Please help: beloved RR is lethargic and stands w/eyes closed alot

[MaryLovesChickens]

She no longer ranges free and wide with the other four in her flock (she was THE boss lady!) She just stands there and closes her eyes...she doesn't go crazy and eat the mealworm treats but she will eat at the feeder. She is lethargic and slow...any ideas? please help!

 

[CMV]

Give us the following information. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you.

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use

 

[RhodeIslandRedFan]

MaryLovesChickens - I am sorry to hear that your hen is not well. There are some folks on this site who can give you some great advice, but it would help them if you provided some additional information. Answering the questions below will help folks figure out what is wrong with your hen and how best to help her. I hope she gets better soon

1) What type of bird , age and weight.
2) What is the behavior, exactly.
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms?
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma.
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far?
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet?
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in

OOPS - I POSTED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE POST ABOVE - PLEASE IGNORE THIS. THANKS!

 

[Alabama ee]

Have you checked her for lice? Also, she may have worms. Have you wormed them?

 

[MaryLovesChickens]

1) What type of bird , age and weight. 11 MONTH OLD RR; 6 LBS
2) What is the behavior, exactly. SHE IS NO LONGER THE LEADER, SHE DOES FREE RANGE AS MUCH ANYMORE, SHE STANDS FOR LONG PERIODS W/EYES CLOSED; STILL EATING BUT NOT AS ROBUSTLY;
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms? FOUR DAYS
4) Are other birds exhibiting the same symptoms? NO, EVERYONE ELSE (FOUR HENS ONLY) ARE FINE
5) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. NOTHING, SHE'S FINE PHYSICALLY
6) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation. NOTHING...VERY QUIET, PEACEFUL LIVES HERE
7) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all. LAYENA, SCRATCH, MILLET, WILD BIRD FOOD...BUT WON'T GO FOR TREATS ANYMORE (ORANGES, MEALWORMS, RICE
8) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc. NORMAL
9) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? FORCE FEED WATER WITH TYLAN 50 IN IT
10 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? CAN TREAT MYSELF
11) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help.
12) Describe the housing/bedding in use FREE RANGE IN 5,000 SF BACKYARD, 8X8 COOP WITH MULTIPLE SHELVES FOR ROOSTING, NESTING BOXES AND HEAT LAMP

 

[easttxchick]

Lethargy can be a symptom of so many things.
Is she of laying age and has she been laying regularly?
Is she pale around the comb/eyes?
Has she lost weight?
Please help us help you by providing any other information you can think of.

ETA: What symptoms did she show that you started to give her the Tylan?

 

[dawg53]

Most likely she needs to be wormed. ETA: MaryLovesChickens...I live just north of you from Jax. One of my red hens is acting like your BR. I found two 3" roundworms in her poop this morning and I'm currently worming mine. I suspect this might be the same thing happening to yours.

 

[MaryLovesChickens]

OMG! Wow, yes, silly me is that a symptom? She is indeed pale around one eye...the other eye is still red and normal. I gave her the Tylan 50 because I was told by the feed store to give it to her (before I thought to write to you all her on BYC) Noticed that suddenly pale skin around the eye a couple of weeks ago...

She was still laying until yesterday and today

She is noticeably thinner...a bit lighter in weight

She does not have mites

I have never wormed them...didn't know that I should be doing it...how does one worm a chicken? Could that be the problem?

thank you, thank you, thank you for the interest, help and expertise!!!

 

[easttxchick]

Quote:
Not silly at all-that's why you're here looking for guidance.

Just a couple of things for future reference(hope you don't need them, though)-the feed store's approach of "let's throw stuff at the wall until something sticks" to treatment doesn't work all that well unless the person has chickens themselves. Try, if you can, to do some research yourself before you go get medicine-saves you money and multiple trips!
Unless and until I am pretty darn sure my birds need antibiotics, they won't get them-I believe we can create "superbugs" in our birds by overusing antibiotics(much as has happened with humans).
Having given you that advice(even though you didn't ask for it

), it could very well be worms-they don't always show up in the poo until the worm load is pretty big.
I think that's where I would start-if she begins to exhibit any other symptoms, you may have to rethink your treatment.
Sure hope she responds to treatment!

 

[Alabama ee]

It could be several things , but it is probably worms. You can put it the dewormer in their water. There is one made for chickens. I can't remember what it is called right now. It would not hurt to worm them all. The others might have them and just not showing anything yet.