Sick pullet?...

[CCchickens]

I'm probably worrying about nothing, but recently one of my ISA brown pullets has been acting a bit funny...

It keeps closing its eyes and dozing while still standing up (probably nothing unusual, although I did notice a similar thing in one of my LS pullets days before its died unexpectedly), and today it suddenly lost its balance and sort of fell on its side. It did this every couple of steps, as though it seemed dizzy or something, then stood in the corner of the pen for a bit.

Minutes later it was walking around and pecking again, looking healthy as anything. Is it possibly sick?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Have you noticed any other symptoms? What does her poop look like? Is she laying ? Has there been any mucous around her nasal passage? Has she had any vaccinations. How old is she?

 

[CCchickens]

I (stupidly) didn't check what vaccinations they had had when I bought them...they came from a breeder who I hadn't bought from before, but I know others who have and haven't had any problems...
Poop?....

....I have 9 chickens with her and as far as I can see all the poop in the pen and run look fairly normal...

I checked for mucous, but her nasal passage seems to be clear...
BTW shes 18 weeks old, and one of the chickens just started laying this week (

)...dont know if it was her though...
Today shes looking healthy as the rest again, except for just occasionaly dozing of to sleep in the run...

 

[Eggcessive]

You might try giving everyone some vitamins and electrolytes in their water in case it is a vitamin problem. Also check for the presence of mites, lice, and worms. Coccidiosis can cause some of the symptoms that you describe, and if she came from another farm recently, she may have been exposed to a different strain of cocci. What do you use to treat that with in Australia, amprollium?

 

[CCchickens]

I'm not sure what is most commonly used to treat coccidiosis...I have heard of Baycox being used, but i'm not sure what this contains...
Coccidiosis will spread through a flock won't it??......

 

[Eggcessive]

Here people will use Corid (amprollium) usually, then Sulmet, which tends to be hard on their kidneys and only good to treat 3 strains of coccidia.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Aristopet have a product that is available in Australia . It's called sulphadim. Most pet shops should have it.

 

[CCchickens]

Thanks...I'll check it out...
BTW below is a picture of the chicken we suspected originally...she generally looks fairly alert now though, and we saw her poop and it was completely normal...
However the photo below that is of a poo that was in the coop....not sure who was the culprit, but it does not look healthy at all!!!

Still think it could be coccidiosis?

 

[Fancychooklady]

That almost looks like egg or yolk matter. It certainly wouldn't hurt to treat for cocci.though.

 

[CCchickens]

Oh...can they "poo" out that sort of thing when they begin or just before they begin laying???
Also, I've noticed other chickens acting sleepy now...is that nothing to worry about?
(sorry bout all the questions....I'm new to this stuff)