The last week has been fairly cool (80's). I have a hen that is acting ... depressed. I've gotten no eggs this week (from either of them, but figured it was from the ridiculous heat the week before (105+), so didn't think much of it.
But my hen is ... slow. She doesn't come to raisins (which they all love). She is walking behind the other two, but not as active or "peppy" as she usually is. She is quiet and slow and walks behind at a slow pace. I can easily catch her, which I can't normally do. The other hen is picking on her, which makes me think that maybe there is something wrong.
Last poop was yellow runny, but looked it up on the poop board, and seems to be normal. So, I caught her and gave her a bath. That perked her up and she fought to get out of the water. OK..so that seems good. I palpated her and nothing seems out of the ordinary, but her crop only had a little bit in it for late in the day. The feathers were clean (no mites that I could see.)
Then, I took her back outside and she sort of preened, but not a vigorously like a normal wet chicken. Then, she saw a moth and dove for it. I put her in the nesting box simply because I didn't know what else to do, if nothing else, just to keep her away from the other two. She's just acting very slow.
I feel like I'm getting mixed signals, but I'm not sure what else I should look for. What else should I be looking for to determine if she is sick?
<UPDATE> I gave her Valbazen to worm her. She doesn't eat much, but will eat raisins and a few bites of thawed frozen corn. She is moving around inside the coop, but won't leave the coop. She is acting slow, but not completely lethargic.
Time will tell.
But my hen is ... slow. She doesn't come to raisins (which they all love). She is walking behind the other two, but not as active or "peppy" as she usually is. She is quiet and slow and walks behind at a slow pace. I can easily catch her, which I can't normally do. The other hen is picking on her, which makes me think that maybe there is something wrong.
Last poop was yellow runny, but looked it up on the poop board, and seems to be normal. So, I caught her and gave her a bath. That perked her up and she fought to get out of the water. OK..so that seems good. I palpated her and nothing seems out of the ordinary, but her crop only had a little bit in it for late in the day. The feathers were clean (no mites that I could see.)
Then, I took her back outside and she sort of preened, but not a vigorously like a normal wet chicken. Then, she saw a moth and dove for it. I put her in the nesting box simply because I didn't know what else to do, if nothing else, just to keep her away from the other two. She's just acting very slow.
I feel like I'm getting mixed signals, but I'm not sure what else I should look for. What else should I be looking for to determine if she is sick?
<UPDATE> I gave her Valbazen to worm her. She doesn't eat much, but will eat raisins and a few bites of thawed frozen corn. She is moving around inside the coop, but won't leave the coop. She is acting slow, but not completely lethargic.
Time will tell.
Last edited: