- Jun 1, 2009
- 5
- 0
- 7
very gross, i am sorry, but i have searched everything i could think of on the web and have not found any answers/advice.
a bear helped itself to my hens the day before i was to leave on vacation for 2 weeks, so my helpful neighbor said she would take the remaining birds and add them to the ones she keeps in her barn (i have a little chicken tractor i push around the woods).
when i returned she brought them back - but 2 were not mine. no worries, i thought. they were pretty birds too. one (Flo) had a bit of a weeze, nothing that fresh air and sunshine didn't cure in a few days, but the other (Swirl) had running stool when she got here and the smell of it is incredible. Her comb was pale and she was very listless. Her health too has improved somewhat - her comb looks good and she has much more pep and curiosity.
yet weeks later i am still not getting any eggs (from ANY of my chickens - perhaps 5 total in the last 3 weeks - i have 5 birds).
i noticed last week that when Swirl shat, out came a mass of writhing worms - white and about 1/4 inch long. she remains much less active than all the other hens and since then i have noticed that her vent is suffering the same fate as her stool.
nothing i have found describes what i have seen. i have not noticed anything similar on the other hens, but am fearful that they are perhaps infected too. They are active and have healthy combs etc, but i am still not getting any eggs. I have checked their stool and it does seem that they might have tapeworm, but i am nervous to feed them dewormer when i am not sure about the pest type.
I have been moving the tractor more frequently thinking that this will help keep their area less infested with Swirl's hitchhikers... but obviously this is not a solution.
to make matters worse, just after i returned i bought 4 new hens to replace the ones the bear killed. they aren't laying just yet, but are of course sharing the tractor with Swirl and the others.
PLEASE GIVE ME SOME HELPFUL ADVICE ...
a bear helped itself to my hens the day before i was to leave on vacation for 2 weeks, so my helpful neighbor said she would take the remaining birds and add them to the ones she keeps in her barn (i have a little chicken tractor i push around the woods).
when i returned she brought them back - but 2 were not mine. no worries, i thought. they were pretty birds too. one (Flo) had a bit of a weeze, nothing that fresh air and sunshine didn't cure in a few days, but the other (Swirl) had running stool when she got here and the smell of it is incredible. Her comb was pale and she was very listless. Her health too has improved somewhat - her comb looks good and she has much more pep and curiosity.
yet weeks later i am still not getting any eggs (from ANY of my chickens - perhaps 5 total in the last 3 weeks - i have 5 birds).
i noticed last week that when Swirl shat, out came a mass of writhing worms - white and about 1/4 inch long. she remains much less active than all the other hens and since then i have noticed that her vent is suffering the same fate as her stool.
nothing i have found describes what i have seen. i have not noticed anything similar on the other hens, but am fearful that they are perhaps infected too. They are active and have healthy combs etc, but i am still not getting any eggs. I have checked their stool and it does seem that they might have tapeworm, but i am nervous to feed them dewormer when i am not sure about the pest type.
I have been moving the tractor more frequently thinking that this will help keep their area less infested with Swirl's hitchhikers... but obviously this is not a solution.
to make matters worse, just after i returned i bought 4 new hens to replace the ones the bear killed. they aren't laying just yet, but are of course sharing the tractor with Swirl and the others.
PLEASE GIVE ME SOME HELPFUL ADVICE ...
