Silkie not eating

[joelysilkie]

Hi,

My silkie is roughly 8 months old. She is usually very lively, running around and playing with the other chickens. However, she has not eaten for 3 days, is always last out of the coop in the morning and when she's out she usually sits alone and doesn't move around much. I have checked her over, her crop feels okay and the same as my other 2 birds, I've checked her vent and it all looks clean and I've felt under her belly and cannot feel or see any sign of an egg. Her beak is clean and hers eyes are open and there's no sign of mites or parasites. I really don't know what I can do or what might be wrong with her. These girls are my pets and I would be devastated if anything were to happen to them so any advice on what might be wrong or what I could do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[azygous]

If it's not crop issues, then it could be anything from constipation to cancer.

In between those extremes are enough chicken diseases to require weeks of reading to learn about them all.

Injuries such as a puncture wound can cause infection and not be readily noticed. You need to examine her skin under her feathers from beak to foot for reddening or swelling. When you get to the feet, look for black scabs. That signifies a possible staph infection.

Isolate the hen for a period and examine her poops. Watery, yellow poops can indicate a bacterial infection from a number of different things. If your hen is holding her tail low and flat, it could mean she's in pain, or at least, feeling sick. If she doesn't poop or it's straight water, she could be constipated or have an impacted crop. She could also be egg bound.

When I have a hen showing symptoms of a bacterial infection, I put her on a round of a broad spectrum antibiotic. This often gets her feeling well again pretty quickly, and at the same time telling me she probably had a bacterial infection.

This side of taking her to an avian vet, I'm afraid that's about all we can do to help.