Red Star acting weird....Please Read.

[ZombieChickens]

I've had my Red Stars for about a year and a half now, and have sailed through without a single problem. No chicken coop problems, no predator problems, no illnesses, no trouble adding to the flock. Until now. And I'm panicing. One of my girls wouldn't eat this morning. She was standing in the run alone while the other hogs hammered the food. When I went to her, she was all puffed up and slightly lethargic. Her movements aren't the "choppy" chicken movements that you usually see, she's just kinda slowly looking around. Every time I check on her today, she's the same. She IS walking around the run a little bit, but she's staying puffed up, shaking her head a lot (more than "usual") and not eating. Her crop feels full and firm, but when I felt the other girls, I'm not sure hers feels any different than theirs. Also, there seemed to be some poo under her tailfeathers. Not that chickens are the cleanest animals, it just seemed unusual to me. Can anyone tell me what to do for the lady? Or do I just need to wait?

P.S. I hate waiting, and I'm not good at it.

Crystal

 

[Hollywood Hen]

That sounds a lot like how my red star was when she had an egg stuck. A bath in warm water might help if that's the case.

For mine, when I picked her up it was obvious what the problem was...she had somehow formed an egg the size of a baseball! No way it was coming out whole, even with the soak and some oil to lubricate it. I had to break it up inside and take all the pieces out (very carefully). She was back to her old self in five minutes afterwards, and went on to lay again normally.

 

[ZombieChickens]

Oh. Crap.