IS MY HEN SICK?
I hate to sound like a broken record, but my favorite hen is acting odd again. Lethargic, slow moving, ignoring treats, sitting with her feathers all puffed out even though none of the others seem to mind the weather. She layed an egg 2 days ago. Yesterday she sat on the nest for a while but no egg, but I expected no egg based on her "schedule". But sitting on the nest was a little odd. She is 2 years old and has never been broody. Her weight seems fine. She has always had large areas of skin with no feathers, or nearly no feathers so I don't think it's feather plucking. She's never molted much, either. We clipped the feathers on one wing a year ago and they haven't been replaced yet.
She acted this way a few weeks ago, but went back to normal within two days. That time she had also produced one tissue paper egg the day before. I haven't seen one like that this time.
The feathers below her vent were matted with white matter which I thought was egg residue, but perhaps not. So I brought her inside today and stood her in a dishpan of warm water and washed her under carriage. Now I have her in a box covered by a laundry basket in the laundry room where it's fairly quiet and she can dry off. She hasn't made a peep in the past half hour.
I'm not panicking, but I'm very concerned since this is the second time. When she shows absolutely no interest in eating cantaloup guts or BOSS it's very odd. She just stood there and watched the others gobble it up. Yesterday she seemed fine.
Are there some preliminary or preventive actions I should be taking? If so, what? The only medications I have on hand are vetricyn, sevin powder, electrolyes powder, and eprinex that just arrived today.
If you have any educated ideas or suggestions I'd be awfully happy to hear them.
Thanks very much.
