Lillith37
Specially interested in chickens
Hello everyone,
Whitetail, my ~1.5yo isa brown hen has had a collection of symptoms for the past week and I’m not sure if there’s anything else I should be doing for her in response.
A few weeks ago, Lorraine, a 4yo leghorn hen was suddenly re-homed to me and I didn’t have the presence of mind or resource to effectively quarantine her. She joined my flock immediately.
Lorraine brought an infestation of lice with her and I know she has probably brought a new strain of coccidiosis to my flock.
Over the past week I have seen 3x droppings with red/orange bits of various severity. I know that intestinal sloughing is a normal thing and seeing these droppings sometimes is not a cause for concern. I also know it can be caused by an overload of worms and/or coccidiosis. I don’t know who out of my flock was responsible, but they were adult sized droppings. I have six hens, one of whom has six chicks just under one month old. I also have two pullets who are almost five months old. They free range together in my back yard.
Over the past week or so, Whitetail has been laying irregularly/infrequently. There was also an early case of two soft shelled eggs overnight, one of which may have been from her. She usually lays every day with the occasional missed day. I think she also has a slightly decreased appetite and slow crop. Sometimes in the morning it is not completely empty, but not sour/doughy/impacted. Otherwise, Whitetail has been acting totally normally… until this morning, when she was droopy, puffy, lethargic and still. She had watery white diarrhoea. I separated her and she laid a broken soft shelled egg. The yolk was intact so I’m not sure if it just broke upon being laid. Later in the morning she returned to her usual demeanour, itching to get out and wanting to eat the dog’s food. She did three subsequent droppings; one normal, one caecal and one that looked to have some of the intestinal bits. I have attached a photo of this and of the egg.
My flock was wormed with levamisole in the spring (it’s mid-summer here now) with the exception of Lorraine who was wormed last week. I also treated everyone with ivermectin drops to address the lice (and any potential mites) situation. I had initially treated with a rotenone/sulfur dust for the lice but read terrible things about rotenone so thought I’d try out ivermectin instead. I’ve read varying accounts of success and it seems easier and safer than the dust. I believe there is also a permethrin spray I can get from the pet shops around here.
My flock has free access to feed with shell grit and oyster shell available at all times. I sourced a calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K supplement for Whitetail today.
My closest vet quoted $200AUD for a fecal float test which is fairly out of my budget but I will do it if I have no other choice.
Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I’m wondering if I should treat the flock for coccidiosis, but everyone else (even the chicks) seem perfectly fine and normal. I’m also wondering whether I should treat with levimasole for worms, continue with the dust or switch to permethrin spray for the lice — on top of the ivermectin. Or should I just wait things out and see if anything changes? Are there any other possibilities of what could be wrong?
Any thoughts are welcome. I’ve had chickens for less than a year and I’m still learning all the time.
Whitetail, my ~1.5yo isa brown hen has had a collection of symptoms for the past week and I’m not sure if there’s anything else I should be doing for her in response.
A few weeks ago, Lorraine, a 4yo leghorn hen was suddenly re-homed to me and I didn’t have the presence of mind or resource to effectively quarantine her. She joined my flock immediately.
Lorraine brought an infestation of lice with her and I know she has probably brought a new strain of coccidiosis to my flock.
Over the past week I have seen 3x droppings with red/orange bits of various severity. I know that intestinal sloughing is a normal thing and seeing these droppings sometimes is not a cause for concern. I also know it can be caused by an overload of worms and/or coccidiosis. I don’t know who out of my flock was responsible, but they were adult sized droppings. I have six hens, one of whom has six chicks just under one month old. I also have two pullets who are almost five months old. They free range together in my back yard.
Over the past week or so, Whitetail has been laying irregularly/infrequently. There was also an early case of two soft shelled eggs overnight, one of which may have been from her. She usually lays every day with the occasional missed day. I think she also has a slightly decreased appetite and slow crop. Sometimes in the morning it is not completely empty, but not sour/doughy/impacted. Otherwise, Whitetail has been acting totally normally… until this morning, when she was droopy, puffy, lethargic and still. She had watery white diarrhoea. I separated her and she laid a broken soft shelled egg. The yolk was intact so I’m not sure if it just broke upon being laid. Later in the morning she returned to her usual demeanour, itching to get out and wanting to eat the dog’s food. She did three subsequent droppings; one normal, one caecal and one that looked to have some of the intestinal bits. I have attached a photo of this and of the egg.
My flock was wormed with levamisole in the spring (it’s mid-summer here now) with the exception of Lorraine who was wormed last week. I also treated everyone with ivermectin drops to address the lice (and any potential mites) situation. I had initially treated with a rotenone/sulfur dust for the lice but read terrible things about rotenone so thought I’d try out ivermectin instead. I’ve read varying accounts of success and it seems easier and safer than the dust. I believe there is also a permethrin spray I can get from the pet shops around here.
My flock has free access to feed with shell grit and oyster shell available at all times. I sourced a calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K supplement for Whitetail today.
My closest vet quoted $200AUD for a fecal float test which is fairly out of my budget but I will do it if I have no other choice.
Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I’m wondering if I should treat the flock for coccidiosis, but everyone else (even the chicks) seem perfectly fine and normal. I’m also wondering whether I should treat with levimasole for worms, continue with the dust or switch to permethrin spray for the lice — on top of the ivermectin. Or should I just wait things out and see if anything changes? Are there any other possibilities of what could be wrong?
Any thoughts are welcome. I’ve had chickens for less than a year and I’m still learning all the time.
