[debih]

Morning.

One of my chickens is poorly.  She is doing very runny (even frothy) white poos which she seems to be struggling to do.  She is all puffed up and very listless - not having eaten this morning (although I did see her drink) and not wandering far from the house.

I did notice some very brown sloppy poos yesterday.

I was due to flubenvet them this week but am worried that if she already has worms and is now not eating it won't do her any good.

Her eyes are still bright and shiny and her comb is pretty red (although not as red as the other 3).  I have just treated for red mite (the house - not them as I am out of powder until tomorrow - I hadn't realised until I went to do them) and although there was some trace there wasn't that many.  But she is very listless - she even let me pick her up and cuddle her when usually she would run away.

As far as I know she was okay yesterday - hubby fed them yesterday morning but when I went to get them in their run last night all 4 came and were happily eating their corn.

All four of them seem to have slowed down laying wise - sometimes I get no eggs, sometimes I get three.  They are all around 18 months old now.

Should I be checking for anything inparticular or doing anything special?

[joyfull]

start the worming straight away.
Take a careful feel to see if she has an egg stuck - if she has then pop her in a sink of warm water for at least 30 mins to help her relax her muscles and ease the passing oof an egg.
What breed of hen are they?

[debih]

She is a brown hybrid.

This is probably a really silly question but how exactly do I feel to see if there is an egg stuck.  I don't want to do anything to hurt her.

I just went up to check on her and she is still sat all hunched up under the bush but happily ate the bread crumbs that I took up for her.

Can I still worm her if she isn't eating their food?

[PaulineM]

Hi

I'm no expert but I would say as they are brown hybrids they are probably coming to the end of their prolific egg laying days, this also means she could have a thin egg shelled egg broke inside her (although again I point out i'm no expert), have you notice their eggs changing?

I think you just feel around her vent gently and if there is an egg stuck there you would feel it.

Feeding bread is not a good thing for hens but occassionally a few crumbs as a treat probably is ok, you could put a pinch of flubenvet on a treat such as half a grape to get the worming treatment into her.

Have you frontlined your girls recently?

Good luck

[jhub]

I've read somewhere about a water soluble worming treatment- Solubenol. Has anyone used it?
Another question- how do you know how much Flubenvet to give on a treat food such as grapes? Is there a risk of overdosage?

[debih]

Thanks everyone.  My neighbour is going to come over and look at her tomorrow - she had a chicken a while ago that had an egg stuck so she knows what to look for!

I went up not long ago to put her in her house as it was starting to rain and she had vanished from the little spot she had found herself.  I spent ages rattling the feed pot getting the four of them in - three were there immediately all pecking away happily at food and the fourth was missing.

When the fourth eventually arrived I realised that it wasn't the poorly one (I struggle to tell the difference between the two hybrids unless they are standing next to each other).  The poorly one was there quite happily eating her corn looking much happier.

I will keep an eye on them, start worming tomorrow and keep a good check on her.

[joyfull]

if she has perked up then chances are she has laid a soft shelled egg - which can be horrible for them and they go off colour for a couple of days before laying it. You may not find any trace as they and the others will eat it up quickly to both remove any evidence of it and to get the extra protein that the egg will give them.

[debih]

I have had a few soft shelled eggs on and off over the last few weeks and one or two unformed ones (no shell at all - not even soft).

They seemed to have stopped about a week or so ago though.

They get plenty of grit and I put it down to them being out of their run and around the garden more (they have cleared their run of all vegetation - which is what I wanted them to do as it was only a temporary spot for them which we want to turn into a lawn.  They will be moved to their permanent spot soon - so now they are out and about in the garden more).

I will keep my beady eye on her!