[dreghorns]

Hi I'm new to this forum and don't know if this is where I post but need some help urgently please. My hen Madge is not well. She has diarrhea which is sticking to her bottom area (I cleaned it yesterday and it all looked okay there!) is listless and not moving around much. She pecks at food, but isn't really interested and her comb is droopy and bent over. Her feathers are still nice and shiney but she is not the happy, healthy we know and she's only two years old. I have never wormed them and am now worried about doing so as I know it takes a lot out of a chick, especially if they're sick, so any advice on what to do would be appreciated. Thought I might go and get some Citrocidal (from health food shop) which I've read is a natural antibiotic as it can do no harm! Meanwhile do you think I should move her away from the other birds? Thanks for your help - Susan

[Casey76]

Hi Susan, a heavy worm burden can certainly take it out of a chicken.

Pop along to your vet, or order some Flubenvet from the internet (a lot of places will do next day delivery now), and worm all of your chickens.

"Natural" wormers cannot guarantee to reduce an existing worm burden, and even if you want to use natural methods, I would always recommend using a chemical wormer once a year t be on the safe side.

Fluben vet is a 7 day treatment given in food.  Chickens self dose, so you don't have to handle your chickens to medicate them, and there is no egg withdrawal.

[dreghorns]

thanks for your response. Really appreciated.
I'll get some tomorrow from Mole Valley.
Meanwhile I have added the antibiotic to the water (very diluted as directed) and will move her for a day or two and see how she gets on. She may need some tender loving care away from the other two brutes who quite bully her when she tries to go for food!
She is so hunched up and her tail area down and looking quite unhappy, but doesn't appear to be losing weight; pecking at herself or over eating all of which I would have thought might suggest mites or worms, so not sure. But, as you say it will do no harm to dose them all.
Susan

[Lindeggs]

This really does sound like worms.  The sypmptoms you describe are exactly what you would expect from a heavy worm burden.  Make sure you worm all of your girls at the same time as if one has worms, they all will.

Just as an additional thought:  Once a hen has a high enough worm burden that she is showing symptoms, she is probably fairly heavily infested.  It would pay to keep an eye on her droppings and make sure everything is passing through her system smoothly. 

I don't know about Flubenvet but some wormers are so effective that they kill off all the worms at once and the dead worms can create an intestinal blockage.  (Flubenvet, being a 7-day course rather than a massive single dose, might not have this problem but I really don't know.)

Make sure all the girls have plenty of fresh water to drink, and keep a natural laxative on hand - one of the traditional ones like caster oil or molasses works on chickens just as well as it works on humans! 

[dreghorns]

Poor Madge is still holding her own but now prostrate and weak, where yesterday she was able to stand today she flops down. I have been and bought the worm powder but she won't eat or drink so can't get anything into her. I'm about to give it to the other girls and am suspecting they'll gobble it up. If it were worms I would have expected her to be hungry and to want to eat, but the only thing I could get her interest in was meal worms. I'm going to try to put water into her mouth via a droplet and see if that works.
Thanks for your response, appreciate your help and advice.

[joyfull]

sorry but you need to get her to a vets as soon as possible.

[Lindeggs]

Definitely time for a vet visit.  If she won't eat and drink she will go downhill fast.

[ANHBUC]

How is Madge this morning?

[Janet Dedman]

Hi  I had a hen with the same symptons - she hadn.t laid for months and it was diagnosed as Egg Peratonitus and we had her put down as she was so poorly.  I now have another girl of the same age going the same way and it is so sad to see them like this.  Does anyone know if it is worth treating them with antibiotics or is the end inevitable.
Janet

[dreghorns]

I took Madge to the vet yesterday.
We decided to give her antibiotics to see what happens, and this morning after 2nd dose she's perking up a little bit. She's out in the sunshine, eating a little with coaxing and drinking water - oh and on occasions stands up and walks a little. My vet wasn't sure what was going on with her, not being a hen specialist, but didn't think it was looking good as Made is so thin. However, she is holding her own, so we'll see what happens as she is not in any pain that is noticeable.
Yes, I thought it was egg peritonitis too or that she might be egg bound, but the vet couldn't feel anything there, so I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, a day at a time and hopefully she'll recover. I'm about to check Dorcus as my husband says she seems a bit off too, so I hope there's nothing going around that's affecting them! They have a clean house which is done regularly, but I'm going to give it another going over with mite control this weekend just to be on the safe side. I'm worming them all, so perhaps it's that.....thanks to everyone for their response, and yes I would give a course of antibiotic and I also noted another person said try dripping liquid calcium into their mouths about 2cc as it helps if there are contractions in the anus if soft shell is the problem.
Susan