Chicken won't eat the feed

Darklingstorm

Songster
9 Years
Jan 10, 2011
633
11
131
Durant, Oklahoma
My flock is on the recovering end of Fowl Pox. They all did really good and no loses.
Now one of Production Reds (1.6 years old) is not eating the Layena feed. I see her scratching around and pecking on the ground but when I put feed out she just ignores it. When I captured her and stuck her in a cage (because I haven't seen her eat in 2 days) offered her the feed and she doesn't want it. Offered her hard boiled egg yolks and they were gone in seconds. From the feel of her she is pretty skinny.
I've checked her mouth for any pox and she was clean.
Her crop seems fine just small
The feed is not spoiled or anything, I got a new bag on Friday and I keep it in air tight buckets. The others are eating it without an issue.
She is loosing her feathers and might be molting.
There has not been any unusual stress other than the pox. The weather has even gotten cooler (a little).
I keep her in the cage for two days and she will not eat the feed but will eat the yolks I offer. I put her back with the others yesterday and she still won't eat the feed.
She is not acting strange and other then feathers falling out, she looks and acts just fine.

Any ideas?
 
She might not like the feed. If they free range, than she may not need as much food, but since she is skinny you can give her foods high in energy like scratch and hard boiled eggs in addition to her normal feed. You can also put nutri-drench in her water. It is a good idea to switch her feed to something she will eat.
Good luck!
 
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Saw her eating a little bit of the feed today. Maybe she is eating a lot of grasshoppers or other bugs and not getting enough to keep her plumb but full just the same.
Well she must be eating something because she isn't dead yet and after a week I would assume she would be. As for switching the feed really can't do that right now, finances.
 

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