Bloated chicken?

[citychicks99]

Wow, he's looking very sick today. Rats have been digging into their coop at night so we moved their coop to a cemented area yesterday. I hope this isn't the reason for why he seems so lethargic. He's laying on his side and his wings are twitching. He seemed fine this morning and was eating a lot. He just ate some pumpkin seeds before he started doing this. My first thoughts were, I think he's dying

Or is this normal behavior? Another thought is he's enjoying the sun. Moving the coop puts them in direct sunlight they didn't get before when the coop was in the old place.. Since I'm a newbie, some things that seem alarming could be normal so it's hard for me to tell..

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Looks like he's sunning.

 

[citychicks99]

Looks like he's sunning.

Lolol you right. He was fine later. Looks like I tend to overreact or get concerned easily.

 

[citychicks99]

Just wanted to give an update. I've been continuing to give them both Poulty Cell in their feed and have been fermenting some of their feed because they love it but I still give them dry feed on the side. I haven't dewormed them yet because I couldn't find anything cheaper than $50 for Valbazen and I think they're still molting so I'm going to wait until they're done to give them Fenbendazole. He's looking a lot better and healthier! Still a little shaky but a lot sturdier.

I forgot to mention last time that I noticed his vent wasn't looking very clean. I can notice the difference between the two's. I'm starting to get convinced that I think the feed I gave them before might have been moldy but that was months ago... I would think it would have been out of their systems by now? We put some bars in there and the chicken likes to roost but he doesn't. Even before she was roosting her vent was clean. What are some first things you might do if you find one of your chickens with a dirty vent?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad to hear he's improving a little.

The dirty vent may be due to him not roosting. Chickens poop a lot at night, so if he's sleeping on the ground, then likely he's soiling himself.

Do re-check for lice/mites to make sure soiling is not from external parasites.