Sick Chicken This Morning

[jolenesdad]

Hi all-

Ive got a 15 month old Wyandotte chicken that is incredibly lethargic this morning.

I am in TX where we just have been going through a heat wave. All the chickens have been fine thus far. My 15-17 month old chickens seem to be starting their first molts. (Is this early??) I haven't gotten an egg from either of my wyandotte or my barred rock chickens in two weeks, and they've been losing feathers for a week or more. All other behaviors normal.

This particular chickens comb has been pale for the last 4-5 days as well. All signs I thought were showing a molt, but this is my first time having a chicken molt.

This morning when I opened the coop door she was laying down blocking it. I can occasionally handle her, but she doesn't prefer it. She let me pick her up and move her and she didn't move. she picks her head up, is sort of panting, but they all are in this heat.

She has moved twice over to the feed and water but is laying there in the feed bowl or next to the water, not moving, but breathing.

What steps should I take at this point. If she is molting, could she even be egg bound? Wheres the best information for me if she is egg bound on what to do? Could she not be molting and those signs are all a signal of something else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[micstrachan]

Just to be clear... she is one of the Wyandottes who has not laid in weeks and is molting?

 

[micstrachan]

The molt combined with the heat will be hard on her. My understanding is that he exposure affects our cumulative. Can you bring her inside to an air conditioned building today? I would also put electrolytes in all of their water for a day or two. And for the moltors, a protein supplement can help. Good luck!

 

[jolenesdad]

Yes, sorry about that. The sick chicken this morning is the Wyandotte that I have thought is molting and has the pale comb and have not had an egg from in a while.

 

[micstrachan]

Hens do not typically lay while molting. My girls feel pretty lousy and drop weight while molting, and don’t like to be handled. Can you show us a photo of her body language?

 

[Rosypetals]

She is most likely molting, but did you check if she was egg bound? That will cause chickens to become extremely lethargic, and she is still within her fists year of laying.

 

[jolenesdad]

I just got her and put her in a wire dog crate in an air conditioned room. When I got her and brought her in she appears alert but lethargic. Doesn’t want to move. I placed her on the grass to take a photo.

In the shaded grass she immediately started to doze off.
I just uploaded three photos let me try and post.

 

[jolenesdad]

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• jolenesdad
• Jul 29, 2018

Trying to rest in shade

F85FCF4A-39BF-457E-9FDF-3D2BEE9611B9

• jolenesdad
• Jul 29, 2018

Alert mentally but lethargic and laying on grass not wanting to move

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• jolenesdad
• Jul 29, 2018

In coop - she moved six feet from the door to here.

 

[micstrachan]

Oh, wow. She’s BEAUTIFUL! Well, I’m not sure. I would have thought molt, but she looks sick like that. Just these past two weeks had a hen I thought was dying. Treated her with antibiotics since she had symptoms of an oviduct infection and she seemed to respond. However, just a couple days ago she started molting pretty heavily. I assumed this was a stress reaction to her illness, but will probably never know with absolute certainty.
Can your hen stand and walk ok? What does her body language look like when she roosts? Also, how much feather loss is there? I can’t see any.

 

[jolenesdad]

No she cannot stand and walk well st all and she doesn’t try. After laying in the grass she took three or four steps. She doesn’t roost. If I lay her straight down on the ground she goes to one side until I straighten her. She will have been in the ac thirty minutes soon I’ll see if there’s any change at all.

She doesn’t have much noticeable feather loss on the body, she just sheds lots when she shakes or dust baths they are all over.