Chicken suddenly acting odd....

[Keelieawn]

Hello! This especially frosty morning in the PNW, I noticed my 1yr old hen acting odd. I have been super diligent on checking my 4 girls whenever I can for illness and parasites so they were literally looked at yesterday.

Anyways, Daisy was still in the run when the other girls were happily running around the yard. She wasn't eating but she was drinking. When I picked her up I noticed she had some regular looking diarrhea caked on her and frozen, probably from overnight. So I brought her inside, cleaned her up, blowed her dry, checked her vent and all over and everything looks good. Took her back outside. I made her some runny eggs with probiotic yogurt and noticed that when she eats them, she would eat stop with her eyes closed, sit for a minute, then eat again. I took a video and will try to attach it. Her crop feels normal.

A tiny bit of background on Daisy: She hasn't laid an egg since about last February and has had what has been determined to be normal runnier poop. I figured out it's likely because she is obsessed with water. Her behavior and energy has been completely normal otherwise.

I don't know if I should be concerned about possible egg bound and what I should look for? All help appreciated!

 

[Eggcessive]

Is Daisy’s tail position up or down? Does ahe have any enlargement or tightness of her lower belly between her legs? Can you post a picture of her and her usual poop? If she is just one and hasn’t laid eggs in 9 months, I would suspect that she has been laying internally or has another reproductive disorder. You can insert a clean finger into her vent to feel for a stuck egg. If you feel an egg or obstruction, you can give a human calcium tablet with vitamin D to help her pass it. I would recheck her crop in the early morning to make sure that it is empty. Try getting her to eat some moistened chicken feed, and add a little scrambled egg or tuna.

 

[Keelieawn]

Tail position is up, belly feels normal and not tight. Normal poop is attached in a photo.

I checked her crop this morning but it might not have been early enough. Will definitely do a check tomorrow just in case. It felt normal. I had my Silkie come down with sour/impacted crop in April so thankfully if that is what's going on I feel pretty confident with treating and recognizing that.

I'm still trying to figure out how to attach a video showing Daisy's behavior eating her food. I will try lubing up and seeing if I can feel an egg in her vent somewhere this evening.

Thank you!

 

[Keelieawn]

Here is a clip of Daisy eating this morning. She's tilting her head back and closes her eyes.

 

[Keelieawn]

Came home early and Daisy was just standing by the water dish looking lethargic. Checked her crop, appeared squishy but not full, and it looks like she might have vomited fluid at some point but I can't be sure. I took her inside, smelled inside her mouth, fine, and really checked her belly again and everything was good.. but I think I'm going to treat her for early stage sour crop/possibly impacted crop. This lethargic look is suuuper similar to when my silkie got sick and she was further along.

I gave her 1/3 of a monistat suppository with some mineral oil and massaged her crop really good. She seemed to perk up a tiny bit outside after that. I will still keep her separated from the girls during the day with no food for 3 days and continue monistat and mineral oil. Hopefully that helps but I'll be sure to give any updates.

 

[Keelieawn]

Last evening I massaged her crop really good and kept her in the run alone until bedtime when I let the other girls in. She still looked lethargic, was drinking water, but seemed to perk up a little. I saw her scratching around the run and pecking at the ground.

This morning she was still lethargic. Standing by herself in the run but her crop felt completely normal. Her belly feels normal and her poop was normal
I am still going to keep her separate from the girls today just to observe her. I gave her a monistat, a tiny drop of nutridench, and some warm mash. She went to the mash and ate a little bit and drank some water. Again, looking lethargic.

I did notice that she has quite a bit of pin feathers. Could this behavior change be due to molting? I just can't seem to find anything else wrong and it seemed to happen suddenly.

Pic is her today

 

[Keelieawn]

So Daisy appears the same. Eating and drinking small amounts. Walking and pecking around with the girls but I did notice that she seems to have a very slight limp which could be why she isn't scratching.

Is there something I should look for?

 

[Sally PB]

I did notice that she has quite a bit of pin feathers. Could this behavior change be due to molting? I just can't seem to find anything else wrong and it seemed to happen suddenly.

My chickens are molting/growing out feathers, and their behavior is very different. Both how they act (less active) and how much they eat (much less).

Not to say there isn't something else going on, but molting sure did change how my birds act/eat.

 

[Eggcessive]

She really needs to be getting some food, even though her crop is slow. Vitamins, such as Poultry NutriDrench 2 ml daily would be helpful too. I would give her a little watery chicken feed and some raw egg daily. How does her crop feel in the early morning? During molting they can become puny and listless.

 

[Keelieawn]

She really needs to be getting some food, even though her crop is slow. Vitamins, such as Poultry NutriDrench 2 ml daily would be helpful too. I would give her a little watery chicken feed and some raw egg daily. How does her crop feel in the early morning? During molting they can become puny and listless.

Her crop feels normal and empty in the morning. I started giving her some canned cat food to bump up her protein, gave her some B12, half of a baby aspirin, lubed a finger and checked for a stuck egg, and did a deep check for injury and bumblefoot. Nothing.

She ate quite a bit of food and water and just relaxed a bit by our pellet stove inside before I stuck her back out in the run away from the girls. She's still pretty lethargic but she doesn't seem worse.

I'm gonna take your advice and up her vitamins, add some electrolytes to the water, and give her a good old protein boost. She didn't seem too fond of the watered down feed but LOOOOVES the cat food.

When my silkie was molting she seemed a little lethargic and anti social....but I'm a fairly new chicken mom still and everything is new and uncharted territory. lol