Poorly chicken

[3CheekyChickens]

Good Morning,

Our 8 year old hen has not been herself for the last 5 days. She was eating and drinking but standing hunched/squat and puffed up a lot of the time and seemed to be moving around slower. She also started to have a mucky bottom so we started to worm with Flubenvet. 

She had a trip to the vets 2 days ago but they couldn't find anything wrong and said she wasn't egg bound.

She's still not herself and we noticed up until today her poo was very small with clear mucus.

This morning we kept her locked up in her run, there seemed to be more pooing going on, it was very smelly and I happened to see her poo right by me and noticed it was alive with little worms, about 5mm or so long, I think they were pale brown, hard to tell. By the time I'd gone to get my husband to come and see they were no longer wriggling in the poo and very difficult to see. This is probably why I hadn't noticed them before.

Does anyone know if the worms die that quickly out of the body?

Also what type of worms they may be?

Our little flock free range on grass fenced off but our dog has got in and snaffled poo 😱 I'm going to worm him asap.

Apart from continuing with the Flubenvet with all our hens and hoping this clears up and our sick hen starts to improve, are there other things I need to do, medically and cleaning wise.

Grateful for any advice and information, thank you 🙂

[Cat tails]

You could get a poo sample checked for worms, although you already know they have worms. Ivermectin is a faster working wormer.

[mullethunter]

What sort of surface is your run on?

[3CheekyChickens]

Thanks for replies.

How long will the flubenvet take before it starts helping do you know?

I will have to stick to this wormer for now as we don't have any Ivermectin but will keep this in mind in future.

This is the first time in 8 years of chicken keeping we've dealt with worms, that we know of anyway. We usually worm twice a year with Flubenvet but have let it slip longer between treatments.

We use garlic & A C Vinegar regularly but haven't tried things like Verm X or adding D Earth to feed. We do have D.E (food grade).

Their run is on a concrete base, part of which is covered with a large rubber horse mat so it's not as harsh on their feet in winter, they only use the run to lay and sleep in, it houses their eglus.

They have free access all day every day to free range on a large lawned/orchard area, with some soil borders.

[The Dogmother]

Ok, so it sounds as if they might have quite a lot of worms, and the manufacturers of Flubenvet would advise that you worm once for the usual 7 days, offering no other food and keeping them in the run. Leave a break of 3 weeks and then worm again.

You might be better off doing a faecal worm egg count with a kit from Westgate Labs; do this every quarter and then you'll be on top of their status before it becomes a problem.

Verm-X, ACV and DE are not wormers.

She is possibly poorly from a heavy wormload, I would dose her water with some Vit Boos tonic and keep a close eye on her. If she's still not looking happy then I'd get a sample off to Westgates and ring them to advise on the bird's symptoms and history so that they have an idea of what they are looking at.

[soapdragon]

Sounds as though you'd be best sending off to Westgates straight away. Chickens are like children - can go downhill very quickly so act sooner rather than later. Dose her, as DM has wisely advised and contact Westgates. I do, seriously, recommend a proper chicken keeping course - we were VERY lucky with our girls and had no probs but, when we restock, I will def go for a full course - just in case!

[The Dogmother]

3 hours ago, soapdragon said:

 do, seriously, recommend a proper chicken keeping course - we were VERY lucky with our girls and had no probs but, when we restock, I will def go for a full course - just in case!

You'd be most welcome Soapy

[Beantree]

The little worms you describe are 'hair' worms which die when they leave the body. I've only seen them once, in a liquid poo which was full of them. Flubenvet will kill all worms within two days, based on my experience, but the dose needs to be extended to kill any that subsequently hatch from eggs.

[The Dogmother]

Agreed.

Be led by testing rather than absence or not of worms in poo - they can have a gut-load of worms and none in the poo. You really only see the dead ones.

[3CheekyChickens]

Thank you very much for your replies, it's great to get some good advice 😃

After looking into the testing, as we have already been worming for that past few days we can't get things tested this time around but will look into this from now on.

We have dosed our sick hen with Nutri-Drops to try and give her a bit of a boost. She seems okish today, eating, drinking, pecking about but still not herself so will keep trying everything and see how she goes 🤞🏻

With regards to the ACV, Verm- X & DE, I was refering to these as whether they are useful in between worming with a proven wormer such Flubenvet, as a possible deterrent or to maybe make the insides less hospitable for worms?

Thanks again 👍🏻

[Cat tails]

ACV in warmer weather can cause shell problems. I have tried to find any research on Verm-X a while ago and couldn’t find any. I personally wouldn’t bother. I know that The Dogmother is not fond of DE as it can irritate the airways of both chickens and humans. If you keep to a good wormer and have a regular worm count done, you don’t need anything else.