I am very new to raising chickens I have 12 week old chicks they were fat happy chicks a few weeks ago. They are now loseing weight they are eating good eyes are clear, they don't seem to be sick but some have loose stool but are acting fine. Do you think they have worms?? What do I do. I am so worried about them I love my chickens HELP ME PLEASE
Worms??? Help
so, your only symptoms seem to be loose stool in some [bloody?] and thin.
not knowing [sorry i can't recall] what breed or how they are living, i think perhaps they could just be going through a growth spurt.
chickens need three types of feed. soemthing for calories, something for fiber, and somthing for protein. milo an dcorn are good for calories, so they have enrgy to keep warm or cool, and to play and act like chickesn and go find the good bugs and stuff. fiber can come from barley, or greens. protein could be bugs, worms, grasshoppers, even fly larvae. sunflower seeds are good too.
did they start on medicated feed? if so, sometimes when they aare older and you turn them out, their protection could be gone and their immune system compromised [some will disagree with me on this, i am referring to chickens raised to free range, not broilers].
just be sure to keep their feeders full. as a precaution i would COMPLETELY clean out the coop and start with fresh bedding. if they get bored or hungry and don't have a place to forage, or a feeder to peck in, they will start eating poo or feathers.
i don't know very much about worms in chickens becasue i haven't had this problem. i have a list of things you can do naturally for parasite control and prevention, or someone here can tell you what meds to get. have you checked their vents and back fluff for lice and mites?
tf
Hi Judy--I was thinking the same as TF. Could it be they are just hitting that rangy teenage state? You can have their poop taken to the vet to see if there are any parasites....same as dogs. They will get coccidia--its natural, just hard on chicks that don't have gradual exposure or are run down for some other reason. Good Luck!
i understand you rworry. now we will worry if we dont' hear from you ;-)
They started on Medicated Chick starter until 8 weeks then Chick starter no meds they are 12 weeks now. I give them 1/4 hen scratch 3/4 starter, feeders (two one in the coop one in the yard) are full all the time they have a outside pen with a run that goes around the garden with lots of grass and bugs In the evening I give them all the kitchen scraps from that day, Like today they got oatmeal from breakfast, biscuits and gravy from lunch, and spinach and Jambalaya from dinner.
They eat feathers the little fluffy ones. Is that bad??
I had to go into town today to get feed and I stopped off a three Vets on the way and none of them would even look at their poo, all three said I DON'T DO CHICKENS. Really made me mad all they had to do was a fecal.
So when I got home I called the University they have a Vet School and a big Poultry Science Dept. They told me to bring in some samples tomorrow morning have to get up early and collect they said it needed to be fresh and then a 40mile drive but my babies are worth it.
La dee dah vets! Remember them the next time any of your animals needs a vet and find someone else.
Just MHO
MollyD
Oh I'll remember. My vet just got married and is moving and closed her clinic she would have seen my poo. I'll have to search for a new one and let them know right up front that they half to treat all my critters
Can you still reach your old vet? Maybe she could recommend someone?
MollyD
It seems that Vets here think of poultry as disposable. You get a sick chicken just make it compost and buy another chick for a couple bucks. I have a lot money and time wrapped up in these chickens plus I love my chickens, how insulting
Yes she did recommend someone and that person told me to call the Univerisity which I did they don't have a problum with chickens but they are very expensive and on the other side of the county
Is it bad if your chickens eat feathers mine do the little fluffy ones. Are they bored maybe a head of cabbage hung for them to peck at?
Are they in tight quarters? What is the protein percent? Do they always have food and water available to them?
I have 13 darlings in a 12' X 6' coop at night they all go outside during the day by choice the coop is open during the day. The chicken run is 40' long by 6' wide in turns into a chicken yard in front of the coop thats 14' X 20'. They are on 18 percent protein. There are two feeders one in the coop and one in the yard that are always full, three waterers one three gal in the coop, one 5 gal and one 1 gal in the yard. For some they all like the 1 gal waterer the best, its the one they had when they were in the brooder. We have a well so no chlorine in the water but I have to change them every day because it gets kind of stinky without chorine
i think they just need mor eprotein in their diet. have scarmbled eggs for breakfast for a couple of weeks and give them the scraps, bacon too!
i was going ot suggest A&M, that is the only place we can get ttesting doen areound here. ihave to drive 50 miles one way.
try some yogurt or somethings with probioitcs in it too. stay away from antibiotics if possible, since that will just weaken their immune system more.
on the water, you can keep the green stuff down entirely this way:
buy some Bragg's brand Apple Cider Vinegar [it is complete with the "mother"], and keep fresh garlic on hand. mince the garlice and infuse in a smaller glass bottle, about 8 ounces of ACV to 1 clove of garlic. after 24 hours, put about a tablespoon per gallon of water. they will have to adjust to it, so make sure there is no other source of drinking water for them.
also, buy chamomile tea bags. make like you were to drink it. one bag per gallon of water. add the tea to theri water everytime you refill it.
this will eliemate or reduce your cleaning, andsave water for you too.
it will aid in preventing parasites, boost immune system, keep fungus down in the waterers, increase their absorption of calcium and protein.
;hope this helps, i know what it's like when your dear chickens aren't well!
tf
Got the results back from A&M at 5:00 no worms at all no cocci but they have a high gram- bacteria they said should be gram+ bacteria want to see one of the roo's tomorrow the one that has lost the most weight. Now I'm really worried
I had a flock one year that ate the rear ends out after they picked the feathers!
Give them some beef tallow. Put it in a styrofoam plate. They will eat both and leave each other alone! Sometimes they're in to small a pen. Give them grass cuttings and see if that helps.
As for the loose stool, if it gets bloody, they can start dropping like flies. Go to CO-OP and tell them. THEY will help you. There's a medication you can put in their water, but I can't remember the name, but they'll know.
Audrey
when i was out with all my chickens, i remembered this, and thought i should add: once a month you should soak all the waterers in hot water with some bleach 10% or less, for at least fifteen minutes, then rinse. of course, clean them first with just warm water and a soft rag. when you are refilling the waterers, ahve a hanky, old tshirt or cloth daiper rag on you for wiping the green goo up.
and the other thing i recalled was that you feed them scraps. so, again, theyneed extra protein. when they fill up on scraps, they eat less of the high protein feed you are giving them. and consider, only 75% is 18 percent protein, which makes it 13.5 % protein feed if they DIDN'T eat scraps.
i give mine scraps too, and they free range. just not too much.
start mixing something high protein in their feed. barley and sunflower seeds is what i use. if your chicks are not consuming all three parts of the henscratch, you are wasting your money.... try buying the 18% starter, and use 1/4 of the sunflower, barley, and milo mixed 1/2 milo, 1/4 barley, 1/4 sunflower. and make sure they have grit. later you will also need oyster shell.
i think once you get their diet more balanced, they will be fine.
and i forgot to ask what breed. some develop a large frame first that is very bony with no muscle or meat. in that case your birds are just fine.
Audrey's suggestion is GREAT! you can also give them beef livers cooked, or even [GULP!]] chicken liver or gizzards, cooked.
yep, watch out, or they will eat the styrofoam, why do they love that?
hmm, re: the gram bacteria, can you give them some milk?
best of luck, hope you get good news tomorrow.
tf
It wont hurt them to eat styrofoam! Mine did! AND any meat or fat I gave them was raw. They loved it. Just don't give them any with salt. That can kill them!
I fed mine on straight laying pellets with a side order of grit. Kept them happy, laying, and stronger shells. (Didn't bother the roosters, either). LOL! They like buttermilk, too. My ex DL raised gamecocks. He would "condition" them with raw hamburger and buttermilk and cornbread. Need a reciepe? LOL
Doe
I have RIR's and PBR's they are the ones that are so thin. I also have Lakenvelders they seem to be fine
I just found a big piece of styrofoam sticking
out from under the house. It had been pecked to
bits. I removed it. I really don't want my birds
eating anything other than their natural foods. If
a cigarette butt can cause an impaction I would
think so too with the foam.
I hope you get a handle on the possible illness.
I think the suggestions are great. Runny poo isn't
so bad for them- mine get that just from free ranging.
Kitty kibble is a good source of protein that's not
expensive as livers or other meats. Dog kibble does
not do the same. I also would worry about parasites
using raw meat.
Truest, thanks for the info about kitty kibble. My cats like to scatter theirs in the box where their feeder is. We had to put the feeder in a box on top of the washer to keep Penny out of the kibble when she was alive. Now the cats don't seem to be able to find it if we move it. Guess they're getting old and forgetful like us. I can get beef and deer liver for free, so guess who is going to be getting it? Not that I don't like it, but we get enough to share with the ladies (and gents, too).
Doe, we give ours the crushed up egg shells and their shell are so hard you almost need a sledge hammer to break them. I was making breakfast the other day and when I tried to crack one of the eggs, I had to hit it 3 times against the edge of the skillet to get it to open. The only problem I am having is that they are supposed to be brown and for some reason one of my hens is laying a white egg. It is not tinted, it is pure white. She is a Black Australorp, so it should be brown. I just wish I knew which one she was. I would cull her when the new hens start laying.
See if you can make a trap nest somewhere near
where they lay. I don't know your setup, but a wire
front door on the nest that trips shut when the hen
walks under it might help you. She can't get out until
you let her out, and you'll know who laid what.
Thanks for the reminder on the eggshell- I want to
give my quail some. Might help them when I get
ready to ship eggs.
Eeew, yucko on the liver- like you don't like whipped
cream, Granny. I love fried chicken gizzard, but any
liver is animal food to me!LOL
I want to thank every one that has been so helpful to me, everyone is so nice at DG, I have learned a lot. My chickens have gape worms that lodge in the trachea. They get it from eating pill-bugs or sow bugs, it makes them lose weight and gape or pant, I thought they were just hot so we put in a bunch of fans. Boy I have a lot to learn. The vet at A&M said that if gone untreated it would have killed them, they wouldn't have been able to breath, they get an immunity to them at about 6 months. So every one got an injection of Ivermectin today and some kind of super duper vitamins to stimulate their immune system. So I hope everything will be fine now
Thanks so much everyone
Wonderful to know Judy! I've heard of gape worm, but never knew anyone who had it. Didn't know it came from pill bugs. Really interesting. Thank you.
Wow Judy I am so glad that you got them tested and they found out what the problem was. Like Catscan that is one I've never heard about.
MollyD
Granny, I had so many chickens that I didn't use enough eggs to help them with the shells. By the wat. We always parched the shells before giving them to them, so they wouldn't start pecking the eggs and eating them. My hens laid such big eggs that a lot of them had thin shells. I had quite a bit of breaking. But the grit, oyster shell, helped. Feeding them meat never caused any problems for me. Of course I didn't do that too often. But it did stop them from peckinf feathers out and eating on each other!
Doe
Is there a good way to offer grit out side the coop? I keep thinking once it gets wet they won't want to eat it.
MollyD
It doesn't matter if it's wet, just put it on the ground, or in a wide, flat container
Of some kind. They'll eat it!
Doe
Thanks Doe. Mine are still on baby grit for another month before I move them to oyster shell.
MollyD
Molly, grit and oyster shell are two different things. Grit is small stones that is used to grind their food in their "craws", while oyster shell is calcium that is disolved (sp) in the system to help with shells and bones.
GG
yep, GG is right. also, if they free range well, they may not need either, but it is a good idea to offer it free choice rather than mix it in their feed...
Granny's right! it must have been oyster shell that I fed mine. TamaraFaye, that's what I meant by putting it in a broad, shallow dish ! :-)
Thanks GG, tf,
I was thinking the os did the same job as the grit. Guess I should offer both then. Right now the chicks are eating tiny stuff off the ground here. Do they still need the grit too?
MollyD
That I can't answer. Mine are on cement, so they have to be given grit. The teenagers are now outside in the temporary coop, and they can get grit there, so I don't give it to them. I don't give oyster shell to the teenagers because they are not laying. We will give it to them as soon as they start laying. We have some hens that are now depositing extra calcium on their eggs, so they don't need the oyster shell, either.
GG
GG what age group do you count your teenagers at?
MollyD
They were hatched the beginning of April, so about 6 weeks to 9 or 10 weeks. After that they are "young adults".
GG
Okay so mine are still 'elementary school age ' LOL. I think mine are acting like pre-teens here at 4 weeks.
MollyD
Well, I have 12 pullets that are only three weeks old, so they are acting like yours are, and then I have 9 keets, and 10 roosters from Ideal that are two weeks old and they are kindergardeners. I do have my hand full right now.
GG
yeah, dont' we all! next year that chicken fairy ought to go back to Africa LOL...
yeah DOE 41, don't kno how i missed that. think i was telling Molly...
♥
tf
Judy, you might comsider a complete cleanout and disinfectant this time... search online or check with a local prochem type store...