Chicken - Showing signs of appetite loss, inattentiveness, and isolation

[tapiocatiff29]

Hi Everyone, below is a post about my pet chicken and I need your help!

I have a 1.5 year old Buff Orpington hen. She's an active, responsive, and friendly hen, with a very healthy appetite for all types of food. She loves interacting with us - she loves pecking us as a request for food. However, for the past 3 days, she's been displaying the following symptoms:

1. Lack of Appetite: She usually eats her food quickly and will always want more food. However, now she just stares at her food (even if it's her favorite), pecks at it a couple of times, and then walks away.

2. Isolation from Flock: When the flock is let out into the play area, she isolates herself from the flock and stands in one area without moving much. This is unusual of her, because her usual routine is constant pecking and scratch/digging of dirt for bugs alongside with the rest of the flock.

3. Gazing into space / In-activeness: When she is isolated, she just stands in one spot and stares into space. She also does not appear to be fazed by or flinch at objects, such as the sudden falling of a twig or a foreign critter that has come close to the area.

If anyone knows what condition or illness these symptoms represent, please let me know. And if you also know the treatment for the condition, please do share.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Tiffany

 

[coach723]

What you describe are very general symptoms of illness, you are going to need more info to move forward in helping her.
See this post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...mergency-and-supportive-care-updated-1-3-2016
If you can post more info then you will be more likely to get helpful responses. The common symptoms you describe encompass many, many possible ailments.

 

[Eggcessive]

Has she ever molted yet? The first big molt occurs usually around 16-18 months old. The symptoms you are describing are how some hens act during molting. Have you seen any feather loss in the coop? If you don't believe she is starting to molt, then I would bring her inside for a day or two in a crate where I could look at her droppings and watch how much she eats and drinks. Is she on a layer feed? Check her crop to make sure it is emptying by early morning, but also to see that she has food in it at bedtime. Think about worming her. Valbazen and fenbendazole are very good. Check her skin all over, esp around the vent for evidence of tiny bugs (lice or mites.)

 

[tapiocatiff29]

Additional symptom: When we checked her crop this morning, it was still full and felt hard. Could this be a sign that she's experiencing digestive issues? I am suspecting that food is staying in her crop and thus causing discomfort and the lack of appetite for her.

 

[Eggcessive]

Crop impaction could possibly be a problem and I believe worms can also cause an impaction. Some good links to read about impacted crop would be some threads by Two Crows, and TheChickenChick.com. Also if you go to the top of this page and enter "impacted crop" in the search box, you will find many threads to read. Many illnesses can interfere with the emptying of the crop. It can become slow. If the crop is impacted, push the water and add electrolytes, but also massage the crop several times a day. Do not feed whole grains while impacted, but feed plain yogurt, eggs, and mushy chick feed thinned with water.