Lethargic, tail down, not eating, not drinking

[PebbleEggs]

We have 6 chickens. They're 3-4 months old and fed on layer pellets. One of them (the one at the bottom of the pecking order) has started keeping to herself for the past 2 days. She's been sitting inside their house (they're usually out all the time, including her) or even sitting under it. When she is out she stands still for long periods, often closing her eyes and with her tail down. I put some pellets with her when she was in her house and she pecked at those a bit, but I can't get her to drink. I put some yoghurt in just now and she ran after it and got a good bit of it, but she ignored the kale we threw in earlier (which they usually all like).

Also, when I tried to pick her up, she ran just like normal. At this time, and when she was eating the yoghurt, her tail was up. We aren't entirely sure if she's laying or not, but she was sitting in one of the nesting boxes this morning, and there were three eggs in that spot so either she is laying or she was sitting on someone else's eggs.

We think she was wormed and vaccinated by the breeder.

 

[Zippy007]

Im not saying this is the cause at all, im not sure what is wrong with her, but I have a hen that if another one pecks her or chases her, she sulks in the corner until I reassure her, you would think something was seriously wrong with her lol, I hatched her myself and had a lot of contact with her, and I swear to god she sulks and sometimes hide until I tell her its ok and give her a stroke.
Some of them have crazy personalities.

The tail down to me is a sign she isn't feeling well, id check her vent for mites, and do an all over check with her, if shes still eating and drinking see how she gets on in a few days, does she need worming?
Sometimes If I have a hen like that I put some anti biotics in the water, or apple cider vinegar and they pick up to full health again.

Sorry im not much help, good luck

 

[PebbleEggs]

What antibiotics would you use for that? Do you isolate them and give it only to the sick chicken? Apple cider vinegar is easier to get - you just mix that in with their water and it helps?

We mixed some yoghurt with pellets for her and she ate that quite happily. She was also moving around with the group and seems to have willingly put herself to bed. Only wish I'd seen her drink something today, but I haven't (although I've hardly been watching her 24/7). Haven't noticed any signs of dehydration, either, so hopefully she'll be fine for tonight.

 

[PebbleEggs]

We've separated her from the others (just sectioned her off an area on the other side of their coop boundary). She's eating yoghurt and pecking at the grass, but I still can't get her to drink anything. Her poo seems normal. Finding it tricky to figure out just what's wrong with her.

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC!

Get some gloves, KY Jelly and very gently do a cloacal exam to check for a stuck egg or other masses.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

We've separated her from the others (just sectioned her off an area on the other side of their coop boundary). She's eating yoghurt and pecking at the grass, but I still can't get her to drink anything. Her poo seems normal. Finding it tricky to figure out just what's wrong with her.

I tube feed mine when they won't/can't drink, it's easier to do than most people think and it's much safer than giving water with a syringe or dripping it into their mouth. FWIW, it takes me less than three minutes to give my big rooster 120 ml using two 60 ml syringes.

Here is some info on how to do it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...cken-and-give-subcutaneous-fluid#post_9910754

-Kathy

 

[Eggcessive]

I would consider coccidiosis as one of the things you are thinking about. It can be fairly common in chickens especially where they are brought in from another place to live. Treatment is with Corid liquid or powder from the farm store. One thing you can try also with her is to make a small amount of wet food in an oatmeal consistency which might encourage her to take more fluids. Don't use it after 24 hours because it may mold--just mix a little more.

 

[PebbleEggs]

Thanks for the replies. We put her back in with the others to sleep after she had some yoghurt as we thought it would be less stressful. It seems like she laid this morning because we had 5 eggs and 4 of them were brown (we have two that lay pale eggs). Pretty impressive given how little she ate the day before.

I didn't go as far as 'gloves and KY jelly' but couldn't see anything obviously wrong with her vent. No mites or anything like that either. We're thinking it's a problem with her crop as she was making motions like she was trying to regurgitate earlier. We noticed a hard lump when we were checking her crop but we think that it was above the crop - would you expect to feel a bone in that area? Today she's managed to have at least a little water, quite a bit of yoghurt and some grass/leaf, but is still spending a lot of time standing still with tail down/lying down.

 

[PebbleEggs]

4 days later and she's still ill. We've checked for a stuck egg and while there was an egg the first time we checked, it seems she's now laid it (so it wasn't stuck). We've just put her back in for the night and we tried putting some food on my shoe (she loves pecking it for some reason). She's ignored the food in her pen all day, but I ended up standing there for about 15 minutes while she pecked pellets and yoghurt off my shoe. Not entirely sure what's going on with that. It's possible that her vision is bad and the contrast of light pellets on black shoe was easier to see.

 

[PebbleEggs]

With a bit of TLC this chicken eventually got better although we never figured out what was actually wrong with her. She's up to her usual antics of doing everything to escape the pen so she can eat plums in the garden. Only thing is she hasn't laid any eggs and she's been better for over 3 weeks. Is it likely that she'll never lay eggs now?