Please help! Young pullet is a lethargic orb.

[Crazy Maizie]

How's her poo?

 

[Deebot]

Here are some more questions/suggestions:

What are you feeding her, including all treats?
Is she drinking water?
If she does poop, get a picture of it, as that might tell us a lot about what's wrong.

Do you mean the stuff you mix in water? Sav-a-Chick, or maybe electrolytes?
Could she have eaten something she shouldn't have? Moldy food, perhaps?

I don't remember the exact kind off-hand but it is organic layer crumble, a decent brand (stored in a bin so I don't have the bag right now) but it's not moldy or anything.
Generic scratch that has corn and grains in it, but not often.
We give them table scraps but only like veggie butts/peels, nothing moldy or off. Usually just like, carrot peels from making our own food. I think the last thing they got was butternut squash peels and seeds/guts, a day or two ago.

I guess she could have gotten into.. something mysterious but she is low man on the totem pole so if she found something the chances are extremely high that the other birds would have had some too. We have a fenced acre and our compost bin has never been of interest to them so I'm not sure what they could have found.

This is the stuff I have, its not Sav-A-Chick brand but same idea.

I am keeping an eye on her for poops. She's just sleeping/resting right now, but she does chirp when I stroke her head.

 

[Deebot]

Grit. Do your chicks have access to grit?

The chick may be constipated if it is getting table scraps and no grit. If you depend on them picking up natural grit from the soil, it's best to examine it and be sure it has gravel in it. Some clay soils do not.

If you suspect it's constipated, give it some little balls of chilled coconut oil.

I was giving them grit before they were free-range, I have not since. Rocky soil around here, plus lots of little gravel around the driveway where they like to peck. It's never been an issue for any of the other birds.
I was not averse to giving her coconut oil just in case - however she did finally poo! It looks... fairly normal to me? I dont see any worms, its not liquid.

(Warning gross pic, but we've all seen it before I'm sure...)

She has also been eating a bit more. I haven't seen her drink, but I haven't been watching her every minute. She still isn't moving around though.

 

[Deebot]

From the looks of the poop, it's not too likely she has an infection. Did you mention she's low in the pecking order? If so, she may have been challenged too often at the feeder and is weak from hunger.

One way to determine if this is her problem is to give her sugar water and see if it perks her up. That will stimulate her appetite, and if she begins to eat with relish, she may just need food to strengthen her so she can go back to her flock.

Scrambled egg and boiled rice will get her interested in food, and if you have Poultry Nutri-drench, a little sprinkled over the food for a couple of days should get her back to normal.

Yay, I'm glad it's probably not an infection! She has been pecking at the food a bit but I will definitely try the sugar water + scrambled eggs and see if she perks up.

She and another are only 2.5 months old so they do get challenged more - but our yard is big enough the duo generally will keep to themselves so they aren't constantly bullied. I do also give them their own food in a private run sometimes if I think they are getting picked on too much. I might have to give them their own private breakfast every day until they're fully grown & integrated to make sure this doesn't happen again.

thank you for your responses!! <3

 

[Deebot]

Minor update: I hand fed her several chunks of scrambled egg and she ate it happily. She kept closing her eyes and trying to go back to sleep but she did eat a bunch! I decided to start with that because I still havent seen her drink so I'm not sure how interested she will be in the sugar water. She seemed to be lifting her head a little more to look around instead of scrunching her neck down into herself but she still is not moving around. Hoping she's just trying to rest and regain strength.

 

[azygous]

Many of us have this special space in our runs. It's useful for a lot of things. Some of us call it the "jail" because it's handy to put a naughty chicken in. I use it for sick or injured chickens that need safety from the flock. This way they never "leave" and when they are well, they simply go back to being in the flock. It's especially great for brooding chicks. You can see the little pop hole to the left. It remains covered with a door flap until the chicks are ready to mingle. There is another pop hole toward the end opposite where the chicks' heating pad cave is. It's always best to have more than one entrance for the chicks.