Sleepy chicken, totally stumped

[SBaltz]

I am stumped... I have a small flock of 6 in mid northern CA, (Dixon specifically), and just over 10 days ago my 1 year old Barred Rock started showing signs of extra sleepiness during the daytime. I would not say lethargic, just falling asleep a lot. She is easy to wake, is eating, drinking, laying (although not as often as she was prior to this) and her poop looks fine. No blood, no signs of worms that we can see, her tail is normal looking (she is holding it up like the others), but she is slower, has lost weight and seems to struggle to stay awake. I gave her boiled eggs, started a treatment of corrid (am on the 14 day 1/2tsp per gallon end of it) and today gave her a de wormer start of valbazen, in case it is worms. She shows no symptom of what I can find of being egg bound, her crop feels normal and no foul breath. Her abdomen is squishy, but every now and then she will lay a soft shell egg (not since she showed the sleepy signs). they mostly free range and to my knowledge have not experienced predator threats that would cause stress.
This behavior is not normal for her, what am I missing?? In addition to the sleepiness, she has lost weight, so I want to get protein in her to gain weight. But as it is getting hot here, I don’t want to put her into stress with too much protein. That plus this sleepiness element has me totally stumped. She doesn’t seem to be showing symptoms of internal laying and we could find no evidence of mites. What else could be causing the sleepiness?

 

[HappyDuckie]

Is she sleeping just randomly around the yard? If she were staying in a egg box, I would assume she could be going broody. But other than that, I don't know what could be going on. I hope someone else can help you!

 

[SBaltz]

Is she sleeping just randomly around the yard? If she were staying in a egg box, I would assume she could be going broody. But other than that, I don't know what could be going on. I hope someone else can help you!

She is falling asleep in random places around the yard. Her favorite spot today was in my arms while I was feeding her the valbazen mush crumble. She is usually by our back door where we have a second water bowl for them, or around in the yard. she talks to the nesting boxes but hasn’t shown signs of camping out in them beyond her normal egg laying times, when she does go to lay.

 

[Tonyroo]

Have you classified the types of plants in your backyard to make sure it's not poisonous to your chickens. Cause sometimes they will eat it, if they recover from it they know to avoid it next time.

 

[SBaltz]

Have you classified the types of plants in your backyard to make sure it's not poisonous to your chickens. Cause sometimes they will eat it, if they recover from it they know to avoid it next time.

I hadn’t thought on that being the cause, but yes, I have mostly (Made sure to keep poisonous plants away). I will go through a list again and see if maybe there are some on there I missed. She has tended to leave the plants alone, but might have gotten into one I didn’t know of.. thank you for the suggestion!

 

[SBaltz]

Is there any chance that her weight loss is causing the sleepiness?

 

[JynxJay]

Could it be the heat? My black hen shows more signs of excess heat than my other girls. I also have 6 and am on the West Coast. Personally, I have been napping in the heat of the day and eating less, and those are normal behaviors for the sudden change in the weather we've had lately, so I wonder if she just needs to acclimatize. If she is larger or fluffier than your other hens, she might be hotter, or it might be too much time out of the shade. I'm not an expert, but think that is a logical answer.

 

[SBaltz]

Could it be the heat? My black hen shows more signs of excess heat than my other girls. I also have 6 and am on the West Coast. Personally, I have been napping in the heat of the day and eating less, and those are normal behaviors for the sudden change in the weather we've had lately, so I wonder if she just needs to acclimatize. If she is larger or fluffier than your other hens, she might be hotter, or it might be too much time out of the shade. I'm not an expert, but think that is a logical answer.

It might be, but I am not sure. She started this behavior almost two weeks ago, before the extreme heat change, and she is our littlest. I am watching and checking on her almost hourly, and working to get more food and protein in her, I hope that gaining weight will help. She feels significantly underweight And I am not sure why.

 

[JynxJay]

If she were mine, I think I would bring her into an air conditioned room for a day (in her old brooder), give her cold fruit to nibble, and see if it makes a difference in her behavior. I am farther North than you are, but two weeks ago we had a heat wave here, then rain for a week or more, and now record highs. It's been really hard to adjust. I hope she is okay.

 

[SBaltz]

Update: I think the culprit is the food change. I changed them from crumble to pellets because she (our sleepy girl) was dumping the crumble everywhere in the run and making a mess. They all seemed to take well to the change in food style, but when I tested in with her the other day, she turned away from it, which explains the weight loss. I put them back on crumble and she proceeded to gobble it up, and make a mess on the ground. She seems less sleepy, and I am thinking it is due to being underweight and not enough nutrition. She is starting to regain weight and shows no indication of other problems. I could be wrong, but unless something else becomes apparent, I am hopeful this is the cause.