Sick chicken?

[Kluckners]

I’m a little concerned about my Barred Rock. She’s 20 weeks old.

Two weeks ago, she laid her first egg, a double yolker. Three days later, she laid another egg, this time a totally normal one. Then two days later, in the morning, I found a soft shell egg in the coop outside of the nest.

That was 10 days ago, and she’s laid no eggs since then. I’ve seen her in the nest a couple times briefly and heard an egg song, but no egg. She doesn’t seem to be straining though.

Even so, she has seemed her totally normal, friendly self. Eating and drinking and being very cuddly.

She’s on layer feed and has oyster shell next to her feed.

But today, she seems different. Quieter, kinda just standing still. Not sure if she’s eaten or not.

I’ve felt around for an impacted crop, but I don’t think I’ve noticed one. But I’m not 100% sure what I’m looking/feeling for. Also, I don’t feel anything egg-like near her vent, and it looks normal to me.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Kluckners]

Here she is today:

 

[Weeg]

Does her crop feel large compared to the other chickens? How long has this been going on?

 

[Kluckners]

Does her crop feel large compared to the other chickens? How long has this been going on?

Feels the same to me. Her behavior just got noticeably different today. Yesterday and even last night she seemed totally normal.

 

[aart]

Have you taken a look at her vent and felt her belly for any swelling?
Feel from just under vent to between legs, might help to compare to other birds.

When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[Kluckners]

I can't feel anything or see anything weird on here. But actually she seems much better today, I would say totally normal. Seems like she, or several of the chickens, have diarrhea, or very wet poops. Eating, drinking, walking around, scratching around.

Still a little concerned we haven't had another egg for 12 days. But I guess I just need to be patient!

 

[aart]

Are you feeding anything other than the layer feed?

Is it hot where you are?

 

[Kluckners]

Are you feeding anything other than the layer feed?

Is it hot where you are?

Not too hot, no. We're in Seattle. It was pretty hot last weekend for a few days (90s), but just 70s the last 5-6 days.

Other than layer feed, they've had a little bit of watermelon and lettuce, they've scratched and pecked around in our yard a bit, and they've got access to oyster shell.