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arowland17

old poorly hen, any suggestions very welcome

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Hi,

I have an old hen, her sister died last Christmas, so she's outlived her by some months, but I want to try to make her as comfortable as possible now she's ancient.

The problem is she's got a very pooy bum - I looked this up online and there were suggestions such as worm the hens (flubenvet was so powdery I wasn't sure if they were eating it, but I have just dosed them for 3 days with verm-X so they should be worm free), and treat for mites/lice so I have been dusting them with the powder as they run out the eglu in the morning and trying to put it in their dust baths.

It was also suggested to gently wash the poop off with warm running water, which we'd done once before a month or so ago and she's all bald at the back, and the poop was just sticking to the few remaining feathers. In this heat we didn't want flies laying eggs in it all or something awful like that and don't want her being uncomfortable, so yesterday gave her a wash again but she went into shock I think - my husband gently held her and we didn't lift her more than about 3 inches off the grass as she's not so steady on her feet anymore and we didn't want her to struggle and get dropped, but when we'd finished she wouldn't stand up and had just frozen - it broke my heart and we laid her gently on the grass and sprinkled some corn in front of her and gave her some cold water and after 5 or 10 minutes she got herself back up again.

I'm just really worried about what to do, we dont want to wash her again if it's going to cause her that much distress, we honestly thought she wasn't going to get back up and that the shock had killed her, but in this heat it must be horrible for her having such a dirty bottom - her poops are runny and just pile up

Any advice would be very much appreciated we don't want her to suffer but also dont want to cause her harm. apart from being pooy and a bit unsteady on her feet, I'm guessing cos she's old, she seems fine in herself, eating and drinking all the time, we have another much younger hen who is also fine, laid an egg each day up until the beginning of this hot weather, so hoping she'll start back up again when it cools down!

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My immediate thought is - forget the VermX (it's more of a preventative), get her one a 7 day course of Flubenvet. I stopped using VermX on the recommendation of my vet.

 

Killing any worm infestation will make her feel a million times better so Flubenvet would be my first priority.

 

My 2nd would be adding bokashi bran (omlet shop or Amazon sell it too with free P&P - well, did when I bought mine!). That'll help her gut and firm up her poos nicely!

 

She sounds a complete star :)

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Oh bless her little heart :angel: I agree with Tutti Frutti, Flubenvet is the best wormer to use. The way I make sure mine get their dose is I sprinkle a tiny amount into a dish with four tablespoons of rinsed tinned sweetcorn (which I know they LOVE) they eat the sweetcorn laced with wormer straight from the dish. I do this for seven days and I know they have been sorted :wink:

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Thanks so much for quick replies and I have flubenvet but didn't think they got much wen it's in with their feed- will def try lacing sweetcorn with it though as they both love it, I'll do some this eveningfor them and order the bokashi bran and hopefully ourold hen can live her days out more happily, really don't want her to suffer . Thanks again for advice fingers crossed it sorts her out!

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Many chickens will collapse and not stand up after a bath, I dont know why they do this but they are always ok later. My show cockerel Tarzan spent most of the show season scaring me to death like this :roll: its very strange if you arent used to it but is very common

 

Flubenvet is a good idea, try that to see if it perks her up

 

I also really like Nettex Nutridrops, they give the chook a boost of vitamins and are a great pick-me-up

 

A good tonic such as Lifeguard in the water will also help

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oh that's good to know they sometimes do collapse - it was horrible, we have washed her once before but it was when she was more agile and I think she gave my husband a good peck as she struggled and she managed to flap out of his grasp - this time he had been instructed to hold gently but firmly as we've noticed her balance isn't great when she gets scared she often runs off funny, and I didn't want her to panic and hurt herself, but she wouldn't even straighten her legs and we just had to lay her on her side, but if it's definitely what they do after bathing then we'll give it another go. we just had a watering can of warm water and a sponge and poured it over the matted feathers as quickly but gently as poss!

will give the bokashi bran a go first, an have some poultry spice, maybe I'll add that to their food too, I think that's nutrients to perk them up then if there's no change try all the other bits and pieces, costs all add up, the number of supplements I have for these hens fills a whole box, they're very spoilt!

thanks for the advice :)

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You could try trimming her knickers with some sharp scissors rather than bathing her. Once a little bit of poo sticks to the feathers, it quickly accumulates, often looking worse than it actually is. What colour are her droppings as that's a good indication of the cause of any problem.

 

I use Herban (one of the oregano supplements) for dicky tums (among other things), it's just 1ml per 2l of water and seems to do the trick pretty quickly. I also use Verm-x for worming all my bantams and chickens and can vouch for its effectiveness.

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she's a bit bald at the back anyway and we did do a trim the first time we bathed her - she's not had a moult since so I think she'll stay bald and trimmed till she does - I wasn't sure how far down to cut the feathers so didn't risk doing them too short, but I think even if there was a little bit left it all just sticks and piles up - it does look worse than it is I think, just don't want her being uncomfortable, it cant be pleasant!

will give all the suggestions a go, sweetcorn laced with flubenvet went down very well last night :)

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