[tweed]

We keep a handful of hens, but 2-3 weeks ago someone dumped five red hens (rhode island reds?) into our chicken run. We live rurally and I have heard about hens being left on the roadside before. But after asking asking about, we kept them and they have finally settled with our own and started to lay. HOWEVER, this morning, when I collected the eggs, one of the new hens was dead in the laying box. She smelled pretty bad, although there was no sign of anything wrong. I have now cleaned out hen house and disinfected - there were red mites and various other creepy crawlies - but I'm worried about the rest of hens and wonder if it's safe to eat the eggs. Although what should one do if hens appear miraculously in your garden?

[indianrunner88]

If someone dumped hens on me I would keep them, space permitting, and it's nice that you have done so.  What a strange and premeditated thing to do!  Do you think they sleep easy knowing they've dumped their hens with a hen owner?

Verm-x is supposed to kill internal parasites.  I would perhaps use this and a wormer.  Smite the mite is brilliant and will kill the mites and disinfect.  You might also like to rub louse powder into the bird's feathers.

I'm not sure about the eggs.  As you don't know their previous diet perhaps you should chuck the eggs for the first couple of weeks and until the verm-x and your usual feed is in their system?

I'm sure someone experienced will give you a better answer soon.  Good luck.

[joyfull]

Verm-x is just a herbal mixture to help prevent worms and other internal parasites. There is no proof that it does work - you are better worming all the birds with flubenvet. Also treat all the birds for lice etc with spot on/frontline or similar.
Treat all the coops (if you have more than one) with poultry shield or ficam w and then paint on a DE slurry. Burn or double bag the old bedding and repeat this process of cleaning the coop weekly until all the red mites have gone.
You should be fine to eat the eggs 

[NormandyMary]

Verm-x is just a herbal mixture to help prevent worms and other internal parasites. There is no proof that it does work - you are better worming all the birds with flubenvet. Also treat all the birds for lice etc with spot on/frontline or similar.
Treat all the coops (if you have more than one) with poultry shield or ficam w and then paint on a DE slurry. Burn or double bag the old bedding and repeat this process of cleaning the coop weekly until all the red mites have gone.
You should be fine to eat the eggs 

Verm-x worked for me Joyfull, as living where I do, it was the only thing I could buy over the internet. I knew that at least one of my girls had worms as I saw them, so I gave them the Verm-x. It seemed to work really well, and as hard as I tried, I couldnt find any evidence of worms again. It may have been luck, I dont really know.

[joyfull]

I would say you were lucky as the ingredients for the pellets are purely herbs and sunflower oil:-

Pellets ingredients include:
Sunflower oil, seaweed meal, dicalcium phosphate, allium sativum, cinnamomum zelandicum, mentha piperita, thymus vulgaris, galium aperine, capsicum minimum.

several of us have tried getting in touch with the manufacturers and received no response, they also recommend that in order to check if they are carrying worms you should send copies of the birds droppings to a laboratory for tests:-

NOTE: Complicating factors may modify the efficacy of any parasite control regime. We recommended that all animals have regular (e.g. twice yearly) faecal worm egg counts to avoid unnecessary control programmes. These should be carried out by a recognised laboratory or veterinary practice. Westgate Laboratories offers a postal worm count service

[Lindeggs]

What an odd thing to do - dump hens in someone else's coop?!  :blink:

I'm happy for the new girls that you've kept them and given them a new home, although (as always in this situation) I would recommend keeping the new girls in quarantine as you don't know what pests and diseases they could be carrying.  Of course this isn't always possible, and what's done is done!

As you've already had them for two or three weeks, any medication in their systems would have gone so the eggs will be fine to eat.

I would definitely recommend worming all your hens with a chemicalwormer as you don't know what conditions the new hens have been living in and what they have brought with them. 

Once you have wormed them this first time you can decide on a long-term worming plan, whether you use herbal preventatives and/or chemical wormers.  I tried all the herbal options availale to me but my pullets still got worms.

Tweed, with the dead hen do you know where the bad smell was coming from?  She mnay have had a serious internal infection (such as egg yolk peritonitis) or something wrong with her crop, or one of several other problems.  Either way, it would be worth doing as others have suggested and burning all bedding and disinfecting the hard surfaces in case it was something they can also catch.

Good luck with the rest of your flock and hopefully everyone else is hale and hearty!