dejected pekin

elmdene

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Not sure what's wrong with my pekin Flossie - she has been quite solitary and dejected for the past 3 or 4 days, going off on her own, lagging behind the others and taking herself off to bed during the day, sitting fluffed up and a bit hunched. There is definitely something not right. Have checked for lice and mites and there don't seem to be any. Yesterday, although she seemed to be foraging ok when she was out, her crop was almost empty in the evening so fed her some corn which she took ok. She is still eating corn at least and looks ok - no runny eyes or discharge. She has been a little pale but looks better today. She seems very warm underneath but they all do (am I feeding the too much corn?) Tried to get some Nutri-drops in her today without success - she clearly doesn't like the taste - wouldn't even eat corn with it on. To work out the dose I had to weigh her - just over 600g which seems quite light. She is now the smallest of the gang.
I've only had my 3 pekin hens and cockerel about 7 weeks so am very new to all this and a bit of a nervous mother. Soon after I got them they were all sneezing like mad so they were on Tylan for a week. I also wormed them as one of them seemed to have bloody mucous in their poo. Since then they have been fine as far as I am aware, although still sneezing very occasionally and another one has an intermittent cough. Egg production has gone down this week and Flossie hasn't laid for several days, although could be the darker weather? Her poo looks normal, although the day before yesterday there was some with hard, whitish round things in (not sure whose) which I thought may be seeds as they are roaming in the garden all day. Could they be worm eggs - seems a bit soon to worm them again. Any advice very gratefully received.
 
I am sorry to hear about Flossie, she does not sound happy, as well as losing weight. If you have checked her over for obvious problems, eg. mites, lice, then it might be a good idea to take to a vet to give her a thorough examination, particulary if she has been previously treated for an ailment, she could be suffering from a secondary illness as a result from a primary respiratory infection.
 
Sorry I meant to add re: worms. They are very difficult to detect and not necessarily obvious to the naked eye, you would need a lab test the worm load to know for sure. Generally speaking it is good practice to worm twice a year..spring and autumn or when moving to fresh areas.
 
Thanks for the advice - will try the vet although may have to wait until Monday now. She doesn't appear to have anything outwardly wrong with her, just really out of sorts and clearly not a happy chicken. Do you think I should worm all the chickens again soon (for autumn), as I did it when I first got them in August?
 
Firstly have a look at the articles on worming, click on the website link right at the bottom of the page and you will find tons of information :D

Secondly, worming frequency largely depends on your enviroment, density of stock, ranging area. For example, high density of stock, static chicken area..or chickens on the same area for a while would suggest a higher worm load then say, a few chickens kept only for a few months on virgin ground, so it is a case of weighing up enviromental factors when considering how frequently to worm chickens. It would also make sense to worm prior to moving birds to reduce the risk of transmitting worms to the fresh ground, so reducing worm load.

Finally, in my opinion only I do not think worms cause major intestinal problems,unless an exceptional high load, unlikely in the typical new backyard chicken keeper..however, if there is some other gut problem eg, damage due to intestinal infection,sour crop or cocciodosis (previous or current), then worms will contribute to the birds ill health, but not be the cause if that makes sense?
 
Just to let you know Flossie has been much more lively over the w/e but still not 100%. Spoke to the vet on Sat and she said try the antibiotics in case of any infection and wouldn't do them any harm if not, so they are all back on Tylan. Very nice lady at Cotswold Chickens suggested olive oil in case she is eggbound so have mixed some in with layers mash which she takes well, especially if all the others are after it. However she hates Nutridrops (no wonder, it smells a bit of of marmite), I got some into her yesterday - somehow - couldn't manage to get her to open her beak today and gave up as I don't want to distress her (does anyone have any tips on this?). She hasn't laid an egg for nearly a week and is still a bit of a solitary girl, but enjoying the sun today. Lady at CC suggested she just doesn't like the change in weather?! :)
 
Help - Flossie now appears to be moulting but she is only supposed to be about 28 weeks old max. Her downy feathers are falling out from underneath. Could this be a moult or could it be stress related because I've been inspecting her so much over the past week?! Poor thing is really suspicious of taking food from me now because she knows I might pick her up and make her eat something horrible. She seems to be joining the others more now, but still looks a bit pale and sits down a lot. She doesn't seem to be very interested in layers food but still forages in the garden. I had yet another look for lice this morning but can't see any, although not 100% sure as I've never seen one before. I did get 2 bites on my hand yesterday after handling her but not sure whether this is related or not. I would really like to dust her for lice (is Diatom ok?) as a last resort but don't want to stress her any more than necessary. Also giving her olive oil mixed with mash in case she is egg bound - can someone advise whether it gets to the right place mixed with mash or whether it should be administered with a pipette? We had a real struggle trying to do that yesterday (which could have induced the feather loss) and I gave up in the end. Thanks for any advice.
 
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