Sick young chicken laying down, won't stand up, looks sick????

[oliviaandjosh4]

I have a 3 month old barred rock pullet. She is pretty small compared to the other chickens her age.
She has been acting different for about a week - walks kind of slow, keeps to herself - but just within the past two days it has gotten worse.
Yesterday, I let them out to free range (17 total in pen all within a week or two of each other) and noticed she was under coop laying on her side asleep. Her eyes opened when I walked up to her so I picked her up and put her out of the run on some grass. She just stood there for a minute hunched up, feathers kind of low to the ground, and then she would peck at the grass and then went to sleep again. So I put her back in coop.
We decided to separate her and start her on antibiotics to be safe. Today, she is laying down and will not stand up. She does not open her eyes to noise like she did yesterday. It is like she is in a deep sleep. She did open her eyes when my husband picked her up though.

What could be wrong with her & what can we do??

We feed a mix of purina medicated starter/grower and dumor starter/grower. They always have plenty of food. And we let them free range supervised for about 30 min or so a day.
They have access to grit and water at all times. We keep wheat straw in the run and coop to minimize flies from droppings.

Also, I did notice yesterday she had runny droppings. Not strange in color, no blood.

PLEASE HELP!!

 

[Rowsdower]

Dumor starter/grower is unmedicated. It sounds like Coccidiosis to me. If you were mixing up the feeds, she likely wasn't getting a therapeutic dose of the amprolium in the Purina.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

That makes no sense. We JUST started feeding medicated and none of the others chickens are sick or acting different. I didn't want to feed medicated because I prefer the more natural method of raising chickens, but it was all the feed store had so we bought it.
I usually do not feed medicated to young chicks and have no problems.

 

[Rowsdower]

That makes no sense. We JUST started feeding medicated and none of the others chickens are sick or acting different. I didn't want to feed medicated because I prefer the more natural method of raising chickens, but it was all the feed store had so we bought it.
I usually do not feed medicated to young chicks and have no problems.

I respect your choice to try to limit medications, I try to do so myself. But medicated chick starter contains amprolium, which simply inhibits the uptake of thiamine. It isn't like an antibiotic, which you are admittedly giving her. The chick is the PRIME age for Coccidiosis, right at the age when most folks are giving their birds lots of exposure to the outside world. Cocci live in the dirt, more concentrated in areas where there are/have been livestock and almost ALL birds have some level of it in their digestive tract. The way that amprolium works is that the parasite requires thiamine to reproduce. By limiting the chick's uptake, the cocci cannot breed and eventually run their course and die off. When did you start feeding the medicated? It's possible that the chick is experiencing the associated lethargy, but you started the medicated feed before the bloody poos began.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

There are no bloody droppings. They are runny and yellow greenish but no blood. Started medicated about 2 weeks ago or so.

 

[Rowsdower]

How long have they been outside in the yard? No discharge from eyes or nose? Where did you get her?

 

[TheRambler]

It indeed sounds like cocci, could also be mites or worms. I would run a 5 day treatment of corid for the flock and see if there is any improvement. Bloody droppings are in the final and most severe stages of cocci at that point it can almost be too late to treat sometimes. Also, mixing medicated feed wont give the proper doseage to prevent cocci.

I would inspect her thoroughly for mites and lice as well. Also inspect poo for worms, though that is not a sure bet they are worm free. If no improvement from corid then i would try a wormer. Chances are its mid stage cocci, "ideal" age for it, and symptoms match. Corid is a harmless treatment, no harm at all in trying it. It is not an antibiotic, it blocks the uptake of nutrients by the cocci so that they die off. The cocci and or worms are straling the birds nutrients from what she eats thereby making her weak and lethargic.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

No discharge from eyes or nose. Got from a local poultry seller that is NPIP certified. The 5 others I bought from there as well are fine except for one that wound up dying I think because it had a scissor beak and possibly wasn't getting enough food.
We had them outside since it was warm enough to put them out. First we had them in an above ground pen, but they have been on the ground in a pen for about 4 weeks I'd say.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Here is what the chicken looked like yesterday evening before we decided to separate it

 

[Rowsdower]

She's definitely exhibiting the tell-tale cocci hunch...though any number of things could make her do that, I guess. Is she crying? I would, as the above poster suggested, get them on a course of corid.