The Poultry Keeper

Steff · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Wales

Hi!

I wonder if anyone could help us. We own 7 free range chickens and when we went to feed them some bread this morning noticed that one was very disinterested and just stood by herself. I pulled her out of the pen and noticed that she is very thin. Her croop seems to be paler colour too, not the ususal red colour. I tried offering her some corn but she wouldn't eat any. She has nibbled on some grass. She is also puffed up.

Can anyone advise me on her illness or is there anything I can give her to encourage her to eat?

Any comment will be gratefully received.

Thank you.

Deb_Moderator · Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 3661

Wow Steff, sorry such a post has brought you to us....

It could be many things at this point. First step is to isolate her from the others incase it is contaigious.

You said the crop was not the same red color. The crop is inside, they swollow and the food goes down to the crop which is located almost infront of their breast area, but not quite that far down. You will need to know this for another part of this...that is why I made the distinction for you. The waddles, flappy bits of skin hanging underneath their beaks and the comb on top of their heads is what you were referring to.

I have a lot of questions for you, but we need the information inorder to help. The true crop area...just above the breast and to the left of the breast bone...is it hard and huge? When was the last time you wormed them? Do you have any antibiotics that you can start her on? What color and formation of poos is she leaving? What is their normal diet? Do you know when her last egg was? When was the last time you checked for and/or treated for mites?

Being as though you first noticed it this morning...you have a good chance of narrowing it down and turning her back around to health...but must move fast. Chickens do not let on that they are ill until way late in the game. She has been ailing for quite some time, prior to letting you know about it.

I could have you check for egg bound...you put vaseline on your finger and insert it up into her vent gently, feeling for an egg that may be stuck. But it may be too early for that. Answer my questions above and we can help you narrow it down. Wink

Steff · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Wales

Hi Deb,

Thanks for your reply.

We had to go out this afternoon and on our return the chicken has picked up extremely well. She is eating and drinking as normal!! Strange!!

Sorry about the mix up between her crop and her comb!! But as you said it was her comb that was a paler shade this morning.

But to answer your questions just incase it happens again:

Is her crop hard?
It was soft when I checked it this morning.

When did we worm them last?
They have never been wormed with us. We had the first batch (6 chickens, but one has been taken by the fox) back in April 2004 and the other two we had back in February this year. I doubt any of the first batch have had any wormer at all, but the second batch were from a free range farm, so they might have been wormed at some point. The sick chick is part of the first batch.
How and with what do we worm them?

Have we any antibiotics?
Another of the chickens has recently suffered proplapse so we had to administer baytril for 5 days but unfortunatly we have run out. But it will be no problem getting some more from the vet if neccessary.

What colour is her poo?
Her poo this afternoon was very runny, Yellow/whitish in colour with a blob of brown in it.

What is her normal diet?
They are fed laying pellets(organic) with oyster shell mixed in during the day and corn at night. Together with the scraps we feed them throughout the day e.g. left over bread, sometimes dry, mostly wet. lettuce, potato peelings etc. Anything that is left over basically.

When was her last egg?
Since there is seven of them laying in the same nest it is very difficult to tell who's layed what. At the moment we are getting 3 eggs a day from 7 chickens.

Last time they were treated for mites?
Since we have had them, again, they haven't been treated for mites. They were checked last month and nothing to be seen.

Hope this information helps you in diagnosing the problem.

Thanks again.

Deb_Moderator · Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 3661

Steff · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Wales

Checked for Red mites and found some on them and in the coop. So we cleaned out the coop, pressure washed it, disinfected it with Jayes fluid and powdered them before putting them back in. This was friday night. It is now monday and they're back again. Its so frustrating. Are they real hard to get rid of? Or are we doing something wrong? What is the most effective treatment you have found to get rid of them? Is there anything else we could do to clean the coop out?

The 'poorly' hen is still alive, but with the arrival of this red mite I don't think its helping. That could have been the cause of her feeling down?

Thanks again.

Knobby · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject:

Red mite are a pain in the bum.....quite difficult to get rid of....when i first had them, i was distraught....I thought i had been mis-treating the girls & not cleaning them out enough. Ive since discovered "Poulty Sheild"....that seems to do the trick....a couple of applications 7-10 days apart, and then every now and then.

Dont worry........Just about everyone gets them once in a while......I hope !!! Confused

mojo · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:46 pm Post subject:

just read these postings sorry, but i think feeding raw poatatoe peelings is NOT recommended as upsets the stomach functions...hope this helps.........mojo Cool

CP · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject:

Hi Steff.

Don't think you are alone in getting red mite. We are currently dealing with a major infestation in our coop! They are absolute b*****s to get rid of & apparently this year has been very good for them.

We are using Poultry Shield & a combination of a heat gun (for stripping paint!) & vacuum cleaner to clear them out. It is working slowly! You just have to keep at it.

Good luck! Smile

nigel · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:34 pm Post subject:

I use poultry shield and a blow torch violent3

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

I think it was on another forum that someone suggested using a pressure steam cleaner to get rid of them.

Knobby · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:41 am Post subject:

And you can grease the perch supports....that stops mite crawing onto the perch & feeding on your chooks.......appartantly ?????

Steff · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Wales

Thank you all for your comments!!

We ordered some poultry shield on-line last night.

So once that arrives we will get straight at it.

Went to the vets yesterday to see what they say. He gave us these drops to put on the back of the chickens neck. And advised us to put vapona (house insecticide) in the hut itself.

Burning them seems a good idea as we've tried pressure washing them out but they come back.

We'll see how it goes & I'll report back in a few days with any comments.

Thank you all again.

Steff · Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Wales

Well I once again cleaned the coop out, pressure washed it, sprayed jeyes fluid into the cracks and then finished off by spraying poultry shield. Before putting the hens back in I treated them with the drops from the vets. The little gits are still in there. But slowly killing them with poultry shield. When I find them in the coop I just spray more onto them. They're disgusting little creatures, found a few crawling on me when I was washing the coop out.

So if they're not gone within the next week I think I'll resort to using a heat gun and burn them off.

Another thought has been to buy a new coop.

NannyP · Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:15 pm Post subject:

I remember last year, my run in with them, yuk and I was so itchy where one or 2 had got on me. They're so small you can hardly see them, but you sure can feel them!!!
I've been using Diatom for several months now, and touch wood, it sems to be doing the trick (I hope, I'm not there at the moment!!); When I clean out the coop, I sprinkle Diatom under the newspaper and then more on top, I also add it and Louse powder to the shavings in the nest boxes. Every so often, I pressure wash, but so far this year, have not needed to be so vigilant. I think this is down to the Diatom Very Happy

CP · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 1:27 am Post subject:

It's taken us almost 3 weeks to get on top of these blasted mites!

We have treated every day or every other day with a combination of things as I said in my previous post & there are still a few lurking about.

We have now bought some diatom which we sprinkled liberally everywhere & I hope that will soon be the end of them!

And yes, I have had them crawling on me too! Yeuch!