19 week old chicken standing in one place, not eating...

[jenniferlee]

I hope someone might be able to help me. My first post. Spent a ton of time trying to find what might be wrong by reading other posts. It just seems it might be one of alot of things. So, figured I would post what is going on to see if maybe someone might have some advice. Thanks in advance.

Very concerned about one of my chickens who will be 20 weeks old this saturday. I noticed 2 days ago saturday morning when I went to let my chickens out (I have 3) Red came out with the rest but then just kinda stopped and stood still for a couple minutes. A definite change for her. All 3 are normally racing to get out and love to walk around and inspect all things around the garden. It looked like she might have been straining and had a bowel movement. She then went on and followed the other 2 chickens around but she wasn't really doing her normal thing and spent alot of time just standing in place or half-heartedly pecking around. She even layed down a couple times. I went to work and when I came back at 8pm they were all 3 already on their roost. A little early but it is getting darker sooner. Sunday I worked 12 hours and did not get a chance to really observe her. Today, she was slow to get off her roost. I isolated her and for 3 hours she did not have a bowel movement but then finally had a large liquidy one. Looked like mostly water. Before that I had her in warm water for about 30 minutes wondering if she is eggbound. None of my chickens have layed yet. Her poops under the roost have been really watery super light yellow. Before work Sunday she pooped on her roost and it shot out and was like a yellow/white mucousy stool that hit the wall of the coop. She is not interested in eating. She is drinking water. When she does walk it is quite slow and it looks like she keeps trying to stretch out her legs backward but is not able to stretch back all the way. She also seemed to loose her balance a bit when she did that. If I pick her up she lets me and is completely calm and if I set her down she just stands in that spot and won't move. I can leave and come back 5 minutes later and she is still standing in that same spot. She sometimes will seem interested in something around her and peck at it. The other thing I noticed more on Saturday 2 days ago was that her vent was puckering continuously making me think first egg. It is still doing that but not quite as noticable. I tried looking at the other chickens but they are not so keen on that and it's difficult to compare. Her crop feels like a small half deflated balloon. I tried massaging that this morning while I was holding her in the warm water and she seems to kinda let out 2 small burps...

1) What type of bird , age and weight. - She is a Rhode Island Red, 19-20 weeks, not sure of weight (4 pounds maybe??)

2) What is the behavior, exactly. - See above. Sorry for the lengthy post

3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? - 2 days ago since Saturday morning but now that I think about it the 2 evenings before when the other 2 chickens automatically went back to their coop in the evening she stayed back was just standing in one place across the yard doing nothing. I carried her to the coop thinking to myself silly bird. But she was not acting any differently before that.

4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? No, the other 2 are acting completely normal

5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. - No, except a small amount of blood on 1 stool

6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. - I really have know idea

7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. - Drinking water. Not eating

8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. - Was quite watery light yellow. Then today nothing for 3 hours then that super large watery one and more recent have been mucous consistency with a greenish color

9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? - just warm water bath and massage crop

10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? - would like to treat myself but since there are so many things it could be I don't know where to start.

11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.

12) Describe the housing/bedding in use - coop with pine shavings

 

[hsdiaz]

My hen is doing this too, right now. She's also a RIR, 23 weeks old and has been laying for a couple weeks. Anyone know what may be causing this? She's walking slow, standing in one spot and sitting down occassionally. She just started doing this a few minutes ago, she was acting normal right before that. I fed them a handful of spent grains but this isn't the first time they've had it. The other 2 hens are normal.

 

[goldtopper]

I lost one on Sunday doing the same thing. I figured out that the white/yellow poo was egg. She must've been an internal layer. I tried the warm bath, calcium water- everything I could. I probed and felt no egg; upon autopsy, she was full of what looked like cooked egg.
Very sorry this is happenning to you and I hope your outcome is better!

 

[seminolewind]

If they look like they were full of cooked egg, it's probably an internal layer. You could not have done anything.

OP, I would treat from cocci, med in water, it's okay if they all drink it. That would be my first choice of treatment.

 

[CarlaS]

Mine were doing the same thing we were going to get medicine for cocci but couldn't find it anywhere so we tried putting Vital into their water everyday. And now the are better a week later

 

[seminolewind]

I would be careful with something like Vital. Coccidiosis needs certain medicine to treat it.
If you think she's eggbound, you may need to oil a finger and probe inside the vent and see if you can feel an egg. But usually eggbounds go back and forth to the nest, like they are really trying to pass it.

 

[hsdiaz]

We gave Rosie the warm bath and blow-out treatment last night. She handled it well which surprised me since she's friendly but doesn't like to be picked up..she really liked the blow dryer. I couldn't feel anything when probing her vent--it was tough to go in very far since she was contracting--and I couldn't feel anything when I rubbed her belly. This morning I checked on her and there was a full sized soft shelled egg under the roost, along with another small soft shelled yolk. They have oyster shell in the run, but doesn't look like they're eating much (level hasn't dropped that much in a few weeks); there's also some in their layer feed. I read on another thread to try feeding her egg shells back to her, so I'll try that....worried though that she'll develop a taste for her own eggs and will start eating them...guess it's worth a try though. I also gave her some plain yogurt (well, gave it to all 3 of them since they all love it) this morning to see if it helps. She's acting pretty much normal now. I'm glad I didn't break the soft egg in her while I was checking her out. I'll be keeping a close eye on her behavior, she's my favorite and want to be sure she's happy and healthy.