My 7 month old BR not acting well!

[Acefit411]

I noticed yesterday that Beatrice (a barred rock), wasn't eating cracked corn that I threw down for the girls before the went in to roost for the night!

while out free ranging today, I noticed that she was the last to run from one spot in the yard to the next. When Bea got up on the roost this evening, I noticed that she didn't have a full crop.

I just went into the coop (dark) with a flash light to see how they were positioned on the roost and noticed that Bea was at the end away from the others. Also, she was standing and puffy (full feathers).

I know the full feather look might be that she is cold, and standing could be that she is uncomfortable. Her appetite is very off. This week I found a couple of soft shell/no shell eggs ~ but I can never know who they are coming from!!!!

Of course I'm new to all this... Just a few weeks ago, she ate a push-pin that she found in the yard... could this be rearing it's ugly head now? Or could she be egg bound? How much longer do I wait to put her in a bath?

All and any help would be great! I'm a little worried ;(
Thanks in advance,
~a

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Feel for an egg if you think she is egg bound. Give her a bath and massage right after you find out if she is egg bound. Help her squeeze it out but don't break the egg while its inside her.

 

[Acefit411]

Thank you!
I will make sure she has something to eat first thing in the morning. I want to watch her and see what her poop is looking like, and then I will bring her inside for a nice warm bath.

I'm not sure what the egg will feel like, but I have to give this a try. I felt so bad that she went to sleep this evening with a empty crop ;( She had warm oatmeal with flax seeds for breakfast and I made a special scrambled egg and potato mix with a little olive oil before they went to sleep tonight. She did eat a nice portion of that ~ but not nearly enough food as everyone else ate today...

I will fill you in tomorrow, thank you again

~anna

 

[Acefit411]

Update:

I gave Bea a warm sitz bath this morning. I kept her wrapped in a towel and held her by my wood burning stove for about 20 minutes to dry her. I cleaned / cut back some of her big fluffy feathers near her vent...it looked okay ~ nothing stuck to it. skin slightly yellow, but was a nice pink after her bath. I tried to feel for an egg from the outside, but I wasn't sure if there was one there ;(

I watched her most of the day...I found her under the chicken coop and away from the others when possible. When I let them out to free range, she didn't look interested in foraging on the ground like her sisters. She was the last to move around the yard, but ran to catch up to everyone. I was able to get her to eat treats in small amounts, she was drinking water (with ACV). Her poops were a little loose, but some of the other girls were also. No blood, nothing to strange (I think).

The nights have been as low as 23 degrees here, and the days reaching just about 40. We are expecting warmer weather to reach us for a few days ~ high might be 50 and the nights about 35.

The only thing that I have changed about a week or so ago (I think that I'm reaching here), was there dry pellet food. The general store down the road ran out of their normal layer feed ~ so I bought Purina layer pellets (I normally get them the bag that gives them extra omega 3). These pellets are bigger and I have noticed that they are not eating as much as they usually do. But all my birds are going to bed with nice full crops, except Bea. Hers was a little better tonight, but not great!

Her eyes are bright, no sneezing, wheezing, runny nose / beak and no strange head movements.

Could there be a pecking order change?
There is such a dramatic change in her over the last three days ~ i'm so worried ;(

Thanks for listening,
~a

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Have they been wormed??? Check for lice or mites.

 

[Acefit411]

They have not ever been wormed... wouldn't I see them in the stool? They don't have leg mites, and how would I check for lice?
Can I pick up something from the general store tomorrow to treat all of them as a precaution?

 

[nipper75]

mites & lice are little bugs on the skin. if you pull the feathers over, lice are grayish and mites can be reddish. my hen died last week after i noticed the same behaviors over the summer. i wish i knew better. she did have lice & mites which i treated her for but it was too late. she did seem anemic too. keep a close eye on her, and hopefully you can prevent anything traumatic from happening. do your hens have a place to dust bathe? i would start with a dewormer and checking for the critters. also, maybe some special treats too. good luck!

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Look for mites on their skin.
Do a search on here about treatment if you do see any creepy crawlies. And then you will be able to see if any stores around you have that product.

 

[Acefit411]

mites & lice are little bugs on the skin. if you pull the feathers over, lice are grayish and mites can be reddish. my hen died last week after i noticed the same behaviors over the summer. i wish i knew better. she did have lice & mites which i treated her for but it was too late. she did seem anemic too. keep a close eye on her, and hopefully you can prevent anything traumatic from happening. do your hens have a place to dust bathe? i would start with a dewormer and checking for the critters. also, maybe some special treats too. good luck!

I will pull feathers back tomorrow on Bea.
My girls dust bathe in pine shavings with DE in it (I deep litter and DE is added twice to three times a week with new litter), and also under the hen house I have soft dirt with crushed up leaves.
Ugh, and I was thinking about adding new chicks to my hen house in the Spring. If I get this upset and worried with 6 hens what will I be like with 12 hens?

 

[Acefit411]

Update:

Okay, I went to the store and picked up Sevin Dust (I'm not to thrilled about putting on my hens), and Poultry spray. I spent about 4 hours scrubbing / cleaning out the coop (I started deep litter in September). Washed the floor with vinegar, hot water and lilac soap. Scrubbed down the roots with an all natural orange, vinegar, vanilla and cinnamon solution. Waited for everything to dry. I added the Sevin dust to all the corners, door openings and crevices on the coop floor. I put fresh pine shavings down and added DE to the floor of the coop and nesting boxes. I sprayed Poultry spray to the lower half of the walls and in each nesting box before the pine shavings went down. I also added a very large bucket of wood ashes to the run (in multiple places).

For the record...I have always used DE in and out of my coop, and have cleaned with vinegar and soap. I do this every couple to 3 months! So the only thing that I have done now is add the Sevin dust. It's so strong smelling and horrible to inhale for both humans and chickens I'm very scarred to use it on them unless I absolutely have to.... Anyway, I have not found any bugs on my Bea ;0

I changed both waters today and added vitamins w/ electrolytes. Bea did drink a lot of water, but was not interested in the treats that I put out for the hens this morning. The only treat that she went for were the meal worms and not too many of those either. All the hens free ranged for 3 hours today ~ Bea's crop was not nearly as full as all the others ;(

Her comb is still rossie, her tail is not down, but not as high as it normally is. I did find some very lose stools in the coop this morning ~ but nothing too alarming.
It's not normal to see a hen not dive at any food that you through down ... I'm so puzzled.

Thanks for reading/listening,
~anna