Sick Silkie

[MedSchlFarmers]

I am new to chickens. We got our first babies in January. I am concerned about our Black Silkie. She is 6 months old. Starting laying a few weeks ago. She laid about 8 eggs, nearly everyday, and then suddenly stopped. She laid her eggs on the floor of the coop under the roosting bars, despite our best efforts for her to lay elsewhere. She cannot get into the nesting boxes, so we made her very own box on the ground level and even put fake eggs in it. She does not use it. She has been staying up on the roosting bars all day for nearly a week now. I take her down and she eats and drink and goes right back up. No one picks on her, she has been with the larger chickens since day 1. I'll try to share anything I have noticed that might help you help me to know what to do for her.

Her feathers below her vent are slightly dirty. Her poop appears normal and formed. I have one other chicken (who is also black in color, Black Sexlink) who also has slightly dirty feathers beneath her vent. Every time I see the Black Sexlink poop it seems to be less formed and sometimes every watery. Although, I haven't seen the squirty watery poop for awhile. It isn't quite as hot as it was. Anyways, back to the Black Silkie, when I take her down she seems bothered, or maybe just cleaning herself, I'm not sure. She wipes her beak side to side on the ground, flaps her wings, and cleans her feathers under her wings. She leans her head backwards and looks up a lot too. Today she jumped off the ground and flapped her wings like she was trying to catch a bug in the air. I've never seen her do that, and then she ran across the run quickly. I tried checking the base of her feather for mites/lice, but I'm really not sure if Im missing something or not. I don't see anything obvious. She definitely does not want me to take her down from the roost, but she does tolerate it. She flaps her wings and has pecked at me twice. She is VERY docile typically. She even lets my toddler pet and hold her.

This may be irrelevant but I also have a cockerel with odd colored feathers for the breed. He is a splash maran rooster, but has reddish/brownish/gold feathers on his head, chest, and wings. I thought I would mention it in case it was staining from something and relevant to the Silkie's behavior/health.

Here is a picture of the rooster






Here is a picture of some eggs I found in the coop today. We also have a large vegetable garden very close to the chickens, and I have seen what appears to be the same eggs on the leaves of the pumpkin plant.





Thanks for any help/direction you can provide.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

She sounds like a normal silkie hen. They aren't exactly renowned for laying eggs. Sometimes chicken poop varies, but of its squirty like that I would definitely look into deworming. Worms can affect egg laying as well. But if she's acting fine and every other chicken looks relatively healthy, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MedSchlFarmers]

She sounds like a normal silkie hen. They aren't exactly renowned for laying eggs. Sometimes chicken poop varies, but of its squirty like that I would definitely look into deworming. Worms can affect egg laying as well. But if she's acting fine and every other chicken looks relatively healthy, I wouldn't worry about it.

Do you think its normal that she stays on the roost all day?