Chicken acting sluggish, not active.

chickengirl778

Songster
7 Years
Apr 17, 2017
443
581
211
1) What type of bird, age and weight (does the chicken seem or feel lighter or thinner than the others.)
Ginny is a Speckled Sussex. I believe she is 3 years old (not completely positive on that). I don't know her weight, but she doesn't seem to be lighter than normal.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
Ginny has not been herself lately. She has suddenly slowed down, shown less interest in maintaining her position in the top of the pecking order, and spends a lot of time sitting down. She also seems to breathe a little heavier than normal when she sits down. I'm most concerned that she sometimes goes to sit by herself, as opposed to hanging out with the rest of the flock.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
3-4 days
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
No, not outside of normal chicken "nap time".
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
No.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
Nothing that I know of.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
She is still eating and drinking.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
Her poop looks normal. It is a little runny, but it's heating up (70-80 degrees daily) so that might be the culprit.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
I added some electrolytes to the drinking water and have separated her from the flock.
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 until you can get to a vet?
I self-treat my birds. If she is beyond my help or suffering unduly, we will cull her.
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
The outside of her doesn't look different as far as I can tell. Vent, eyes, and face look normal.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use
Run is spacious. They sleep in a small house up off the ground at night, food and water are outdoors. Food is taken in at night to discourage rats, but rats have still been seen around recently. Not sure if that may have something to do with it? They free-range pretty much daily for about 30 minutes minimum, although these days it's been more like hours. Both the house and run are bedded with pine shavings, and we scatter fresh herbs weekly.
 
Do you know when she last laid? Feel her abdomen, below vent between legs to see if it's bloated or swollen at all, hard, or water balloon like. You can compare with flock mates if you aren't sure. You said she's eating and drinking, but check her crop function also. How does it feel, hard, soft and squishy, empty, full? And then again first thing in the morning before access to food or water.
 
Not sure exactly when she last laid. I would say it was 3-4 days ago. Her crop feels fine, but her abdomen feels much more low-hanging than the other chickens'. Does anyone know what this means?
 
Not sure what low hanging means.......abdominal bloat can be a sign of reproductive issues like infection, cancer, internal laying, or of organ failure when the abdomen becomes filled with fluid. Reproductive problems are not uncommon after the age of two. Most commonly, laying will stop or be abnormal when they are suffering any of those. It's also possible that she is trying to pass a difficult egg, soft shelled or malformed, which can make them feel pretty awful.
 
Okay! We just had to cull a chicken a few months ago, and her report came back as a reproductive issue too. Hopefully, she's just trying to pass a weird egg. Is it at all plausible that the runny poop could be an egg either cracked or, if soft-shelled, "popped", inside her? It's about the same texture as an egg white and looks sort of clear, mixed with normal poop.
 

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