My First Sick Hen??

[Svyetii]

Hey everyone! So I’m in year two of raising chickens and so far haven’t had many issues, but today I opened the coop to find one of my EEs just sitting on the floor. She doesn’t seem to have any visible injuries, her comb looks fine and her eyes and nose aren’t runny or goopy, but she’s definitely not herself. She’s just sitting there quietly. She’ll be a bit curious, stretching her neck and looking around if I open the coop door and talk to her. But otherwise, she just sits there. Any ideas?? We just returned from a trip and have had a neighbor watching the chickens for 10 days, but she was acting fine yesterday. Appreciate any insight you can offer. I’d like to avoid a major issue if I can help it. All the other chickens are their usual mischievous selves.

Thanks!
Sarah

 

[swamphiker]

Hi there, I'm sorry your chicken is unwell!

Is your chicken able to eat and drink on her own? Is she walking at all? If she is walking, is it a normal walk or is she limping or does she have an oherwise abnormal gait? Is she currently laying?

While you are trying to figure out what the problem could be, you could add poultry electrolytes to her water and see if you can tempt her to eat with a snack like plain yogurt, scrambled eggs, or chicken feed with water added.

 

[Svyetii]

Thanks! So far, she hasn’t come out of the coop. I just checked on her though and now she’s sitting in the nesting box trying to lay. Could she be egg bound? My automatic chicken door is malfunctioning, so maybe she didn’t lay yesterday because of that and is now backed up? Not really sure how that works.

 

[swamphiker]

Thanks! So far, she hasn’t come out of the coop. I just checked on her though and now she’s sitting in the nesting box trying to lay. Could she be egg bound? My automatic chicken door is malfunctioning, so maybe she didn’t lay yesterday because of that and is now backed up? Not really sure how that works.

It's worth checking to see if she's egg bound, though the door being closed wouldn't cause that since she would just find another spot to lay the egg.