Ill Rhode Island Red Hen

[cynthial]

Hi

Where in the world are you??... it really helps if you put your location on your profile page so that we can see at a glance each time you post and therefore have an idea of your climatic conditions and seasons..... Excessive heat can cause them to stop laying and have runny poop and make them weary.

Have you checked her over physically for any injuries or abnormalities?.... particularly her crop and abdomen for excessive swelling and any unusual/bad smells. When do your girls normally moult?.... I have some shedding feathers now and that can make them under the weather and obviously stop laying.... are you seeing feathers in the run and coop?
Another option would be egg bound, if she has been laying recently. Sometimes as they get towards the end of their cycle, their body gets low on nutrients to make hard shells and the produce a shell less egg that is very hard for them to pass. That will make them exhibit these symptoms too. Does she look like she is panting and her vent pulsing? A soak in warm Epsom salts bath and perhaps a lubed, gloved finger inserted into the vent a couple of inches and gently worked around to try to ease the constriction may help together with a direct dose of calcium.... a tums tablet crushed onto some scrambled egg will help with contactions as well as shell quality for future eggs.... it might be a good idea to assess their diet and see if perhaps they are getting too many treats which means that they eat less of their layer ration which has the calcium they need..... not always the case but it happens all to easily because we love to treat out chickens.... so it's important to take stock every once in a while and be firm with ourselves as well as out chickens.

I hope this has given you some ideas as to what may be wrong and how to progress. Good luck with her

Regards

Barbara

Thank you Barbara I live in central MA she molted a few months ago along with the other 3. I do think I may have been feeding them too much meal worms? Her poop is very smelly and odd. I just took some more pics I will post. One of the hens did lay a shellless egg yesterday but that happens now and then and in usually just through some oyster shell in their food thinking that they are short of minerals. I do not know if it was her that laid the shellless egg or not.

 

[Myrshine]

She could be dealing with an e-coli infection or salmonella infection.