I have a 17mo red sex-linked and she started acting funny yesterday. When we let our chickens out of the run, I noticed she would just stand there and not move around and forage like normal. She is hunching up and her feathers are ruffled. We have 6 chickens total but have only gotten 4 - 5 eggs the last couple of days. My concern is she may be egg-bound so I placed her in bath tub temperature water for about 20 minutes and have segregated her from the rest of the flock. Any ideas as to what may be going on? Thanks
Give her some calcium--a Tums or calcium tablet, crushed egg shell or oyster shell--since that can help with egg binding. Put a glove on and check her vent by inserting a finger an inch or so inside. She could be suffering from coccidiosis or have worms. If you worm her, I would use SafeGuard goat wormer or Valbazen instead of Wazine since it only gets one type of worm. For coccidiosis, you could use Corid or Sulmet. Check her skin to make sure she doesn't have mites or lice.