Egg bound or just very sick-hen walking stiff-bugs found!

[ChurkLover]

I have a rhode island red hen who is about 18 months old and has been walking a little stiff legged (a little like a penguin) for the past couple days. She also has been pooping a little green-yellow and has been getting pecked by some of my other chickens-no marks being left though. She doesn't seem to want to move (walker or fly) much, she just stands in one place or stays sitting on the roost during the day (they free range all day so she and maybe one other are the only ones in the roost during the day. I am not sure what is wrong with her. She seems healthy otherwise, and actually seems a little bigger than my other rhode island reds so I am not sure if she is swelling up or just eating good. The strange thing is that she let me pick her right up, which many of my RIR's do not do. When I set her down in the yard to free range, she just stands there, eating the grass around her. I did treat my birds with some duramycin antibiotic last week for respiratory issues but it didn't seem to help any of them. Could this be related or does it sound like maybe she is sick, egg bound? I have not noticed her trying to lay in the nesting boxes. Any ideas?

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I would separate her from the others so that you can watch how much she eats and drinks and just in case she is contagious. When you say she is swelling up, do you mean she seems to have an enlarged belly, but it doesn't feel like there a whole egg stuck in there. She could feel sick because of a respiratory infection. You may want to do some research on this site to rule out a few other possibilities like an egg that may have broken in her oviduct or she could have egg yolk peritonitis or ascites. I hope she improves.

 

[ChurkLover]

ok...I gave her a soaking bath and a bunch of small bugs came off of her...I can't get my camera to take a picture of them that is clear. I wonder if this could be a type of lice. They are a light brown color, legs on the front and kind of fat on the back half of the body. I was drying her off with a towel, and felt one crawling on my neck, then looked at my shirt and had 4 or 5 crawling there.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

The Learning Center has info on mites with pictures https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-mites.html , they may have info on lice, too. Blood loss due to parasites could account for her lethargy.

 

[ChurkLover]

scratch'n'peck :

The Learning Center has info on mites with pictures https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-mites.html , they may have info on lice, too. Blood loss due to parasites could account for her lethargy.

Thank you for the link! It definitely is a lice after looking at the photos. I have Seven and Permethyn dust (?spelling?) that I can use. I did research how to distribute the dust on each of my birds but aside from treating the chicken house, do I also need to treat all of the free range areas they go throughout the day? Ugg...I took a shower immediately after finding the bugs on me earlier, threw my clothes in the wash on HOT and still just had a lice crawling on me! Good Lord, these things are stubborn!​