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Author Topic: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum  (Read 4415 times)

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« on: May 02, 2012, 11:49:54 am »
I bought 4 POL chickens 3 weeks ago.  They were wormed before I got them.
They haven't yet laid and this morning I noticed that the Black Rock is looking under the weather and has a very mucky bum. 

They are all fed on layers pellets with the odd bit of something else i.e. mixed corn and cooked rice.

They free range but she is only putting up a half hearted attempt to join them.

I think I should probably isolate her but what else?  I have some Flubenvet should I give her that?

Any suggestions appreciated as this is the first time I have kept chickens

thanks
Sally
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

kegs

  • Joined Apr 2012
  • Bedfordshire
Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2012, 12:31:00 pm »
I would separate her just in case and I would worm them all too so you know it's been done correctly.  Were they previously on growers feed?  Perhaps the fast change to layers before they are actually laying has caused the problem.  Whenever I've changed feeds I've done it gradually over a week or so and my last batch I didn't put on layers until they actually started laying.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
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Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2012, 12:34:52 pm »
One of  mine was looking depressed a couple of days ago, and one or two had mucky bums,  so I'm dosing them all with flubenvet this week.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2012, 12:41:45 pm »
Thanks Kegs and Annie. A dose of flubenvet for them all it is. 

Kegs,
They probablly wern't on layers pellets when I got them but even so I would have thought that being on them for 3 weeks now they would have got use to them but I get your point about then on layers pellets when they aren't laying.

I won't withdraw it completely as they are now used to it but will give them less and more corn.

Sally
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2012, 02:07:04 pm »
Hi Bionic. Flubenvet is a good start. Make sure they get a full dose so no treats, no free ranging, just pellets. Too much corn (maize) will make them fat. I find mixing the measure with olive oil into a paste makes mixing into the pellets a lot easier -bit by bit as instructions tell you.

Check her crop, it may be sour (squishy and bad breath) and that could be due to too much cooked rice. If it is worms and she is that bad there is a chance that she will react badly to the wormer. As worms die they release toxins which can be fatal in any quantity.

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2012, 04:50:40 pm »
Thanks Chris,  I hadn't thought about the free ranging.  They are roaming about the garden now.  Doris (dirty bum) was put in a seperate pen but as I sit here looking out of the window I see that she has managed to get out and join the others down the garden.

Although they all love the cooked rice I only give them a little bit and thats only been on a couple of occasions so I don't think thats the problem.

I have already mixed the fubenvet with their food, bit by bit as the instructions said but have included corn with the pellets.  When I mix the next batch I will leave the corn out or just put a little bit in for interest.

Sally
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: HELP - chicken with very mucky bum
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2012, 05:16:26 pm »
Hi Sally. Don't advise you put corn in with the pellets as they will throw the pellets out to get to the corn. Just give them a very small amount unmedicated scattered anyway, several times a day to break the boredom. Ours go nuts in the runs for 7 days but without it they don't worm properly. I intend to mix flubenvet with cod liver oill next time and give them all a shot of it as they get let out (2 person job). A scoop of Flubenvet treats 2 kg of feed, which is enough for two large fowl chickens for 7 days. If the oil added to Flubenvet measure makes a thin paste of say 2.1mL, each bird needs 0.15 mL a day. I've done it as an emergency worming of a sick cockerel who wasn't eating (Claude, my avatar) and it worked a treat. He noticably improved after the first dose!

 

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