Concerned about 6 week old

[llnmaw]

Hope this does not belong in 'chick' forum....

We have a BA (or maybe JG as some have suggested) who is just....weird...for a lack of a better descriptive word. I'm not a chicken expert but based on the other 4 we have it is clear that this one is different. I'm trying to determine if it is personality or potential problem for her.

She seems active enough (though not nearly as much as the others) in the brooder, even 'bullied' a new wee one we incorporated. An overnight separation cured that. Her 'problem' is that when she is out of the brooder she sits right where we set her. Almost never ever moves. She squats down, as if sleeping on a roost (her head is up) and gets kind of fluffed up. The fluffed up thing has diminished a bit now that she is fully feathered. She had a pretty unfortunate week or two of homeliness

and really looked bad when out of the brooder. The chicks have been out in the yard for short romps for the last day or so and the 4 other chicks, all ranging in age from 2 weeks to 6-7 weeks, are all over the place pecking scratching and being chicken-like. Henny just sits there, like a lump, acting kind of freaked out. She freaks out (gets loud)when left alone in the brooder or out, but makes little effort to find another chicken. When I pick her up she makes a big fuss but then I cannot get her off my handwhen I try to set her down! She is like velcro! I have to pry her off my hand/wrist and then there's all the flapping/shrieking again. She is like a 2 year old. Transitions are hard for her!

She seems really large to me, (I'm kind of almost concerned she is a roo - thinking about reposting her picture for guesses) seems robust, eats, poops, wanders around the brooder somewhat. But she is strange when out of the brooder. Almost seems...I dunno...too big for her body? Like it's too much effort to move around? Social anxiety? Agoraphobia?

So now that you have more info than you really needed - problem with the chicken...or me...?

~L.

 

[Judy]

Cute post! Definitely social anxiety disorder...

Seriously, though, I am wondering about her being a he, too. Males often seem to be the easiest to make pets of as chicks -- until the hormones kick in, when this can turn into people aggression. And lots of times they feather more unevenly and look ragged in the process, or at least mine have.

I am also wondering if she/he is having a bit of a hard time developing immunity to cocci, from the fluffed out feathers. Are they on medicated feed? Do you have a lot of cocci there? I don't mean to scare you, I certainly don't know that it is an illness. And they DO develop an immunity naturally, the medication just slows cocci growth a bit til they do.

Good luck with your chick, anyway.

 

[llnmaw]

Hah! Your siggy makes me chuckle a bit to myself...worry...that's what my post is all about!

Thanks for your thoughts.

How would I know if we have rampant cocci here? Ideas? Is the feather fluffing the only thing that makes you think of coccidiosis?

Going to snap a few new photos of her and have some byc'ers take a guess to soothe my concern over possible roo.

I worry that there is just something 'off' about her and her lack of what I assume to be normal chicken behavior. We had the chicks out to play again today and in a 30 minute time span she stood up 1 time. That's it. The rest of the time she sat. Seemingly content, but wouldn't a 'normal' chicken be out foraging? We even tried to give her a worm from our hand, she let everyone else run up and snatch it right from under her beak!

Weird?

 

[drumstick diva]

could she have eye problems and maybe doesn't see well so prefers to stay put??

 

[llnmaw]

Quote:
I'll 'test' her tomorrow, but my immediate reaction is no. With the worm today, she did give it a peck (so she must have seen it?) but let someone else take it from her. Yesterday we had just her and the wee one in the brooder box together and she did chase the little guy down to try to snatch for a treat.

Maybe she is just lazy??! She really seems to be almost like a normal chick when in the brooder box.

Oh, I failed to answer the medicated feed question earlier. They are not on medicated feed. Would it be worth it to find a small bag and put them on it this late in the game just in case?
~L.

 

[Judy]

If you've already researched cocci, there won't be much new in this.

Is she any better today? You live in a damp climate, right? If she's not better, I think I would go get some Corid from the feed store just in cases it's cocci. (Coccidiosos, actually.) Easy to administer, just add to the water. That would mean everyone gets it, but that's fine.

The signs of cocci are mucousy, hamburgery looking poop and hunched up like they're cold. If it gets bad, you will start to see blood in the poop. Trouble is, it's nornal to see a little of what looks like bloody poop. I don't know why I didn't think to ask you about the poop yesterday. In advanced cases you can actually lose chicks to this.

Cocci are a protozoa found in the soil, more common in wet climates. Medicated feed and Corid both have a medication called amprolium, but the dose in feed is very small compared to Corid. Amprolium is a thiamine blocker, it blocks thiamine uptake in the cocci themselves, and starves them out. It is not rough on the chicks. Another drug commonly used to treat cocci is Sulmet, but this is rough on them, and some experienced chicken people won't even give it to chicks.

One of our mods, Speckledhen, has a lot of experience with cocci, as she evidently has quite a load of it in her soil and usually (or always) has to treat for it. When I do a search on here (4th blue box, above) for cocci, I always put her name in the author box so I only get threads she's posted in. If you've done some research on cocci by now, I imagine you've run across her.

I'm going to give you some links to read. One of them is the poop chart -- with lots of graphic pics of poop, just to warn you. There are also some "home remedies" you can try. They're not going to work as well as Corid, but could tide her over, and maybe also give you a hint on what's going on. One is to mix the feed half and half with powdered milk, another is adding organic apple cider vinegar to the water, 1/4 cup to a gallon (you will see it abbreviated here as ACV.) There's a lot of info on here about cocci; these are just a few threads.

Another possibility is worms, although yours are so young that a load of worms big enough to cause symptoms at this age would be unusual. If you decide worms are a real possibility, though, I would go with Valbazen. But there are other choices. Feed stores can be limited in what they offer. Many chicken meds are actually goat or cow meds being used off label. The dose, I have found, is always on this board somewhere, but it can take some digging. Dawg53 is a good source for worm info.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=320224
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=461910
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=368508
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0 (poop chart)

I hope cocci is the wrong guess and your chicken is already doing better!

 

[llnmaw]

thank you ddawn! I had researched it during the course of this thread...and really, other than her odd behavior when out of the brooder she seems almost normal to me. I'm taking a watch and wait at this point, hope I don't regret that decision. We had them out for a few hours this afternoon and she actually moved a couple of times and was even seen to be pecking. I cruised the poop page again just in case and really her poop falls in the range of normal from what I have seen. Maybe I'll add ACV, since I have it anyhow and it won't hurt.....

I dunno...I think she is just an odd chicken! She and I will get along just fine I suppose. ;-)

Again, thanks for all the resources and your ideas!
~L.