Sick Bird? UPDATE

[enggass]

Ok. I have 6 birds. 3 RIR and 3 BR.
All are just over 21 weeks old - not laying yet, but I hope any day.
The RIR were the first to really develop the full, red, combs and waddles(sp?)
2 of the 3 BR have really developed over the past 4-5 days and now have larger bright red combs and waddles.

Here's the problem / worry - the 3rd BRs Comb and Waddle have not changed or developed over the past week like the others, and she is acting very depressed.
She sits in the door of the coop looking out, or inside the coop, and is not her active self. Up until just a few days ago, everything was fine with her.
This AM I brought her her own little bowl of water to make sure she was drinking(hard for me to monitor) and she had a healthy drink. Not sure how much she is eating.
She is either in a huge funk, or sick. Any ideas? Need any more details? What should I look for?
Love to hear if anyone else has experienced anything like this at this stage.
Thanks!
Steve

 

[PunkinPeep]

Did these birds grow up on your property? I'm assuming they did.

I would check her crop, make sure she's passing food through properly. If she hasn't been eating, then you would expect her crop to be pretty empty.

Next, i would feel her lower abdomen and make sure she's not trying to pass her first egg and just getting stuck.

Look her over all over - even if you don't know what you're looking for and just note if anything seems "odd."

Also, check next to her vent and under her wings and see if you see any creepy crawlies or lice knits next to the vent.

 

[enggass]

How do I check the crop?
If I do feel something in her lower abdomen, what do I do?(and where exactly do you mean?)
Thanks,
Steve

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
The lower abdomen: right above the vent - the normally squishy area between the rib cage and the vent.

If you feel something there that could possibly be an egg, i would put her in a warm bath. Sometimes an egg will get stuck, and a warm bath will help her to move that egg on out. Honestly, a warm bath can't hurt either way. Be careful with her. You want to be gentle and not take a chance of breaking the egg inside of her.

To check her crop - i simply mean to feel of it.

One definitive way to check the crop is by withholding food for 12 hours - over night or something - and then feel of the crop in the morning. At that point the crop should be pretty much empty. Food passes out of the crop, into a tube that connects to the gizzard. Sometimes, you can feel something blocking that passage at the base of the crop. If the crop has much food in it after 12 hours, you know that she is having a crop problem - impacted crop, and then you can decide how to proceed from there.

 

[enggass]

UPDATE: Went home at lunch to give the girl a once over. Checked vent - looked fine. Felt crop-have no idea what I am feeling for. No signs of mites that I can see. Took her out of the coop and on to the lawn. She seemed 'OK' still mellow, but began eating the grass, scratching and pecking at some dirt and scraping her beak some. I put her back in the run by the food. One of the RIR sort of corralled her and then pecked her hard in the head/eye area. She scrambled and ran in the coop. This combined with her behavior of sitting in the coop door and looking out makes me think maybe this is bullying? Is it normal for a runt to develop this late in the game 21+ weeks? There has been no obvious dominance or subservience displayed by anybody until now. She is acting like the runt of the flock... Ideas?

 

[grasjm36]

There is always going to be a bird thats at the bottom of the pecking order, at least in my experience. I have a large flock and those that are at the bottom tend to stick close to the coop, for whatever chicken reasons. I have some chickens that are the same exact age as yours and one of my black stars has a very small comb and waddle, very small. The other girls that are her 'sisters' almost have full combs so I think you are fine.