Question regarding “Sick” Chicken

[Offshoreorca]

Hi Everyone!

I’m a little puzzled. I have an Ameraucana pullet that spends quite a bit of time in the coop during the day sleeping on the roosts. I did find some lice on her four days ago (not tons, but they were present) and treated the whole flock and coop with permethrin. She isn’t acting any differently though, so it must be something else. When she’s outside she’s not lethargic at all and almost always comes to me for treats even inside the coop. She is eating and drinking relatively well, with no sign of worms or anything abnormal in her poop. She’s been a little bit off for months now and I haven’t been able to figure it out - not laying yet, but her comb is growing. Her feed has mostly been grower with a little bit of layer for a period when I couldn’t source grower as everyone was sold out. She’s a decent weight, so not thin. I hatched her in May.

Has anyone dealt with this before and are there any suggestions for what else I can look for?

 

[sourland]

Any chance that a cockerel/rooster or other flock mates are harassing her? Any predator attacks experienced ?

 

[Offshoreorca]

Any chance that a cockerel/rooster or other flock mates are harassing her? Any predator attacks experienced ?

Sorry for the delayed response! I didn’t get the notification for some reason. She is low in the pecking order, but doesn’t get harassed or bullied - I’ve spent a fair amount of time watching them over the last couple of weeks. The roosters are also not after her any more than the rest of the hens (and they have 22 to choose from so the ratios are ok).

And no predator attacks. We keep them in the run in the winter and the place is built like Fort Knox because of the number of potential predators in the area.

She seems to be spending half the day in the coop and half the day in the run. When she’s in the coop she positions herself on a low roost right by the door so she can see and hear everything outside.

 

[Byrd gal]

Have you tried apple cider in the water? I feed my girls a few raisins to perk them up they have alot of iron . A dose of vitamin packs in the feed could help. Maybe she hates the cold as much as I do.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Have you tried apple cider in the water? I feed my girls a few raisins to perk them up they have alot of iron . A dose of vitamin packs in the feed could help. Maybe she hates the cold as much as I do.

She doesn’t appear to have a crop issue so I don’t think ACV will do much good for her (I know it can work wonders for sour crop when trying to get the crop pH back to a good level), but I have been trying to give her some herbs mixed in oatmeal as well as other nutritious snacks. I’m strongly considering some supplemental vitamins or stress aid to see if that will help - have to order it online as the nearest farm store is 2.5 hours away. I have a few little snack boxes of plain raisins that I can try as well. Thanks for the suggestions!

Her condition doesn’t seem extremely dire, but I’d rather not wait for her to go downhill. My partner things she’s just a weaker chicken, but I’m curious to see if I can fix whatever is causing her to behave differently. Her broodmate (other Ameraucana pullet) will sometimes take a nap in the coop with her, but she is out in the run for most of the day unlike her “sister”.