How Quickly Does Albendazole Work?

[dislaney]

Hello - my 2 year old Black Star Susann has been stuck in moult now for about 3 months. New feathers are coming through very slowly, and while she was laying reasonably normal eggs intermittently at the start of moult, she is now firing shell-less blanks every other day.

 

I've added supplements to daily rations, been putting a tonic feed in the drinker and grit is freely available. All the girls get plenty of greens and treats too. Lead hen Angela shed all her feathers very quickly and was back to normal (in fact improved!) production within about 4 weeks.

 

What can I do to help Susann? She's starting to look quite miserable and is spending more and more time in the nest box having a nap. Up until moulting, she was my best layer and most consistent performer - is she just worn out, or will she eventually come out of it?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Plum]

Silly girl trying to lay while she is moulting it's just too many demands on her body.

 

How about taking her off layers pellets for a bit and giving her growers. That will give the extra protien needed to stimulate feather growth and maybe put off laying.

[The Dogmother]

I agree, I'd stick her on growers pellets and augment her diet with some Biotin which will give her all the extra nutrients that she will need to re-feather.

 

There's also a moulting rescue product by NetTex which is very good.

[dislaney]

Sorry for the slow response, folks - got a bit distracted by a rat invasion in our barn, now nicely dealt with by two new kitties from Cats Protection

 

Thanks for the top tips on the moulting situation - have received the Nettex drops today, and dosing has commenced ... meanwhile Susann has stopped attempting to lay, so at least she's focusing her efforts on her feathers now!

[dislaney]

Very sad to report that poor Susann had to be put to sleep this morning as all of our attempts to get her through the moult failed, and she went progressively downhill. The only kind thing left to do.

 

She stopped eating and drinking on Wednesday this week, and when the vet checked her over she said that she thought she could feel a hard mass on her liver which would probably be a tumour. She also said that with chickens masking their frailties to avoid being victimised, it's often too late to treat them when they finally do show signs of illness. I guess this is why Susann struggled so much with moulting, if she had such a serious underlying health problem. An injection of antibiotics and steroid did nothing at all to help at such a late stage.

 

So RIP lovely lively lady - your ambush jumps up to chest height to reach the mealworms will always be remembered.

[Egluntyne]

Oh, that's a shame.

[SueChick]

Very sorry you lost her but glad you have such lovely memories to keep with you.