dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP

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eggbertina

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dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« on: November 21, 2011, 21:24 »
I have 3 chickens (ISA browns), all about 21 months old.  2 are fit and healthy with large red combs and wattles, but the third, who has often laid soft shelled eggs has become really poorly.  Her comb and wattles have become shrunken, dark and dry looking; her feathers are coming out and she's not eating and getting very thin and looking very miserable.  Took her to the vet who said she had a temperature and gave a jab of anti biotics.  He also reckoned she had mites, but I can't see anything and the other chooks are fine.  The coop is well dusted with diatom and I regularly provide a pile of aubiose with a big scoop of diatom for a dust bath in their run.  Today I've given the poorly bird a good dusting and massage with Eradicate and also given her a Nopex capsule (parasite formula) with one more capsule to be given tomorrow.  I really feel we are staring death in the face here.  Has anyone any ideas of what the problem could be or what else I can do for her.  What can I tempt her with to start eating?  She is drinking a little water.  Thank you in advance for any advice...

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Casey76

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Re: dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2011, 08:39 »
Good morning :)

When hens stop laying their comb shrinks and becomes paler.  it can also look more dusky, especially if you are comparing it to birds who are still laying.

It is normal for hens in their second season to lose thier feathers (moult) at this time of year.  Growing a whole new set of feathers is tiring and time consuming, and can make the hen look very depressed and sorry looking.

While a hen is moulting she often wont lay eggs because she put all of the protein in her diet to making new feathers.  To help her get over this, you can feed a high protein diet.  A little beef or fish wet cat food would probably go down a treat, but she will almost certianly like hoard boiled eggs mashed up too :)

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eggbertina

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Re: dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2011, 09:29 »
Good Morning Casey,
Lovely sunny autumn morning here ...  but poorly chook no better. :(
Thank you for your tips, I will try to tempt her with the cat food (3 cats - so no shortage of that!)
All 3 hens moulted some weeks back.  The two well birds have their original rich brown colours restored, but the poorly hen's new feathers are much paler than before and it is the new feathers that are starting to come out.
Poor thing - she must be feeling rotten.
Will report back later on how the day goes,
Many thanks again for your reply.

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ANHBUC

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Re: dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2011, 20:00 »
The vet might have meant lice so you may need to treat with something like Frontline, (best to treat all of your hens).  If they haven't been wormed within the last 3 months it would be best to do that using flubenvet as well.  Hope that she improves soon.
Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens!
Bagpuss RIP 1992 - June 2012, 1 huge grass carp (RIP "Jaws" July 2001 - December 2011), 4 golden orfe, 1 goldfish and 1 fantail fish (also huge)! plus 4 Italian quail, 1 Japanese quail, 1 Rosetta quail.

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bygrace

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Re: dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2011, 09:52 »
The vet might have meant lice so you may need to treat with something like Frontline

Is it OK to use a small quantity of adult cat frontline, or must it be kitten? Also, how much per bird?
Thanks. BG

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ANHBUC

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Re: dry shrunken comb & wattles, not eating .. HELP
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2011, 12:18 »
The vet might have meant lice so you may need to treat with something like Frontline

Is it OK to use a small quantity of adult cat frontline, or must it be kitten? Also, how much per bird?
Thanks. BG

The information you need is on here
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=5250.0



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