Chicken not eating or drinking

[malpal213]

My 8 month old Rhode Island Red has been acting puny the last couple days. She is secluding herself in the run or coop, her feathers are a little puffed, and she’s not eating or drinking much on her own. She has been laying on the floor of the coop the last couple nights so we’ve helped her up onto the roost bar with the others. Yesterday I soaked her in warm water because her butt was a little dirty. She perked up a bit after drying off and (I think) laid an egg later in the day. Her poop has been watery and green (see photo). Today she was still acting tired and secluding herself so I’ve quarantined her and force fed her some sugar water and she has eaten a few bites of food and cottage cheese. She is definitely the bottom of the pecking order so I’m thinking she’s being bullied away from the food? Any other ideas? I’m not seeing any mites or worms. Breathing seems fine.

 

[LaFleche]

Please allow some questions to begin with:

What exactly are you feeding?
How many birds do you keep in total?
How big are coop and run?
Do they have grit and crushed oyster shells free choice?
Did you bring in any new birds recently?
Do you keep a rooster with your hens?
When did you last deworm?

 

[malpal213]

Please allow some questions to begin with:

What exactly are you feeding?
How many birds do you keep in total?
How big are coop and run?
Do they have grit and crushed oyster shells free choice?
Did you bring in any new birds recently?
When did you last deworm?

-feeding Purina omega-3 layer feed
-we have 5 birds total (all 8 months old)
-coop is ~4 feet x 6 feet, run is ~6 feet x 16 feet
-no grit or oyster shells at the moment
-no new birds
-have not dewormed this flock

 

[LaFleche]

-feeding Purina omega-3 layer feed
-we have 5 birds total (all 8 months old)
-coop is ~4 feet x 6 feet, run is ~6 feet x 16 feet
-no grit or oyster shells at the moment
-no new birds
-have not dewormed this flock

The lack of calcium can cause problems for laying hens as it can reduce the ability to expel the eggs.
You can feed her calcium citrate 600+vitamin D tablets for a few consecutive days which will help her muscles with the contractions and will prevent the issues caused by shell-less eggs.

 

[LaFleche]

Just use those for humans available at your grocery store an pop one tablet in her beak every evening.

Sit her on your lap face facing forward. Grab her wattles with one hand and tug down, this will make her open up her beak. Then quickly stuff the tablet in her beak and let go of the wattles to allow her to swallow.

What did her egg look like? Did it have a normal shell?

 

[malpal213]

The lack of calcium can cause problems for laying hens as it can reduce the ability to expel the eggs.
You can feed her calcium citrate 600+vitamin D tablets for a few consecutive days which will help her muscles with the contractions and will prevent the issues caused by shell-less eggs.

Do you think it’s an egg issue even though she laid a normal egg yesterday?

 

[LaFleche]

Do you think it’s an egg issue even though she laid a normal egg yesterday?

I could be, but of course we can only try and check each possibility off the list.

So the easiest way is to eliminate possible reasons by making sure that any need is met.

Next would be deworming.