HELP MY CHICKENS ARE GETTING SKINNY

[henhouse]

I was wonder if any one can help me. my chickens seem to be getting skinnier all the time i have brown leghorns and i know they should be a big bird but seem like all they do is eat i have and 18% egg layer they can eat any time they wont and is they have corn there all the time. i have noticed in the last three weeks they seem to be loosing weight .they seem hungery all the time and with 45 hens seem to go threw a bag of feed a day . some one said they might have worms is this possible and they said i can give them piperazine-17 in there water for one day and then dont use eggs for 24 hrs then they will be safe to eat again . dose any one know any thing about this PLESE help me.

I did look the birds over for lice or mites and didn't see any thing on my chickens

 

[Master S.M.C]

Leghorns are extremely economical eaters. They are usually lean, mean, laying machines.

 

[chookchick]

First off, I would take out the corn (you mean scratch corn, correct?) this is not nutritious, it is like candy, and they will fill up on this and not get the protein, etc.. that they need. Take a look at their poo--does it look normal, do you see a visible worm (like roundworm), if not have a fecal float done by a vet before you treat for worms, as the medicine is very type specific and can be hard on them.
Take a look at the hens closely for mites, check crops, goopy eyes etc.. to see if they are healthy.
You might want to give them extra protein via scrambled eggs, washed cottage cheese, game food etc.. until they look normal.
Make sure they have grit and oystershell available at all times, and water of course. Keep us posted.

 

[Poohbear]

If they are otherwise healthy, Worms would be a good bet. Get some Wazine and follow the directions on the bottle. A change of feed may be in order also. Corn, henscratch, lay pellets and WHOLE oats is a good combination feed. Extras like calf manna, buttermilk, whole wheat in small quantities will help with fattening. First get rid of worms, mites, lice or any problems with mites. Sometimes the mites will just suck the life right out of a chicken. Spray the coops with bleach and water. jmo

 

[gritsar]

Do you have a vet that you use for other pets? You can take a stool sample to the vet and confirm worms. My vet back home in NC charged $5 for this service.
If I'm not mistaken piperazine-17 is Wazine and if so it will only treat roundworms. If it's not roundworms you're dealing with, the wazine would be useless.
There are broad spectrum worming medicines you can use off label, but it would be best to confirm what type of worms first.
I used valbazen, which is a broad spectrum wormer originally intended to worm cattle and sheeps.
Also, are you offering grit with their feed? or do they have access to grit in their enviroment?

 

[greenesacres]

I have had the same problem. I think my chickens had coccidiosis. Are yours thin breasted? I used Sulmet and bought a high protein game crumble feed. I can already see a noticeable difference.

 

[henhouse]

yes my chickens look healthy just have gotten very thin all of a sudden , the corn i give them is just a craked corn from the feed store. i know that a leghorn should be a nice big bird and lay big egg there eggs are very small and don't get only about 25 a day and have 45 hens they were laying better till about 3 or 4 weeks ago thats when i notice the change in them.
I would like to thank all of you for your feed back and help i love this sight there are so many helpful people out there once again thank you all

 

[Lollipop]

henhouse, to check for lice and mites, pick one or two off the roost at night and check around the vent and under the tail with a flashlight. If you didn`t do it this way you probably missed something.

I agree that having a vet check the droppings is a good thing. That way you can identify what you`re up against. If it`s just round worms, an old trick is to add cayene pepper to their feed. chickens don`t have heat recceptors like other beings and will eat it right up. Ceyene in the front, worms scrambling out the back. Cheap and you can still eat the eggs. Repeat in 10 days to get the newly hatched worms. Other types of worms require different methods.

One more thing. When it`s cracked, corn loses it`s nutricional value at an alarming rate. In three days it`s as good for them as dirt.

 

[Poohbear]

Yessir, Lollipop. That's true about cracked corn. No nutrition value to it at all. Same with oats or wheat. For chickens always get WHOLE corn, oats and wheat.

 

[speckledhen]

I respectfully disagree that grinding/cracking a grain makes it nutritionless. That being said, a good quality layer feed and very little scratch is the first line of defense. There are different quality scratch mixes. Mine is an 11-grain with 13% protein all on its own,which, during winter, I alternate with a 5 grain. The 11-grain has very little corn at all.
All of the birds losing weight would make me think worms first, cocci second, though cocci is more common in very young birds. Mine lose weight during their molts.
If it was one or two layers, I'd say you may have an internal layer, that is, if those birds were not giving you eggs. I've lost 4 to internal laying, which is hormonal with no prevention and no cure other than hysterectomy.