Severely underweight Wyandotte pullet

The White Lily

In the Brooder
Jul 4, 2020
10
15
34
Wyatt, my SLW pullet, is ridiculously skinny. Literally, there is nothing either side of her keel, and she’s light as a feather. Her face is sunken in like a skull with eyes. She’s meant to be a standard, and she weighs half as much as my Isa Brown/red sex link, who has been until now the chief scrawny chicken of the coop.

I bought Wyatt as a day old chick from a reputable hatchery. She was raised by a broody in my flock for the first three weeks, then my broody weaned her chicks and went back to roost with the hens. I kept the chicks in with the flock but kept their food and water in a refuge that the hens were too big to squeeze into. There was a little bit of scuffling, but they all grew well and seemed to get plenty to eat. The two boys were acceptably meaty when I processed them at 14 weeks despite being half bantam and no particular fattening. The other four pullets seem healthy and are now well muscled with a good weight, although as at 28 weeks, only one of them has started laying.

Wyatt has never been stout, but I noticed she was unwell about two weeks ago, when I saw her crop was empty in the early evening on the roost. That’s when I felt her keel and realised there was nothing there at all! I wormed her with a dropper in case she’d managed not to drink the last load of worming water. I isolated her where she can still see and be seen by the others, and kept her supplied with high protein food—unlimited chick food, plus a handful of cat food, azolla, and scrambled egg—for a few days, then put her in the main coop but monitored her for a few days more. She went from 1.20kg to 1.27... I felt like it must have been worms, and that she’d turned the corner. Then we went on a week’s holiday—I got back today and she was just hanging out with an empty crop and she weighs 1.115! She’s just a skeleton with feathers. Literally, her keel feels like the bones of a roast chicken once you’ve got off all the meat worth getting. I’ve put her back in semi-isolation with high-protein food.

She’s bright with good feathers and plenty of energy, she still scuffles with the others to get to her favourite food (azolla) whenever I put it in, but she just doesn’t seem to be hungry or care enough to grab more than one or two bites. Even when she does have unlimited close-range access to food, including her favourites, her full crop is still small, maybe a quarter of the size of the full crop the other pullets have—nothing like the bulging crops of the greedy older hens! Her stool looks normal—brown/white and well formed.

Quarters in my coop are possibly a little close (blame chicken math—there is a large run you can’t see in the photo, but they have to come back into the base of the coop you can see for food), and I have a single treadle feeder among ten chickens (and yes, Wyatt is still heavy enough to operate the treadle), but she doesn’t gorge herself the way I would expect if she wasn’t getting near the food often enough. I’ve made sure she’s wormed, I’ve checked for lice/mites. I’m in Brisbane, Australia (weather equivalent of Florida) so we’ve just had the hottest time of year. I know that Wyandottes aren’t well adapted to the heat, but the coop is appropriately built into the shady side of the hill to provide cool refuge. I’ve seen her panting and settling her breast on the ground in the middle of particularly hot days, but not to any extent or period of time I’d have thought she was suffering or might have reduced her appetite to this extent.

Other potentially relevant history: our rooster died suddenly of unknown causes about three months ago. I didn’t do an autopsy, but I confirmed he was well-muscled and seemed in good condition (apart from the obvious). We got a new young BLRW cockerel from a home breeder a month later. He also seems well muscled and in good condition, although he’s a bizarrely late bloomer (6 months old and very clearly rooster-feathered, but still not crowing, strutting, or displaying any rooster behaviours!) It’s possible he brought an illness into the coop and his developmental delay is because he’s unwell—or it’s possible that whatever killed our last rooster remains in our flock.

What does anyone think? An anorexic chicken? Who eats, but not much and goes to bed empty? Loses weight she didn’t have to lose but still acts like a normal chicken? Might have been bullied away from the food but no more than others who seem perfectly healthy? Elbows her way in on treats but doesn’t gorge on them? Most of the advice I read seems to say that chickens will eat food if they need it—or if they’re too sick to eat food they’re sick enough to be visibly off-colour. But I know they’re experts at hiding illness—and a body weight drop of well over 10% in a week in an already skeletal chicken makes me very worried.

Am I freaking out over nothing, or is this chicken one stiff breeze away from death? And is there anything else anyone can suggest I can do to help her?

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Poor girl! Great information, I once had a girl (she is my favorite) that was also very underweight and drank like the end of the world. I got really worried and started feeding her treats, but she wouldn't eat them and would just go after the water. I started putting a little feeder out into the run that she kept being bullied into and now she is perfectly fine. I don't know if that is the cause with your chicken, but see if you can get some pellets in her (or whatever you use for your chicken feed) If you do use pellets, you can soak them in water for 2-5 minutes till they are soft and see if she wants that. :hugs Good luck for your chicken. I hope someone else can help you better than I can.
 
Wyatt, my SLW pullet, is ridiculously skinny. Literally, there is nothing either side of her keel, and she’s light as a feather. Her face is sunken in like a skull with eyes. She’s meant to be a standard, and she weighs half as much as my Isa Brown/red sex link, who has been until now the chief scrawny chicken of the coop.

I bought Wyatt as a day old chick from a reputable hatchery. She was raised by a broody in my flock for the first three weeks, then my broody weaned her chicks and went back to roost with the hens. I kept the chicks in with the flock but kept their food and water in a refuge that the hens were too big to squeeze into. There was a little bit of scuffling, but they all grew well and seemed to get plenty to eat. The two boys were acceptably meaty when I processed them at 14 weeks despite being half bantam and no particular fattening. The other four pullets seem healthy and are now well muscled with a good weight, although as at 28 weeks, only one of them has started laying.

Wyatt has never been stout, but I noticed she was unwell about two weeks ago, when I saw her crop was empty in the early evening on the roost. That’s when I felt her keel and realised there was nothing there at all! I wormed her with a dropper in case she’d managed not to drink the last load of worming water. I isolated her where she can still see and be seen by the others, and kept her supplied with high protein food—unlimited chick food, plus a handful of cat food, azolla, and scrambled egg—for a few days, then put her in the main coop but monitored her for a few days more. She went from 1.20kg to 1.27... I felt like it must have been worms, and that she’d turned the corner. Then we went on a week’s holiday—I got back today and she was just hanging out with an empty crop and she weighs 1.115! She’s just a skeleton with feathers. Literally, her keel feels like the bones of a roast chicken once you’ve got off all the meat worth getting. I’ve put her back in semi-isolation with high-protein food.

She’s bright with good feathers and plenty of energy, she still scuffles with the others to get to her favourite food (azolla) whenever I put it in, but she just doesn’t seem to be hungry or care enough to grab more than one or two bites. Even when she does have unlimited close-range access to food, including her favourites, her full crop is still small, maybe a quarter of the size of the full crop the other pullets have—nothing like the bulging crops of the greedy older hens! Her stool looks normal—brown/white and well formed.

Quarters in my coop are possibly a little close (blame chicken math—there is a large run you can’t see in the photo, but they have to come back into the base of the coop you can see for food), and I have a single treadle feeder among ten chickens (and yes, Wyatt is still heavy enough to operate the treadle), but she doesn’t gorge herself the way I would expect if she wasn’t getting near the food often enough. I’ve made sure she’s wormed, I’ve checked for lice/mites. I’m in Brisbane, Australia (weather equivalent of Florida) so we’ve just had the hottest time of year. I know that Wyandottes aren’t well adapted to the heat, but the coop is appropriately built into the shady side of the hill to provide cool refuge. I’ve seen her panting and settling her breast on the ground in the middle of particularly hot days, but not to any extent or period of time I’d have thought she was suffering or might have reduced her appetite to this extent.

Other potentially relevant history: our rooster died suddenly of unknown causes about three months ago. I didn’t do an autopsy, but I confirmed he was well-muscled and seemed in good condition (apart from the obvious). We got a new young BLRW cockerel from a home breeder a month later. He also seems well muscled and in good condition, although he’s a bizarrely late bloomer (6 months old and very clearly rooster-feathered, but still not crowing, strutting, or displaying any rooster behaviours!) It’s possible he brought an illness into the coop and his developmental delay is because he’s unwell—or it’s possible that whatever killed our last rooster remains in our flock.

What does anyone think? An anorexic chicken? Who eats, but not much and goes to bed empty? Loses weight she didn’t have to lose but still acts like a normal chicken? Might have been bullied away from the food but no more than others who seem perfectly healthy? Elbows her way in on treats but doesn’t gorge on them? Most of the advice I read seems to say that chickens will eat food if they need it—or if they’re too sick to eat food they’re sick enough to be visibly off-colour. But I know they’re experts at hiding illness—and a body weight drop of well over 10% in a week in an already skeletal chicken makes me very worried.

Am I freaking out over nothing, or is this chicken one stiff breeze away from death? And is there anything else anyone can suggest I can do to help her?

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She seems pail, maybe she's a bit depressed. A young rooster we have was bullied a lot by his dad and started becoming depressed, so we stepped in and started interacting with him constantly, it cheered him up and since he was thin, we started giving him cooked fish (all my chickens go crazy for fish; they'll never say no to it). I've also made chicks a mix of corn flour (the Mexican type that is has been processed in lime so that proteins become more available; alton brown had a show about that :).), with some black cooked beans and a bit of fish and they also love that and I've seen it's highly nutritious.
Spend time with her, pet her a lot and she might get better. I wish you good luck.
 
When you went on holiday, did the person caring for her keep her separated and still feed the good foods that you did? You might want to treat for possible coccidiosis and worm her with Valbazen or SafeGuard to rule those things out. Cancer is common in hens and can cause severe weight loss. Probiotics are very good to give 2 or 3 days a weeks as well.

I once had a hen who would starve herself and not try hard to get food even though I had several feeding stations around the coop, run, and yard. She literally starved to death. When she was necropsied after, she had dry grass, tree mold, and other junk inside her gizzard and crop. She had plenty of grit, good food, and treats, but she always acted like she had to sneak around. She never was part of the flock or had a buddy, even though she was raised in the same flock.
 
Okay, thanks guys. Interesting to hear that Eggcessive had a chook that starved herself in a similar way. I will try putting in a secondary feeder when I let her back in with the rest of the flock again. For today, she is in my hospital wing eating as much as she a mash made of scrambled egg, Greek yoghurt, chick food, and a splash of ACV. Hopefully that should give her biota a bit of a boost—and she’s eating it very well, I’m seeing a lovely big crop and the gorging behaviour I’d expect to see in an underfed chicken. I’ll try fish if she gets picky again!

She was back in with the rest of the flock while we were away, so no she wasn’t having her special high protein treat rations. I do feel bad for keeping her separated for too long though, as my hospital wing isn’t very spacious. If she starts putting on weight again I might let her back with the others and pull her out every day for some treats. She is a lovely docile chook who enjoys cuddles, which is always lovely. Thanks Eden, I’ll consider extra cuddles part of her treatment, and that will definitely at least cheer me up! 😂

I’ve wormed her with piperazine—maybe that doesn’t treat as broad a spectrum as the ones Eggcessive mentions though? I hadn’t considered coccidiosis; there’s definitely no blood in her droppings and I don’t have any medication for it to hand, but maybe I should give that a go.

Thanks everyone for the advice and support—I’m still hopeful it’s something I’ll be able to treat rather than just watching her fade away.
 
Thanks for checking in. She’s definitely improving. Up to 1360g, just by keeping her locked up with chick food mash made with water, ACV and yoghurt for a few days. She’s been getting through 120g of chick food per day for about 50g of weight gain per day, so I’m happy she’s taking in a more reasonable amount and managing to convert it. She’s got a little more colour and solidity to her when I pick her up, too, although she’s still extremely thin.

Today I released her in with the main flock, after installing a second feeder out in the run. I’m planning to take her off the roost each night into the hospital wing, let her fill up on a good breakfast of chick food mash, and then let her out again for the day. (My setup makes it very difficult to nab chickens from the run during the day.) I’ll monitor her and if she’s still putting on weight, I’ll try dropping the special breakfast and see if she keeps gaining. Fingers crossed!

I observed a pink colour in her stool yesterday, so I’ve ordered some coccidiosis medication to dose her with just to make sure that’s not our problem. (Or that it hasn’t taken advantage of her weakened state to become her problem.) I haven’t got hold of a broad spectrum wormer as yet; I think I’ll see how the second feeder helps first.

Mostly I’m relieved she’s trending in a positive direction, and she’s put on enough weight that I feel like I’ve got some headroom to try a few things (like letting her out with a second feeder) without worrying she’ll perish on the spot if that means she has a flat day!
 
Just an update: Wyatt has officially doubled her weight from her skinniest, and now has a lovely sturdy keel, has good colour and a well-filled out face, and is holding her own in the flock. Once she had turned the corner, she packed on weight very quickly for a couple of weeks until she was about 150% of her skinniest, then settled down to slow and steady. Still not full standard weight, and not laying at 8 months, but I got a curtsey from her the other day, and I’ve seen her investigating the nest boxes, so I’ve got my fingers crossed!
I actually discovered a month or two ago that my flock DID have lice—nothing at all visible around the vent or under the wings, so I’d decided they were clean, but they all had masses of eggs on their heads around the earlobes, and when I eventually made the connection what the weird white feathers around their earlobes were, I spotted a live louse that confirmed it and dusted them all. Presumably lice may also have contributed to Wyatt’s failure to thrive, although I didn’t actually find any nits on her in particular. Glad I’m on top of my coop’s health now, and everyone’s doing well!

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Thanks so much for the update, and good to hear that she has gained a lot of weight. Lice usually need at least 2-3 treatments 10 days apart to get rid of them. Permethrin spray or powder is a good treatment. Don’t use if you raise bees. The coop bedding needs to be changed as well.
 

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