/had what I think was sour crop. She's the one who's failing. How do you use the monistat for that? I don't know for sure if it's a respiratory infection or just gapeworm... I have cross referenced their symptoms repeatedly and felt it best to work on the worms since I've actually seen them in their poop.

 

[Aunt Angus]

The Ivermectin is supposed to kill the lice too, that's why I ended up choosing that product. Only one has/had what I think was sour crop. She's the one who's failing. How do you use the monistat for that? I don't know for sure if it's a respiratory infection or just gapeworm... I have cross referenced their symptoms repeatedly and felt it best to work on the worms since I've actually seen them in their poop.

For sour crop, you feed it to her. I find that if I just get a pea size amount on my finger and wipe it in her beak, she eats it fine.

Gape worms aren't super common, but with all you've got going on, I wouldn't be surprised. You poor thing! I'm so sorry all this is going on. Chickens should be a joy. I so badly want you to experience that joy, dang it.

 

[Aunt Angus]

And I somehow missed the Ivermectin you used. My bad.

If they all have diarrhea, something else is amiss. Maybe coccidiosis? You mentioned bloody poop. Worm overload can cause that, but so can cocci.