Lethargic chicken

[Chickiewickiewickies]

My Australorp chicken, Tweety, who is 2 1/2 years old Is eating normally, but does not forage with the other chickens and has to be encouraged to get up and walk around. She often finds a spot and lays down for much of the day with her head down. Her tail is always down and she does not interact with the other chickens. She is at the bottom of the pecking order. She’s been lethargic for months, and we had her poop sample checked and she has no parasites.She eats her treats. In fact probably more than the others, and eats her feed (crumble), but just seems like she is super unhappy.
She has not been laying eggs, but neither have the other 3 hens we have (since molting last fall). A couple of them started laying, and one of them has had soft eggs over the past year so we give her the liquid calcium supplement. I began giving Tweety the supplement also, Thinking maybe she is just deficient and it it doesn’t seem to be helping her lethargy. So a couple questions. Any suggestions on the lethargy? Also is there anyway to get my chickens to start laying again? I’ve been waiting for it to happen on its own and it seems like it’s beginning to with 2 of them so far.
Thanks for any help!!

 

[Eggcessive]

It is common for hens over 2 to take a break from laying in winter when daylight is shorter. Mine sometimes have surprised me early in the year to start laying again when days are getting longer. Your hen Tweety sounds like she could be sufferiing from a reproductive issue, such as internal laying. Many times we don’t know until a necropsy after death confirms it. Reproductive disorders are the most common cause of death. I have lost a few hens at 2 or 3, and later a couple each year of cancer, salpingitis, or ascites. I always do necropsies on hens I lose, and just look at the abdominal organs.

I would give Tweety some probiotics a couple of days a week, along with some B complex crushed on food, and perhaps worm her now with Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer. I would stop the calcium as long as she is not laying. Chickens do not need extra calcium when they are not laying, especially when they eat a balanced chicken feed, and giving extra can be hard on kidneys.