Very lethargic chicken

[macbow]

Our chickens are 23 weeks old. They are free ranged most of the day. One of them tonight is really lethargic. We are chicken newbies...so don't know anything about anything. She is an ISA brown. Any ideas?

Wife was dumping some old plants out of buckets and she said they were feasting on worms that came out of them. Is it possible that she picked up a piece of fertilizer that was in there? Can that hurt them? It would be organic fertilizer.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I have a few questions, I don't think the fertilizer would cause this. My chickens free range all day long and eat anything appetizing. I have 1/2 an acre of perennials that they free range through.

Where are you located or what was the temperature today?... I'm thinking heat exhaustion if it was hot.
Has she started laying yet?... Is her tail down?... This could be a sign of egg bound.
Do you provide grit?
Did you check for mites or lice?

 

[macbow]

We are just located an hour north of Dallas/Ft Worth. Weather has been extremely mild the last few days. Highs in high 70's to low 80's, lows in high 50's to low 60's.

All our chickens are laying, but yesterday was the first day we got 10 eggs from 10 chickens.

We don't specifically provide grit. They free range a large part of the day. Figured they would pick up most stuff they need during the day. Plenty of gravel around here. They have organic starter/grower crumble free choice in their run which they tend to visit during the day. We also have free choice oyster shell available at all times.

Have not checked for lice or mites. These are the first chickens we have had, so was thinking those problems wouldn't be prevalent to begin with.

Last night she all of a sudden took a big dump then wanted to go back to her coop and ran down the hill and went in and roosted. We thought she might be good, but this morning she is still listless. Ate a few meal worms. Is foraging around slowly. Poop is mostly dark green. Drank when we gave her water.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Check for lice and mites. They get this from free ranging from the wild bird or if a new member comes to the flock that already has them.
Have you added any electrolytes to the water? Usually this is needed on hot days but this would be something I would add as a just in case.