12 Week Old Pullet Stands With Eyes Closed

[sbhkma]

She's a Speckled Sussex. Her appetite is excellent. She drinks a LOT (is excessive thirst an indicator of an issue?). She's active-I even saw he fly about 10 feet in the run yesterday. She got about 4 feet off the ground. She's with two 13 week old Welsummers. They have 55 sq feet of run, shade, lots of ventilation in their coop. She's not losing feathers. Her weight seems good. They've been dewormed with Valbazen. I give them grower feed, Rooster Booster vitamin/eletrolyte/probiotic in their water daily. They did have chick grit, but changed to poultry grit last week. The sussex is notably smaller than the Wellies. Should I also offer chick grit? They get corn-sicles (frozen corn & water) and mealworms as treats. It's been over 100 degrees lately, so I put a fan on facing the run to help them stay cool. The only indicator I have is that when the other 2 are wandering around the coop - the Wellies are super active - she'll stand, neck shortened and close her eyes. Sometimes even when she's drinking water, she'll stop, do the whole "shorten the neck, close the eyes" thing. They have a dust bath of sand and DE mix and she is totally indulgent with that. She loves it. I have two other hens in a coop/run beside them. They're pushing 5 yrs old and free range most of the day. They're both super healthy & active. They've been dewormed too. I've looked at all their legs and scales seem fine. No runny eyes, no coughing, no dirty vents. Am I being overly worried here? Any thoughts?

 

[sbhkma]

No one has any suggestions or idea? Am I overly worried?

 

[MillersFarm]

She sounds like shes just hot, over 85 is uncomfortably hot for a chicken. So if it's just the heat i wouldn't be surprised. Just make sure they have water 24/7 and maybe to keep the water not boiling i'd put ice cubs not in the part wher they would drink but inside the waterer.

 

[sbhkma]

I put fresh cold water from the fridge out there every 3 or 4 hours all day. It's supposed to be in the upper 80s low 90s this coming week, so hopefully she'll be ok. I'll keep an eye on her. Thanks!

 

[MillersFarm]

Hi! Sorry i could get to your post sooner. Just so long as she has plenty of water and shade she'll be alright

 

[andreanar]

I have a little 11 week old faverolle doing the same thing. My flock has been on Corid for 5 days because 1 died and 1 had bloody poop. I'm confused as to her behavior because, same as yours, she eats, drinks, peeps as normal but she does that sleepy, neck hunching thing. Ugh, weird.

 

[sbhkma]

It's a bit disconcerting for sure. She worries me. Her stool is a little on the soft side of normal, too. I first got them 7 weeks ago. Three days later I was seeing signs of coccidiosis so I put them on corid for 7 days. I still ended up losing one. Now here we are 7 weeks later and I'm wondering if I shouldn't do a prophylactic treatment of corid. This all did start when we had temps between 98 and 104 every day. I put a 2' x 2' tray of cool water down by the run and blew a fan across the water to help cool them. Now it's down in the low 90s to even upper 80s forecast for the next week so she should hopefully stop scaring me this way!

 

[Eggcessive]

It won't hurt to do a retreatment of Corid, or use the preventative dosage, since they had it 7 weeks ago. But it sounds more like heat exhaustion. Do you have plenty of shade, and shaded water bowls spread around? Coops get very hot in summer, and fans are helpful, but they need to be outside in shade and fresh air for comfort during the daylight. You can make more shade with shade cloth, tables, and plantng bushes or evergreen trees around. Those temps are pretty miserable for any chicken.

 

[sbhkma]

The run has shade cloth across the top and halfway down the west and south sides. They have 4 water bowls that have Rooster Booster w/ electrolytes and I change it out every 3 hours or so in order to give them cooler water (I keep it in the fridge, so it's nice and cold). I was thinking about a preventative dose of Corid but I worry about the blocking of thiamin absorption and wonder if that's an issue in the heat. Is it?

 

[Eggcessive]

It's up to you to treat or not. Usually a bird with cocci does not want to eat, and later, will not drink. So I would use your own judgement. A vet could check some fresh droppings for a cocci overload.