Chicken Not eating and laying paper-thin eggs- is this stress related?

[Rusted-Chick]

My Rhode Island red chicken is extremely emaciated, to the point where she literally has no breast muscle and her hips jut out, despite the fact that the chickens are provided with food twice a day. She just stays inside the coop all day and doesn't seem to eat at all, except maybe an occasional pellet every other day. She also keeps laying paper-thin shelled eggs, despite having access to oyster shell. We just recently moved her away from the other chickens into the garden where she can be alone, and since then, she seemed to perk up- she actually tried eating Chik-Start and started drinking, and generally seemed more lively. Is my chicken too stressed out by the other chickens, or is she sick? I don't want her to die, so please help.

 

[ChicknCharm]

Check for worms or internal parasites. I read hens should be wormed on a regular basis; I believe it with all the muck they share (drinking the puddles, eating worms, etc.). A tapeworm is special and needs a special wormer, usually from the the vet. However, I read here (I think) that safeguard for horses, a pea size bit on a cracker works on tapeworms.

Check her poop, little rice pieces may be tapeworm segments; squiggling thin worms are something else. If you can see actual squiggly worms in groups, several posts say to start with a less potent wormer and then move to the more potent one in two weeks. This is so a huge deluge of dead worms does not obstruct her intestines, I THINK!

Wormers usually result in egg withdraw times, so check labels.

Please look up the worming advice in other forums here as I cannot remember all the different kinds. I use Eprinex pour on which you apply on the hens necks, it controls most external and internal parasites (meant for cows, comes in a huge bottle). There is no withdraw time for milk or meat, so we do not worry with our eggs on that basis. This does not kill gapeworm or tapeworms.

Skinny and lethargic can often be worms.

 

[Rusted-Chick]

Thanks for the know, but I checked her poop several times and saw nothing. However, she now seems to have gotten over whatever issue she was having because now she's eating with gusto again, though she isn't laying eggs. We thought she was going to die that last day she was doing really bad, too weak to even walk properly, but she ate a hard-boiled egg and some bread we gave her as a last result, and now, she's eating everything we give her . We have named her Basil (for Basilisk, lol) and are hopeful that she will make a recovery! She is so cute, she loves to follow us around the garden now that she's walking again.