Drooping Wings on Chickin

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by Jacob
(Botswana)

Question:

Drooping Wings on Chicken: I have 8 Rhode Island Red laying hens. The chickens basically get laying mash that I buy from a co-op.

I also give them vegetable cuttings that have been quickly boiled just to soften it enough for them to eat.

Lately about 3 or four have not been well. They look a bit listless and their wings appear to be drooping. They also walk with 'stiff' legs.

I sterilized their coop two or three times now. I also sprayed them a few times with a product called Carbadip -that is for lice and mites.

On a friend's advice added that purple stuff- supposedly for internal parasites.- dont know the word in English - in their water for a few days continuously.

They still lay eggs rather good. But their condition does not seem to improve much, although they did look better for a short while. They eat and drink.

I just saw here that I perhaps should look at de-worming. But is their anything else you can immediately see, that I should do.

Answer:
You’re welcome for the cool site! I hope we can help you solve this chicken mystery.

The first thing I would recommend is to make sure the medications you have been using are really necessary at this point.

I would stop the purple stuff and just provide fresh clean water at all times and their favorite feed. Offer the vegetables when available, though I don’t believe cooking them is beneficial.

You don’t say what kind they are but I have seen chickens tear through the toughest zucchinis with no problems. Cooking veggies robs them of vital nutrients. If you do have tough veggies for them a food processor or grater would be good for making bite sized pieces.

Over medicating especially with chemicals designed to kill parasites can make for sick chickens.

Make sure you are following the dosing instructions and don’t treat for mites and lice and worms unless you see them.

You could get a stool sample checked at your vet to see if there are signs of worms or infection.

You can check over your chickens in a well lighted area and look for mites and lice or signs of skin irritations.

After a few days of plain water and feed, I would recommend a vitamin electrolyte powder for poultry, available at most feed stores. The instructions usually say to give only 3 days for signs of stress.