Is she sick? Or maybe can I start to look for eggs?

[Secretlyspotted]

I purchased Tasty a little over a month ago and I honestly didn't listen when the breeder said how old she was. I was just so excited to finally be getting my chickens! Tasty is a English Orphington. She is normally super friendly (or just hungry) and is the first one to great me when I walk into the pen. But last night she didn't come out for corn. Oh my! She was just hanging out in the dog house we have left over in our chicken yard chillin'. Then she didn't go into the coop last night to roost. I picked her up and put her in there. And then this morning she didn't come out of the coop. Lazy chicken?
I took her out of the coop and she walked around the yard just fine. But I didn't see her eat or drink anything. There are no obvious signs or mites or worms. All my other chicken are fine. At least as far as I can tell. Is it possible she could be getting ready to start laying? Or should I be worried about my Tasty chicken?
Here are pics of her comb and wattles- they have gotten redder and more pronounced recently. But they don't look anything like my RSL hen's comb and wattles so I don't know if she is anywhere near mature or not.

 

[TTracy]

Whenever one of my chickens seems to be acting down I whip up my go to recipe- scramble some eggs and add pedia-lyte to it, mix and serve. I also add nutri-drench to their water. If Tasty was my chicken this is what I would start with, along with an examination to see is there was anything out of sorts, eyes, nose, ears, comb, etc..
The way she is acting doesn't make me think its that she is getting ready to lay an egg, at least that's to say, that my hens have never done that right before they have started laying.
She is a very pretty bird! Good Luck!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Her face still looks pretty immature, she doesn't look ready to lay to me anytime soon. I would be concerned that she was not feeling well. Another possibility is being a relative newcomer she is getting bullied by your other chickens and hiding, how does she get along with them?

 

[Secretlyspotted]

Sigh. I will be watching her closely. I have pediasure- would that work as well as pedialyte? They already have ACV in their water, what is nutri-drench? Can I buy it at the feed store? She did go into the coop last night on her own and came out this morning- so maybe she is feeling a little better. As for her being a newcomer, we got our flock of 6 all at the same time. She is #2 in the pecking order usually.
This is kinda a random question- but I hear a lot about "pasty butt." What is that? Would it be obvious if she had it? Obviously I am new to chickens!!
And she is a pretty chicken! She is my favorite, hopefully my inexperience doesn't cause her significant harm!!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Pasty Butt is usually just a problem with young chicks. It is when the poop sticks to the down around the vent and clogs/closes the vent up so they can't poop anymore. It can kill them. Older chickens can have problems with cling-ons or poop sticking to their feathers, and they do need to be trimmed and watched to avoid fly strike (when flies lay eggs in the poop and maggots hatch) if they get dirty, but older ones generally don't get it.
Pedialyte is an electrolyte mixture, Pediasure is more a compete meal thing looking at it, I've always used Pedialyte + Nutridrench, but people feed yogurt and everything else to chickens so if Pediasure is what you have, don't think it would hurt her. http://www.bovidr.com/ Nutridrench is a liquid supplement for animals, link there, one item that is good to have in your chicken emergency kit.
So her behavior is probably not related to the other chickens, wasn't sure if she had just been added to the flock.
Good luck with her and hope she is feeling better.

 

[aggiemae]

She looks to be a very young hen, maybe 12 weeks old? Is there a possibility that she was still housed in a brooder before your got her? Idf so she might not have the hang of going in and out of the coop or using the roost.

I know you got all your hens form the same place at the same time but where they living together there? If not it might take a while for the hens to accept each other.

I am most concerned about making sure she is eating and taking water. If you don't see her eating or drinking you should hand feed her to make 100% sure is is doing both. If she is shy about coming to you offer her something she will eat like a cooked egg or some buttermilk mixed with her usual feed.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

I am fairly sure she is at least a little older that 12 weeks, I've had her myself for over a month. And when I got her she was already bigger in size than my full grown, already laying RSL and she wasn't making any "chick noises." Maybe English Orphingtons are just slower to mature?
I actually got my six hens from four different places! But we did get them all within two days of each other and Tasty was in the first batch to come home. They have all seemed to be getting along so far.
Her behavior is just so weird! I have seen her eat since I first posted this, but she still is just not as energetic as she was prior to this whole episode. Would a dose of antibiotics be completely out of order here? I don't want to give meds just willy nilly, but I don't want to lose a hen to an infection either! How do I tell if she does have an infection?
Birds are hard! I know what to look for in mammals, but birds are totally different!

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not give her pediasure. It is dairy based, and very highly concentrated in calories. The dairy and high calorie concentration, plus the calcium content might be hard on her digestive system. You might try some probiotics. How does her poo look?? she is a beautiful girl. I wish you the best of luck with her.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

I have ACV in their water- but I am headed to the store tomorrow to buy some yogurt. And Pedialyte. She was doing better day before yesterday, then a little worse yesterday, and today she has just hung out in one spot. Saw her poop- it was runny. I picked her up and she smelled terrible- like bad chicken poop. But I didn't see any discharge or notice her having trouble breathing or anything.
If she still isn't better tomorrow she will go into whatever chicken hospital I can fashion at home. I hate to take her out of the pen, but I really don't want to lose her!

 

[Secretlyspotted]

I posted in the emergencies forum. Poor Tasty is worse- lost a ton of weight and lethargic.