Lethargic Dominique Pullet, drinking but not eating

[HeatherMK]

This morning when I went to tend the chickens, I noticed one of my 3 month-old Dominique pullets was very lethargic with her eyes closed, while all the others appeared normal and alert. I separated her from the flock and she's now staying in my spare bathroom in the bathtub with a towel to sit on. Usually when one of them gets separated they'll call to the others, but she has been very quiet. From what I could tell yesterday, she was fine. This girl is usually housed with about 25 other birds in an 8' x 10' coop with an 8' x 8' enclosed outdoor run (an expansion is in the works). We are using the deep bedding system inside the coop with fresh straw/litter added weekly and water, food, and high traffic areas cleaned at least daily. They have free access to the enclosure during the day.

She appears to be drinking water, but has hardly touched her food. I left her a choice of her normal food and yogurt with a little molasses (a favorite treat), and she's only taken a couple of bites of the yogurt. Her poop is unusually yellow and pasty, and her comb and wattles are washed-out looking instead of rosy pink. There are no wounds or scratches on her from what I can see, her skin and eyes are clean, her vent is clear and her crop is empty. Right now she's just standing in one place in the bathtub with her eyes closed and feathers puffed out. Any ideas on what could be the problem?

There are only a couple of things I can think of environmentally that may have triggered whatever this is:

1) Yesterday I finished introducing six young guinea fowl and a turkey (all brooded together in my garage as day-old keets/poult) after having them in their own cage inside the coop for a couple of days. I gave them treats when I let the guineas and turkey out that evening (mainly cabbage and compost grubs) to distract them from the newcomers for a little while. Overall, everything seemed to go very well and everyone is getting along today. Maybe stress from the newcomers?

2) I've been carrying a couple of chickens every evening to my pesticide/herbicide free garden for supervised grasshopper hunting. (I don't leave them in there because they like the leaves of my squash plants!) I know this particular girl was one of the "hunters" either yesterday or the day before. Do you think if she munched on tomato plant leaves it would have made her sick? I can't think of anything else I have that would have been toxic.

Thank you in advance for any advice. I don't want to loose this girl.

 

[LuLutoo]

This sounds a lot like what is happening to my little banty right now. I am going to bump it in hopes someone can help.

Mine has been acting that way for 5 days now. I fed her raw honey in a syringe yesterday and that seemed to perk her up. Then I gave her electrolytes and probiotics. She actually perched last night...
Does her crop empty out overnight of water? Do you think she might be egg bound?

Good luck with your girl. I hope she is feeling better soon.

Lauren

 

[HeatherMK]

I couldn't go to the store yesterday, so I made some home-made Pedialyte for her. With her water she was only taking a drink here and there, but when I put a bowl of this mixture down she took five or six good long drinks. Last night she decided she was HUNGRY and inhaled the remaining chick crumbles I left for her. As of this morning she was acting completely normal and had normal poop. She drank and ate normally, even jumped out of the bathtub to go exploring!

After watching her for another hour, I put her back in with the others. I'm now suspecting she may have ate something that didn't agree with her.

 

[HeatherMK]

Quote:
Lauren - Thank you. This was my first time dealing with a sick chicken. I hope you find out what's going on with your banty and that she recovers soon.