Help for a newbie to the forum

[slave2hens]

Evening everyone. Apologies for "lurking" for the last couple of years without contributing. The information on this forum has been a fantastic help, but I can't find anything similar to the current challenge.

I have two hens who spend the day in a decent sized (for two!) run, and for the last couple of weeks one of them has been lethargic, the other one is fine and still nuts.

The one I'm worried about spends most of the day on the ground, sat/laying down. She gets up occasionally and eats/drinks and when I go out with their breakfast or tea, she gets up and seems fine (although quieter than her normal self).

It's been just over two weeks now and she doesn't seem to be changing.

I'm not sure if she's just fed up of the weather (it's freezing here and has been for a couple of months), depressed or there's something more serious. She's not layed for a fortnight. They've both been wormed, powdered (DE) and the soil in the run is covered with sanitising powder then dug over and covered again with sanitising powder most weekends. Any dumps I can see are picked up daily (I am sure they wonder why I collect their poop).

She lets me pick her up without much of a fight (which is unusual) and is very warm underneath, even after she's been sat on the ground for a while.

She drinks as normal and is eating - but not as much as normal (this one could eat for England previously). She was always the boss hen, very inquisitive, always where you were about to walk, I miss how annoying she was!

Any suggestions appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[Suzie]

I note that you are using DE....it is worthless against lice/mites....an infestation of lice/mites will eventually kill your flock...wild birds, rats and mice will ensure you have more than your fair share of lice/mites...

I would respectfully suggest that you treat your flock with Permethryn..use the dust on the birds..paying special attention to under their wings and around their vent areas...you can buy the liquid form to spray the coop and nesting boxes..you will need to change the bedding in nesting boxes....burn any bedding existing and spray new bedding before your chickens rest in the coop at nightfall..after 7 days you need to repeat the above...

Lice/mites will eventually kill your healthy birds if left untreated...

 

[enola]

Have you wormed your chickens? DE doesn't work on worms or lice..

 

[slave2hens]

Hi Suzie, Enola, thank you for replying.
Both birds are handled fairly regularly and I’ve not seen any sign of mites, lice or fleas (I do the smoke bombs and a total scrub of the house twice a year to be sure). They were wormed with Flubenvet about 3 weeks ago, the poorly one did have some small roundworms in her poop for a couple of days once the 7 day course started. Last Sunday I did Ivermectin drops on her out of desperation more than anything. I’ll get some Permethryn and try that.
She’s still eating and drinking water but not as much as normal. Her poop seems normal, and she’s lively and active for a couple of minutes when I go out there, but then goes and lays down on the floor again, even when they’re out in the garden, she’ll give it five or ten minutes tearing up the lawn then flop down again. She seems even quieter today so I’ve brought her inside. She’s asleep at the moment, who’d have thought hens sleep talk! She’s probably dreaming about lettuce.