Poorly Chicken

sairy2005

I put this on the "Hey lets keep chickens" thread but so far have not had a reply so thought I would try again.
Can any one help with my poorly chicken. I have three chickens, a bluebell, a cross leghorn and a speckled maran. It is the maran who is poorly. She is very mopey and lethargic, I rang the breeder and she thought she may be egg bound and suggested giving her olive oil and keeping her away from the other two. She is currently in a box in the caravan where it is warm.
She doesnt seem to be getting any worse and doesnt have any signs of injury and isnt losing any feathers. She is eating very little and not drinking very much either. She was point of lay when I bought her but hasn't laid any eggs and that is about 6 weeks ago. The other two are laying about 1 egg a day each.
I have kept chickens before in the past and never had anything like this, any one have any ideas?

juliapenguin

'Egg bound'? Ouch! Poor girl. I'm assuming that's as horrid as human constipation, or like a cat struggle to bring up a furball.

Sorry, can't help - but she has my sympathy!

frosty

we used to keep chickens,its hard to say whats wrong but could she be broody?We had a hen that was off her food,we put some pot eggs in the nesting box,placed her on them and she sat on them for a day and then she started laying her own eggs.Some hens get fed up of laying especially when someone keeps swiping the eggs.:rotfl:

sairy2005

I am afraid my chicken died today. I shall never know what was wrong. She was only about 27 weeks old and had never laid an egg so I think she was sickly from the start.
I have spoken to the breeder several times (mainly to see if she could advise me) and she also has no idea. She just seemed to fade away. Stopped eating and just layed around for several days.
The breeder is going to replace her but I would rather have that one!
She was called Rose by the way so RIP Rose.

skipton

Sorry to hear about your poor chicken.

One of mine isn't well at the moment. She is still laying, eating and drinking a little but she stands with her eyes closed when they are freeranging, which is unusual for her. She keeps opening her mouth and shaking her head. I did wonder if it was gapeworm so I have started worming her.

buxtonrabbitgreen

Sorry to hear about your chicken sairy2005

Fridayschild

Hi Everyone,
Sorry to hear about Rose the chuck's demise. We have kept chickens for over 20 years now, and have had a few over the years who have just started to decline and then die.
One thing worth keeping an eye out for though, is red spider mite, which we have had once.
They are really tiny and hide in all the nooks and corners in the chicken house, come out at night and suck their blood before disappearing back into the corners. The hens become anaemic and can die. The symptoms are as you stated so it is a remote possibility so it might be worth checking your other hens for mites. If they have it you can buy dusting powder for the hens and special cleaning fluid for the house to get rid of them.
Hope that might help you or someone else.
KC