Chicken Acting Odd

[Hrobinson98]

So my almost 2-year-old chicken has been acting odd the past few days. I don't want to panic, but I just want an opinion. She had bumble foot and a dirty butt so we cleaned her butt and took care of her foot that was kinda when this all started. She is slow, tired a lot, drinking A LOT of water, and barely eating. She makes noises and scratches at things from time to time, but sometimes, she stares off into space. My father thought that maybe she was just overheating. I don't know what to think. I don't want to overthink anything, but I don't want not to do anything either. Also, she was a normal layer, then stopped cause of the molting season and has only laid one egg since February. She is an Easter Egger with a floppy comb; it is a bit purple, which can be normal for her sometimes. Any advice on what she may have? Do I need to be concerned? All my other chickens are doing fine and eating normally. We free-ranged her today, and she kind of just stood there, scratched a little, drank more water, and then repeated.

 

[redinator]

So my almost 2 year old chicken has been acting odd past couple of days. I don't want to panic but just want an opinion. She had bumble foot and a dirty butt so we cleaned her butt and took care of her foot that was kinda when this all started. She is slow, tired a lot, drinking A LOT of water and barely eating. She makes noises, scratches at things from time to time but sometimes she just stares off into space. My father thinks that maybe she was just over heating. I don't know what to think, I don't wanna over think anything but I don't wanna not do anything either. Also yes she was a normal layer then stopped cause of molting season and has only laid one egg since February. She is an Easter eggs and has a floppy comb, it is abit purple which can be normal for her sometimes. Any advice on what she may have, do I need to be concerned?

Did you check for an egg when you were cleaning her up?

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Why did dad think she was overheating? Do you have any pictures of her? Is her tail position down or up? How does her crop feel—empty and flat, full, hard, doughy, or puffy? Is her crop emptying by first thing in the morning? What does her poop look like—pictures? Have you checked for any lice or mites on her body? Has she lost any weight? Has she eaten anything today? I would offer some electrolytes or gatorade.

 

[Hrobinson98]

Welcome to BYC. Why did dad think she was overheating? Do you have any pictures of her? Is her tail position down or up? How does her crop feel—empty and flat, full, hard, doughy, or puffy? Is her crop emptying by first thing in the morning? What does her poop look like—pictures? Have you checked for any lice or mites on her body? Has she lost any weight? Has she eaten anything today? I would offer some electrolytes or gatorade.

Well, we had her foot wrapped to prevent infection since she had bumble foot, her tail is up most of the time unless she is resting, her crop is empty and flat, I do not have any pictures but it is watery and white, I have she does not have any not itchy in anyway, she has not lost any weight, she has eaten today some feed, some mealworms and a few nuts, I offered her electrolytes yesterday and I just did some water with electrolytes in it before putting her to bed, we are keeping her in overnight. All of my other chickens are doing fine and eating. My #1 concern is her not eating.

 

[Hrobinson98]

Did you check for an egg when you were cleaning her up?

That was our first thought; we did check. the abdominal area is a bit swollen, but it is not a water belly. We checked for that and sour crop.

 

[Hrobinson98]

So my almost 2-year-old chicken has been acting odd the past few days. I don't want to panic, but I just want an opinion. She had bumble foot and a dirty butt so we cleaned her butt and took care of her foot that was kinda when this all started. She is slow, tired a lot, drinking A LOT of water, and barely eating. She makes noises and scratches at things from time to time, but sometimes, she stares off into space. My father thought that maybe she was just overheating. I don't know what to think. I don't want to overthink anything, but I don't want not to do anything either. Also, she was a normal layer, then stopped cause of the molting season and has only laid one egg since February. She is an Easter Egger with a floppy comb; it is a bit purple, which can be normal for her sometimes. Any advice on what she may have? Do I need to be concerned? All my other chickens are doing fine and eating normally. We free-ranged her today, and she kind of just stood there, scratched a little, drank more water, and then repeated.

I would like to mention, we soaked her once needing to clean her butt before soaking her foot since we needed to wait. In that time frame she laid and egg. My dad found it and it was broken, half of it on the ground half attached to her butt. We cleaned her up. We were concerned it broke inside her but her poop did not have any yolk colors in it or shells. This happened Saturday last week.

 

[Eggcessive]

It may help her to give her a human calcium tablet orally, or Tums if you don’t have calcium, for the next 7 days. That may help if she is having thin shelled eggs or having trouble laying. I would try feeding her some watery chicken feed and bits of scrambled soft egg twice a day. She may have some reproductive disorder happening, or trouble absorbing calcium. Is she getting layer feed?

 

[Hrobinson98]

It may help her to give her a human calcium tablet orally, or Tums if you don’t have calcium, for the next 7 days. That may help if she is having thin shelled eggs or having trouble laying. I would try feeding her some watery chicken feed and bits of scrambled soft egg twice a day. She may have some reproductive disorder happening, or trouble absorbing calcium. Is she getting layer feed?

Yes, she ate some that I saw of twice today. She is alseep now, I will give her some stuff in the morning. The egg she laid was a normal egg. The conclusion we came too about the broken egg was she sat on it and broke it.

 

[Hrobinson98]

It may help her to give her a human calcium tablet orally, or Tums if you don’t have calcium, for the next 7 days. That may help if she is having thin shelled eggs or having trouble laying. I would try feeding her some watery chicken feed and bits of scrambled soft egg twice a day. She may have some reproductive disorder happening, or trouble absorbing calcium. Is she getting layer feed?

Also, does it matter what kind of Tums I give her?

 

[redinator]

Also, does it matter what kind of Tums I give her?

Found this on Google:
For laying hens, it's best to give them calcium supplements like Tums (calcium carbonate) or oyster shells, not just Tums antacids.