Less active chicken

[Scharrelkipje]

A chicken has been less active for a number of weeks. She stands still a lot, often with her eyes closed. Head and tail slightly down. She still eats and drinks, but not much. The crop is very small when I check it. She is also very thin and the comb is not so bright red, sometimes a bit gray.

When we come outside she becomes more active. Tail and head rise a little more. When we put food in the run, she immediately comes to it. She does eat, but not as quickly or as much as the other chickens.

Last week I put Finendo Cox & Worm through the water for 5 days in a row. I don't see any effect of this other than that the comb looks a bit redder.

They have acces to layer feed and oyster shell. I now add some cottage cheese for extra proteins.

The chicken is one year old.
I can't control the poop, I don't know what's hers. I don't see any abnormality in the poop I find.
She hasn't laid yet.
I have 2 other chickens of the same age, only 1 of which laid last year. The other just started this spring.

Last November she had something with her crop. This was then remedied by adding cottage cheese.

I don't really know what else I can do now.

 

[Loving my girls]

Hi Hun,
What a pretty hen, lovely colours.
Ok to the matter in hand. Firstly I would recommend that you separate her from the flock, an old dog cage would be ideal. Then you can monitor what and how much she eats and her poop.
She does sound poorly but I think you need to gather more specific information before trying to identify the problem.
Hugz

 

[Scharrelkipje]

Went to the vet today. He couldn't discover anything except that she is very thin. The tricky thing is that she becomes active when you come near, with and without food. She also eats with the other chickens. There is food available all day long, which I occasionally see her eating from.

I'm going to keep her separated tonight so I can take poop away for examination tomorrow morning. Hopefully something will come of that.

 

[Australorpfamily]

I have a hen that is similar in disposition, except she's huge, after she eats and drinks, she'll scratch some and then just stand around.

We did separate her but no real answers. Crop/reproductive issue of some form, due to she only acts like this while laying eggs.

We have offered mash with yogurt, super b plus vitamin, and egg. And she seems the same.

I hope you find some answers and she gets back on track. It sucks when we know they aren't feeling particularly up to par.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

Since she hasn't laid an egg, could she be egg bound? If you want to explore this, give her a warm epsom salt soak for 20-30 minutes. If it's cold, blow dry her off before putting her back in her isolation cage.

 

[Scharrelkipje]

The results of the manure test have been received. No details were found.
No worms or coccidioses.

We are now going to try a mix of antibiotics for the intestines for 7 days.
I will isolate her in a part of the run, so that only she can access the extra high-calorie/high-protein food and drink containing antibiotics.
Hopefully she will recover from this.

This chicken has always lagged behind a bit, so I cannot rule out a certain abnormality.

 

[Scharrelkipje]

Since she hasn't laid an egg, could she be egg bound? If you want to explore this, give her a warm epsom salt soak for 20-30 minutes. If it's cold, blow dry her off before putting her back in her isolation cage.

She is way to skinny do be able to even lay an egg at this moment. I also think if this was the case that she would not have lasted for over 2 weeks.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

She is way to skinny do be able to even lay an egg at this moment. I also think if this was the case that she would not have lasted for over 2 weeks.

I agree. Something internal for sure!