Not Eating, Lethargic, and Pale Comb- Help!!

[Rockymountainroo]

Hi all,
I have an EE hen who is about 10 months. When I went to check on her and my other chickens this afternoon, she came to greet me as usual but was a little slower and fluffed up. I sprinkled some treats down and she showed no interest in them. She usually is a sprinter and an absolute fiend for treats. (Like jumping at the bag trying to get into it before I have a chance to open it and bullies the others to get some.) I held some in my hand for her but still no dice.
She let me pick her up fairly easily (not normal, though she tolerates being held) and just kind of sat there. Her comb is pale and her crop felt empty.

She also laid an egg sometime this morning. I'm not sure when, but it was cold to the touch when I went to get it. She is our only blue egg layer so I know for a fact it was her's. I didn't notice any unusual poops in the coop or run. Breathing sounded normal, no runny nose or eyes, and no obvious injuries. She was a little fluffy and her comb a bit paler. Her tail was also up and not angled downward. We have struggled a bit with lice in the past but I did not notice any on her.

Any idea on what is effecting my poor girl? She's one of my favorites and is usually the feistiest of the bunch, but just didn't seem herself today.

 

[azygous]

If such a novice hen were in my flock behaving in this manner, I would suspect an early-in-the-season egg glitch. In spite of her having just laid an egg, your hen shows signs of having another egg, in any number of different forms, stuck inside. It's not at all uncommon for two separate eggs to make their way down the oviduct in close succession, making it difficult for the hen to pass.

In fact, it was just two weeks ago that I had just such a situation with a two-year old layer. It was toward evening that I noticed her withdrawn behavior and popped a calcium tablet into her beak. An hour later she was on her roosting perch, and her two coop mates were decimating a shell-less egg she had just deposited from her perch.

I keep a bottle of calcium citrate plus D3 in the run at all times, convenient to treat immediately any hen showing possible difficulties with an egg. The calcium citrate is a form of calcium that goes to work immediately to promote contractions to help expel a stubborn egg. I suggest you give it a try.