Sick Hen

[Shanshan315]

Hi,
My two year old leg horn is sick and I have no idea what’s going on. She didn’t come out when I let the flock out to roam and instead was falling asleep on the perch.
She came down for a few minutes to eat a couple sunflower seeds, but wouldn’t eat bread when offered and looked like she was about to fall asleep.

Her tail is up
No coughing
Clear eyes
No one else is sick
She’s molting
No worms in droppings

We recently added new pullets and changed everyone’s food to grower. My older girls haven’t been eating it. They stopped laying, but I’m not sure if it’s from the food or because they’ve started molting. I changed their food back.

Any ideas??

 

[Eggcessive]

Molting chickens may feel weak, be standoffish, and not eat as well as usual. That said, when one stays on the roost in the am and refuses a treat, something may be going on. How does her crop feel now—empty, full, hard, doughy, or puffy? Check it again in early morning to see if it has emptied overnight.

I would give her a dose of 2 ml of Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell to give a boost. Make sure that she is drinking water. Feed may be mixed gradually to change to a new feed. I scramble a few eggs or open a can of tuna to offer my molting chickens. Most will come running. This may be a time when you might want to get your vet to check some droppings for worms, or treat with Valbazen 1/2 tsp orally, and repeat it in 10 days.

 

[Shanshan315]

Molting chickens may feel weak, be standoffish, and not eat as well as usual. That said, when one stays on the roost in the am and refuses a treat, something may be going on. How does her crop feel now—empty, full, hard, doughy, or puffy? Check it again in early morning to see if it has emptied overnight.

I would give her a dose of 2 ml of Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell to give a boost. Make sure that she is drinking water. Feed may be mixed gradually to change to a new feed. I scramble a few eggs or open a can of tuna to offer my molting chickens. Most will come running. This may be a time when you might want to get your vet to check some droppings for worms, or treat with Valbazen 1/2 tsp orally, and repeat it in 10 days.

Thank you so much! I called the vet to see if they’ll see her. It was actually late afternoon that I let them out to free range and I didn’t notice anything unusual before then. Her comb looked and felt normal to me. I’m going to pick up the supplements you mentioned tomorrow. Hopefully it’s just molting.