What are the symptoms if a chicken has worms?

[Summer98]

How would you know if a chicken has worms? Are there symptoms?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

There can be diarrhea with increased feed consumption, and you may notice the hens seem thin to you (feel along the keel bone - the front of the chest). Lethargy and decreased feed consumption (and death) are late signs. If you see a worm in the poo they are probably heavily infested. Some vets will do a fecal float test for worms/cocci for a small fee (false negatives are possible for the worms test). You may see paleness/anemia in the combs also.

There are several types of worms chickens can get.

Wormers are very hard on hens- they can even kill a weak hen. So it is best to know if you have a problem first, or only treat if you are seeing a problem, or have had worm problems before (they kind of hang around in the soil- the worm eggs).

 

[Summer98]

I do have one hen that seems to have orange comb and wattles when everyone else has bright red. I'm wondering because the eggs are so small in size. They eat normally.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I do have one hen that seems to have orange comb and wattles when everyone else has bright red. I'm wondering because the eggs are so small in size. They eat normally.

More protein in the diet usually will equate to larger eggs. What are you feeding them? (Don't overfeed protein to teenage chickens as this may contribute to egg binding I have read...they need the 17% protein level of the grower feed I have read.)

Also if they are pullets (new to laying) they will only be laying pullet eggs, which are smaller. This is natural and the egg size increases with age.

Make sure they don't have mites or lice, also. I wouldn't deworm with the only symptom being an orange comb...watch for other signs of illness is my opinion. I have never seen worms without diarrhea in at least one member of the flock, personally.

Too, it could be something other than worms if other signs pop up.

 

[Summer98]

I feed them Purina SunFresh Layer. And they free range all day, except overnights. They get plenty of grass (too much probably). I feel like their eggs have gotten smaller and they were actually bigger and more plentiful when they were pullets. I believe the protein in the Purina is 16%.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I feed them Purina SunFresh Layer. And they free range all day, except overnights. They get plenty of grass (too much probably). I feel like their eggs have gotten smaller and they were actually bigger and more plentiful when they were pullets. I believe the protein in the Purina is 16%.

OK if you want larger eggs then if it were me I'd go with Flock Raiser (20% protein) which are pellets (if you are on crumbles now they may resist eating pellets for a while) and give them oyster shells mixed into the feed at 1 lb per 20 lb (per Flemingoutdoors.com: http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/croysh5lb.html ) or give them the shells on the side (my eggshells get soft unless I mix in my oystershell).

You can also just feed unmedicated chick starter (20% protein) and do the same thing with the oyster shells.

Some breeders feed protein at this level forever (other people worry about gout, which I have read the protein isn't entirely to blame unless way too high) and some with ducks feed the Flock Raiser to everyone, so this is common practice to feed the Flock Raiser.

 

[bernaboo111]

ALWAYS give oyster shell on the side. Chickens can get too much calcium. Chickens know when to stop eating oyster shell. Chickens can die if they eat too much oyster shell. They will eat it if they need it.

 

[Eggcessive]

My Purina Flock Raiser from TSC is crumbles.

 

[Summer98]

Would there be any side effects of getting the higher protein? They are almost 1 1/2 years old. They will eat either crumbles or pellets, they aren't picky. I just tried giving them some vitamins/electrolytes in their water today.