Hen not eating

[KathyK]

I am a newbie. I have 11 chickens that are 19 weeks old. One is not eating much at all. Her crop feels empty. She is kind of lethargic. It's very hot here- mid 90's. All the others are eating fine, but all of their keels are boney. I have dewormer in the water today (Wazine 17). Have not dewormed in the past. They are in a tractor that gets moved twice a week. Eating Flock Raiser (20% protien). Previously were on Golden Oak grower feed.
I'm thinking of separating her to make sure she is getting enough food. Should I put her in a cage in my garage which is a bit cooler than outside, or put the cage inside the shaded run with the other birds. I want to stress her as little as possible.
Any ideas on what might be going on and what else I should be doing?
What, if anything special should I be feeding her?


1) What type of bird , age and weight. Barred Rock Standard, Hen, 19 weeks, unknown weight
2) What is the behavior, exactly. Sleeps a lot, walking around okay, eats some, but not much.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? Since yesterday
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. Unknown
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. Drinking water sometimes has ACV in it. Eating Purina Flock Raiser
7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. Normal, I think. Watery around solid green stuff.
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? Wazine today.
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? Would like to do this myself. I don't know if there is a chicken vet around. Looking for one now.
10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use. Wooden coop with pine shavings. Outdoor run on the ground.

 

[KathyK]

Update. She is eating some now. She ate some cantelope seeds and hard boiled egg. I have her inside a wire dog cage inside the run. Hosed down the ground to cool it off a bit. If she had worms, how long would it be after the deworming before she starts to feel better?

 

[Oven Ready]

I'm not sure about your wormers effect time, but the green poop is a good (or rather a bad) sign that she is not eating enough.

Poop should be dark brown/blackish with white surrounding it (the white is the chicken equivalent of pee).

Keep giving her boiled eggs, they love them. Cooked meat goes down well, cut up small, rice or grain mixed in to the egg is good too.

Once she's back on her feet, so to speak, be careful that she is not the last in line for food; it could be the others are keeping her away from the feed bowl.

All your chickens will enjoy boiled eggs and food scraps, in fact there's not much they don't eat.

 

[MotherJean]

You don't mention anything about egg laying - is she still laying eggs? Has she been a frequent and reliable layer in the past?

 

[KathyK]

She's not old enough to lay yet. I'm pretty sure she's at the bottom of the pecking order. I have the feed out all of the time.

 

[MotherJean]

Oops...my face is red...I read that as 19 months, not weeks. Personally, I would not worm a chick that young unless I actually saw worms in the poo. It could be something as simple as overheating, but the best course of action with any bird you're concerned about is to separate and observe them closely for any other symptoms. Since you've put her in a confined space within the run, be sure that it is totally shaded. Instead of plain water, you might give her Pedialyte as a precaution in case you're dealing with dehydration issues due to the heat. You can help cool her off by freezing water in a milk jug and placing it inside the cage with her. Be sure to re-post if you see any other symptoms that might suggest something other than overheating.

 

[Oven Ready]

I should've added that when feeding her manually, you'll need to provide some grit or similar ifyou have to do it for a few days.

There might be a few people disagree with this but I quite often mix dirt (it's a very sandy/gravelly dirt we have) with the boiled egg just to give them a supply of small stones when they are not able to free range and get their own.

 

[KathyK]

Update on Miss Wilma. She seemed overheated the night before last, so I brought her inside. She was just standing around staring off into space. I could only get her to eat boiled egg and a few other assorted things. Didn't see her eating any feed. She wouldn't even eat sun flower seeds. That is until I peeled them for her. Oh boy, now do I have a spoiled chicken? She perked up and I kept her inside yesterday and last night. She seems to be doing very well, so I put her out in the colony this morning. She was happy to be out, running around with the others. Still doing well this afternoon. I guess she was overheated or dehydrated. Funny thing is that I have 2 Barred Rock hens and both of them are very thin. The breast bone is very sharp compared to all of the other birds. They seem to be okay though, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it? Thanks for all of your input.
Kathy