Lethargic bird...trying to determine what’s wrong

[Michaelt1212]

My wife and I are new to chickens. Our flock is doing great, except our Plymouth Rock. She’s definitely not growing like the other chickens. We do see her eat and drink a bunch and her feces/urine is normal. She just doesn’t move a lot. It looks as if she is constantly falling asleep. While the other chickens are out scratching and pecking, she’ll stay for a long while in one spot then maybe move to a new spot and stay there for a long while.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Chick2chicken]

Check for mites and lice! I had a very lethargic hen when I was new to chickens too, I checked her and she was completely COVERED in mites! She might just have a worse case then the others if it is mites. Check the feathers if there's black specks treat for mites if there's white clumps at the base of the feather treat for lice. Also look at her feet she might have scaly leg mites. Look for worms in her poop there might be somethings looking like rice grains those are worm eggs. Check if the other chickens are bullying her she could be the bottom of the pecking order and might be excluded.
hope this helps
chick2chicken

 

[Alaskan]

how old are they?

 

[Michaelt1212]

2 months

 

[Michaelt1212]

We’ll check for mites. Haven’t seen any worms in the feces. We’ll have to watch behavior, but so far haven’t seen any bullying from the flock. The flock kind of goes about there business being normal chickens while the Plymouth sits on her own.

 

[Alaskan]

That is young enough it could also be a genetic defect of some kind, especially if all of the rest look great.

Often a chcken that is looking off spirals down quickly and then dies... they are good at hiding issues.

 

[Eggcessive]

At 2 months I would look for signs of cocccidiosis. It can make them sleepy or lethargic, not eat well, stand around hunched or puffed up, and have runny poops, sometimes with mucus or blood. Corid (amprollium, amprol) is a common treatment available at feed stores. Dosage is 1.5 tsp of the powder or 2 tsp of the Corid liquid per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Coccidiosis can stunt the growth, or kill them.

 

[micstrachan]

+1 to checking for mites and treating for coccidiosis.