Young chicken not thriving

[schoolathomemom]

We have 5 young pullets, approx. 4 months old, and one just seems to want to sleep all the time. We had 6, but have already had one die. This one, a RIR, shows very little activity. When I check on her, she is usually always sleeping, whether in the coop or out in the run. She does seem to eat okay, but otherwise hardly moves around. When she does move, I do not see any problems with her walking. I have not seen her drinking, so I have dropper fed her some. We medicated the water with Sulmet and I want to make sure she is getting some of it. We have also given vitamins and electrolytes, and are putting dewormer in the food. She seems to be losing some of the feathers around both eyes. Some of the other feathers were a little hard and looked wet at the tips. They felt like something sticky had dried on them. I don't have any idea what might be the problem and have no more ideas about what to do for her. Our other 4 seem healthy and active.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Some chickens just don't thrive.
Provide excellent ventilation, a good quality fresh poultry feed designed for the age of the bird. fresh water, probiotics and if it doesn't go well, unless you get lab work, there's no way of knowing what's wrong.

 

[shortgrass]

Some chickens just don't thrive.
Provide excellent ventilation, a good quality fresh poultry feed designed for the age of the bird. fresh water, probiotics and if it doesn't go well, unless you get lab work, there's no way of knowing what's wrong.

I can't stress this enough. Fresh water and probiotics. Fermented feed, raw apple cider vinegar, electrolytes and vitamins... Cooked egg yolk can help immensely, as can oatmeal and yogurt; its a good bland diet, and with probiotics, nutrient absorption will increase dramatically. The stomach is one of the biggest parts of the immune system, and good bacteria in the digestive tract are critical to health.

IMO, failure to thrive is not just genetically predisposed, its affected by the environment, ie, the husbandry of the bird as a whole.

If it IS a pathogen she is susceptible to, and the others are not, she may need culled. But getting them all at peak performance should help narrow it down.

 

[woodnt]

Just to follow up on this. My wife is the OP, posting while I was away.

She took the pulley to the vet who diagnosed her with Newcastle. He then took her and euthanized her followed by cremation. He then told us to destroy our other birds. I started another thread on this disbelieving the Newcastle diagnosis after reading up on it. BYC posters agreed not Newcastle so we may have needlessly lost our girl.

We were told it is likely Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) as the symptoms fit and they were from Ideal Poultry which is not MG-free. We were advised once again to cull.

We decided not too do so as our neighbor's chickens are likely infected, too, and are only 20 feet away (and escape sometimes). Plus, all chickens around here are from Ideal as they are just 30 mins down the road.

The rest are healthy right now and we have some Denagard on order for if there is a stressor leading to a flair.