Listless RIR pullet

[lingbot]

So this is very similar to the other topic of Listless laying pullet so I'm not sure if my RIR is having the same problem. This afternoon when they were free ranging, I noticed one of my RIR (23 weeks) hens who just started laying 2 days ago was acting very listless. She would just lay down and close her eyes while the other two hens free ranged happily around her. She was fine this morning and we believe she laid an egg this morning. She even let me pick her up and examine her which was abnormal. She pooped after I put her down and it was a semisolid brown poop which looked normal. I offered her some feed which she ignored but when my bf offered them some black oil sunflower seeds, she did eat those but not as quickly as she did in the past (slow reflexes now). I haven't seen her drink in a while but I put them all back in their run and she is just laying down in a corner with her eyes closed. Oddly enough, one of the other hens captured a fly and she joined in the chase and actually stole the fly from the other hen and ate it but after the chase, she froze in place and laid down again where she was.

So as far as I can tell from the other topics, it can either be:

1) egg bound - though we don't think so b/c there was a little egg in the nest box she usually chooses (though we could be wrong)
2) worms
3) impacted crop? I felt her crop a bunch and it didn't seem too abnormal

Is there anything else I can try to do? It's only in the 70's, low 80's here today in CA.

 

[lingbot]

Actually just went out to stare at her again, and I do see her tail feathers going up and down a little. What are the symptoms of being egg bound? Of our 3 hens, we got 2 eggs today only so maybe she didn't lay her egg today I wonder.

 

[speckledhen]

Standing like a penguin, sort of upright, is a sign of being eggbound. I've lost three hens this year to internal laying-all the same age, all just over two years old, and I have one hen who hasn't laid in months, is much slower, and I'm positive she's laying internally, with egg material building up in the oviduct. It's hard to say for sure what it is. Could be worms, could be internal laying, but she's a bit young for that, I think.

 

[lingbot]

She did end up going up to the roost with the others tonight and even laid an egg (soft shelled). I have had oyster shell out for them for the last week. I'm guessing maybe the fact she is newly laying could be confusing her. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow.

 

[ZooMummzy]

We just got our internet back so I was finally able to read this post. I saw it over the weekend but couldn't get to it! Very frustrating...

Anyway, I wanted to say that my pullet was doing the same thing with her tail feathers....moving them up and down like she was trying to push something out. This went on up until yesterday. She also clean a lot back there...the area above her tail feathers. I'm really not sure what she had (I'm betting on worms) but she is better now...at least more normal. I wormed her on Saturday with Ivomec from my vet. It was all I could get quickly. By Sunday morning I was already seeing a change in her behavior...for the good!

I hate to tell anyone what to do, but you might want to try worming her and see if it works.