Chicken has 1 eye half closed

[phate008]

I read a few things on here that chickens get sleepy eyes when they are dehydrated. Is that what is going on possibly? I gave her some room temp water. Not sure if they like the ice cold water that is out there by the end of the day. Her right eye lid is just a little sleepy and slightly closed.

 

[phate008]

Sorry i forgot to include the pic of right eye

 

[phate008]

I am also noticing from the pics I took that her comb is pretty pale. All of the girls are molting right now so I am not sure she is eating and drinking properly. I just gave them some pumpkin seeds and dried mealworms and they were all still interested.

 

[Aschuchert]

You know your folck best, but that doesn't look severe to me. Yeah maybe some dehydration. And many reasons for pale comb good to notice that.

Some facts would help, age of bird, is she laying still, any recent additions to flock. How long have you had them. Have you changed nesting material, feed, anything?
how do you provide water, open container, nipple, cups?

In mean time, checking waterers to see if they are clean... really clean, taking apart the components and really getting the gunk out- chickens are gross... just a fact, and watering areas and devices get dirty.
A few are more picky about how and what they drink.
Add a little molasses or rooster booster to clean watering to see if she's more interested.

Good luck

 

[phate008]

They are about about 15 months old. Going through their first molt. I use pine shavings inside and they have a dirt run outside. It's been getting cold so they are spending more time inside. Their waterer is open and I change it and wash it 3 times a day. There are only 3 chickens so it is relatively easy to keep up with. I bought a heated nipple feeder for them, and I tried it with them when they were about 6 months old to no avail. I took out the other waterer but I watched them on camera and never saw them using it. I add a little apple cider vinegar to their water.

Their molting started in November and they are about 3 weeks apart. It is definitely stressful for them and they are all agitated and high strung. Picking on each other. Not eating enough. Not drinking enough. Also with the temp down in the 20's they are always cold. They have a 200 watt board heater behind the roost at night and I move it to the floor during the day. I assume they might just be stressed and cold and maybe the water is too cold and they are not interested in it.

 

[Myrshine]

She seems to look kind of pale to me. How old is she? How is her poop? Is it normal? What other symptoms is she showing?
Paleness (anemia) in birds can be caused by many things, but the most common are Coccidiosis, internal and external parasites such as worms, lice, fleas, mites and rarely, ticks.

 

[Aschuchert]

Ok with 3 you can observe differences, you aren't wrong, molt stress is HARD some chickens really stress out with molt.
I had 1 stop eating this year, had to syringe feed her high protein "shakes" to keep her fed and hydrated. She's fine now.

Have you increased their protein ratio, since feathers are almost all protein. You can add plain Greek yogurt as a treat, meal worms, chick starter, or alfalfa hay to up their protein.
Acv is great in water too.
Minimize outside stress too.
If she doesn't eat or drink much it may be time to syringe feed, let us know and we have some tips.
Good luck

 

[Aschuchert]

Also Nendei asks good questions, pictures of poo goes a long way in diagnosis

 

[phate008]

From what I can tell their droppings look normal. I didn't really notice the color of her face in the pictures until it was pointed out, but she definitely is looking pale. They have all been staying inside and hanging around the board heater during the days. They are definitely not happy to be molting. They are all a bit edgy and aggressive. They are all still eating and picking at stuff, but not like they did over the summer or fall. I felt her crop last week and it felt nearly empty. I try to give them all some scrambled eggs, sun flower seeds, pumpkin seeds, wet crumble, or greek yogurt while they are up on their perch at night. They have been very picky. If I go in there during the day with a plate of wet crumble or sweet potato with greek yogurt they are not interested. I leave it there and come back to see that they didn't even have a bite. But when I go in there when they are on their perch they all like to eat and drink whatever I bring.

2 of them would always hop up to get a massage during the day but I stopped giving them when I noticed they were molting. They would jump up and purr so loud while being massaged. Now they peck each other and overall just seem a little unhappy. I'm hoping once this molt is done they will go back to being their happy selves.

They had a mite problem over the summer that I treated with d. earth. I havent noticed them itching very much but it may be a possibility since they are not dust bathing. I would say its not cocc as their dropping do look normal. I put leaves in their run during the fall so a tick may have been in there. I would have to really examine them to find out.

 

[phate008]

I was examining some pictures I took of her around 2 months ago. You will notice in this picture she looks very healthy and her comb is larger and full of nice red color. I am going to try and get some pics of her poop tomorrow. I saw a post on her from a while ago about a similar issue. Reading around it seems that dull and shrived comb is typical of molting chickens. Its hard to tell if she is losing weight or if the feather loss it making it look like it. In the other post they recommended to feel the keel bone. I will try this also. I see in that post that they recommended against feeding earthworms. In the fall I let them out and there favorite thing to do is scratch leaves to expose some worms. Sometimes they get quite a few. Is this not a good thing? I live in NY so I'm not sure what kind of parasites or dangerous things can be living in these worms, but reading around definitely makes me a little nervous. I'll post both pictures to show the comparison.