16wk pullet panting hard, wings out, tail down.*nothing new to report*

[lisahaschickens]

Newbie here, raising my first flock of chickens.

I will try to give you as much information as possible. I am very worried about my girl!

I have 15 chickens - 11 pullets, 4 cockerels, all from the same batch of chicks from McMurray Hatchery, hatched on February 7th, 2009... so they are all just under 16 weeks old.

They live in a 10' x 8' coop with 8' cielings and full access to a 10'x16' run. We had the coop built and no other chickens have lived here before. I also let them out to free-range in our large, grassy yard 1-3 times per day, with constant supervision. Today around 10 am, I let them out to free-range as usual and all were fine. Tonight around 6:30pm, I let them out again and only counted 14.

I found my 15th chicken, Dorothy, inside the coop, laying down, panting. She had her head up and eyes open and looked normal other than the panting. It was hot here today - 85 degrees at least... but none of the other chickens were panting. Also, Dorothy LOVES to come out to free-range so it was weird that she stayed inside. When I went in to check her out, she stood up and scooted away from me (her normal reaction), and went and took a couple of bites of food from the feeder. Then she went back to lay down again, except my rooster came in to harrass her. That made her cluck and run out the door into the run. She then continued to pant while she walked around the run, then she layed down again, head up, eyes open, panting. The rooster came to bother her again and this time she ran out of the run to be with the others.

She immediately pooped three times, and then started grazing on grass like normal and stopped panting. But after a few minutes of that, she just stopped and layed down again in the grass just like she had in the run and the coop. this time she didn't pant. She just settled herself there and stayed put. Thinking this was so strange, again I went to see if I could pick her up. Again, she hopped up and trotted away from me and started grazing again. Then, after a few minutes, she layed down in the grass again. This time she let me pick her up. No resistance at all. That is NOT like her. She does not even want to be touched.

I held her and tried to look at her and feel her for problems, but I came up with nothing. So, I brought her in the house and signed on to BYC.

She is now standing on my guest bed while I sit here with her and write this post. She is standing, panting, and holding her wings out a little. Other than that, she seems bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But she MUST be sick, right? This is not normal behavior. I am at a loss. I am hoping you guys will know the right questions to ask me.

Could this be something in her crop? I don't know what a normal crop feels like... I tried to feel hers and couldn't find anything. I only have one chicken who will let me hold her and hers feels like a squishy balloon sorta. I can't find one on Dorothy, though... no balloon...nothing hard... nothing. Maybe I'm feeling in the wrong place? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

p.s. She pooped again since she came in here - 4 poops in like20 minutes... is that normal?

 

[annek]

Haven't had chickens too long but will give you my short time opinion. To me it sounds like she got over heated. I would see how she does in the cool of the house. Make sure she has water/food. When she is pooping is it water or normal looking? yes, they poop a lot and that seems normal to me for her to go that much. If she gets back to normal you may want to do a few things to help her cope with the heat. You can freeze water bottles and put some in the coop for them to lay up against, you can add a fan to give them a breeze, give them a nice cool slice of watermelon. There are some other ideas I am sure.

Good luck and let us know how she does.

 

[annek]

Forgot to add the crop is on their right breast. If you can't find it she hasn't eaten enough to fill it up, that is all. Don't think it is a crop problem.

 

[sammi]

has she started laying ?

sounds like she wants to lay and keeps getting disturbed, and is stressing out.

Set her on a warmed towel or some sort of heat pad or bag in a dim quiet place undisturbed..
some people will set the hen in a sink of warm water
this helps relax the muscles.

describe the droppings..color and consistency.
what all do you feed?
make sure she is well hydrated..

you can make her up this mix::

this amount is for 1 day..divide into 3 feeds for the day..give for 5 days.

1 cooked egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon honey or unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3-4 tablespoons water soaked or cooked oatmeal
enough feed to make the mix puffy..not soupy or gummy.
give poultry vitamins..
or until you can get some...
Poly-vi-sol liquid baby vitamins, Enfamil brand if possible, no iron..
2-3 drops on beak once a day for 3 days, then taper off for a week..

if she starts showing other symptoms...post back.

 

[lisahaschickens]

Thank you. I hope that is all it is. When I brought her inside the house, we closed the windows and turned on the AC because it was 82 in here but we'd been trying not to use it. She's now lying down next to me, panting, wings slightly spread. It does seem like she could be hot. Should I do anything like give her water with an eye dropper?

It seems a little odd to me that she would get overheated on an 85 degree day in late May in Washington state.... what do chickens in Arizona in July do? Anyway, like I said... I hope that's all it is.

I would love to hear other opinions... even if they are in agreement.

 

[lisahaschickens]

Sammi -

Thank you for your response. I also thought about the possibility that she could be working on laying for the first time... but that seemed a little fanciful. Do you think it's a possibility?

None of my birds are laying yet. I have read that every once in a while they lay this young... but it's not common at 16 weeks, is it?

As for the warm water/heating pad... I'm a little torn here...

If she's overheated, the last thing I want to do is heat her up more... but if she needs the heat to help her lay... I want to help.

Thank you to everyone so far for all the good ideas. I hope to get more feedback too.

Is there any way for me to tell if she could be trying to lay?

 

[sammi]

best way to check the crop is to check at roost time..
after eating all day, it should be full..
then re-check in the morning before she eats..it should feel empty or flat.
feel for any lumps or grainy feeling, or sour odor.

I like to check the crop by standing behind the hen and reaching my hands around to the hen's front to cup the crop.
I try to keep a regular check on the crops..and the droppings.

 

[lisahaschickens]

oh yeah... and poop looks normal to me.

I can post pics of it if you want. She just went again and it's sitting on the towel next to me. Let me know if that would be helpful.

 

[sammi]

check the vent..is it pulsing?
compare the look of the vent to other hens...moisture is sometimes an indicator.

the heat pad doesn't have to be hot..
a little heat on the bottom will relax the muscles..
but what she needs is quiet and privacy..if she's trying to lay..

 

[lisahaschickens]

I also can take and post videos and/or pics of her stance and panting if that would be helpful... Whatever I can do to help.

I felt again for the crop... I can't even find it. She's a super-duper fluffy BO and it's hard to even find her body through all the feathers, but it seems like her crop must be pretty small or empty because I really can't feel anything...