Chicken acting strange

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jennyman

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My easter egger has been acting weird. She has her feathers puffed out and her kept twitching for awhile. We are in the Northeast and it is very cold. She still has an appetite. We brought her inside. She is in a travel crate with water with vitamins and electrolytes. She doesn't have any signs of injury. She is very quiet. Not really drinking the water. Any advice?
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Thanks! I thought she was. I'll check. Would you keep her inside or put her back outside?

She just drank a ton of water.
 
Her comb looks like it may have gotten frostbite. If that's the case then the pale tips may turn dark gradually and fall off. I would leave them alone.
How old is she? In your first picture she looks like her crop is very full, so maybe if she drank a lot of water. I would keep her in for now. See how she's acting, see what droppings look like. Check her crop first thing in the morning before she's eaten or drank anything, see if it's empty or not. It should be empty then.
Reassess in the morning based on those things, and how she's acting. If she just got cold, then warming her up and getting her hydrated may be all that she needs, but if she's got something else going on I'd make sure before putting her back out. If she's only gone 24 hours then often you can put them right back with the flock, if it's longer you may have to reintegrate her slower and let her acclimate back to the colder temps also.
 
Thanks for
coach723 said:
Her comb looks like it may have gotten frostbite. If that's the case then the pale tips may turn dark gradually and fall off. I would leave them alone.
How old is she? In your first picture she looks like her crop is very full, so maybe if she drank a lot of water. I would keep her in for now. See how she's acting, see what droppings look like. Check her crop first thing in the morning before she's eaten or drank anything, see if it's empty or not. It should be empty then.
Reassess in the morning based on those things, and how she's acting. If she just got cold, then warming her up and getting her hydrated may be all that she needs, but if she's got something else going on I'd make sure before putting her back out. If she's only gone 24 hours then often you can put them right back with the flock, if it's longer you may have to reintegrate her slower and let her acclimate back to the colder temps also.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the response. She is about 9 months old. Her droppings have been very watery. She is super lethargic and just wants to sit in the crate. We have in a small bathroom. She has water with V&E and food in the bathroom with her. She has two bites of some scrambled eggs but hasn't eaten anything sense. She drank a bunch of water when she came. She drank more water an hour ago but only when I was holding the water to her mouth. Before we brought her in she was twitching her head, occasionally. Could this be an impacted crop or dehydration? Any guidance would be appreciated.

If she is in for two days, then reintegrate her slowly?
 
Right now I would focus on figuring out what's wrong and not worry so much about integration afterwards. Somethings take some time and regardless integration will happen when it's time, long or short, it can be done successfully. I would do the crop check in the morning, if it's empty then, before food and water, then not likely a crop/digestion problem. If her crop is not empty, then we go from there. If it's still full and soft and squishy, or if it's got a hard mass, then she's likely not passing things through. I would work more on fluids at this point, less about food. Get her hydrated as well as you can, monitor droppings over night, see how she looks in the morning. Every time you give her fluids you can massage the crop gently, see if that helps, if there are any solid feeling masses it may help break it up. Has she ever been wormed, or had a fecal done? How is her weight? Does her breast feel well muscled or is the breast bone very prominent? EE's tend to be less meaty than some other breeds, so a bit leaner usually. If you have others in the same age range you can compare how they feel with her. Was she laying before this and do you know when she last did?
If she's not drinking well on her own you can give her fluids via syringe, or you can tube them. Tubing is a bit safer than syringe, less chance of aspiration, but you can do syringe being slow and careful. Use room temp or warmed fluids, not cold.
This is a very comprehensive thread on dealing with a sick bird that covers everything really well, with links embedded on hydration (and checking for dehydration), tubing, etc.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...are-updated-01-17-2021.1048620/#post-16058298
 

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