Unwell chickens

[Anonymous]

This is my first post and I would be very grateful for any advice. I have two chickens who are now approx 6mths old, one has never laid an egg and the other has been laying for the past month but has now stopped. They have a coop and a large outside run. Over the past week they have both started to loose their appetite, have become lethargic, and most noticable has been the fact that their combs have gone from red to a paler pink.I kept 2 other chickens who both died within 24hrs of each other and presented with similar symptons, I dont want to loose these 2 as well. Any ideas plse on what this may be?

 

[Tim]

I would put my bet on Red Mite.

Go outside to the coop tonight when it's dark with a tissue and rub it along the bottom of the perch - if there are smears of blood in the tissue, you've got red mite in your coop.

They hop onto your birds at night to feed and they will stop laying and become anemic which causes the combs to go pale.

Another thing to consider is whether they are wormed. Lots of problems can be prevented by worming at least every 6 months with Flubenvet.

Let us know how you get on...

 

[Anonymous]

Much appreciated advice Tim, am going with the crushed garlic in the water now, and will follow up on the other suggestions mentioned in your excellent article. Will let you know how I get on and suggest the forum to friends who also keep chickens.

 

[Anonymous]

Sadly Pearl died on the Monday morning, but Rose looks improved and is eating well. Have dusted the coop and the chicken, our local farm suppliers suggested an insecticide, but said red mite is very common in this area and the heat ....its been 32c plus for days does not help the problem.Said to keep this up at 3 dy intervals. Am also putting the crushed garlic in her water every morning. Am concerned she will be lonely on her own but dont want any more chicks until hopefully she recovers.