Chicken does not scratch and lays most to the day

[Chickyliz]

I have a teen (Wyandotte) chicken she’s about 5 months old, she is a lot smaller than her siblings, looks maybe like 3 month old. She eats and drinks, but she lays most of the day, she doesn’t perch like her siblings either, she’s always on the ground, she would perch at night but she has not been able to fly to the perch since 2 days ago. She is not active like her counterparts, she occasionally gets up to eat and scavenge but I’ve never seen her scratch she only does it with her beak. She also walks like if there’s a thorn on her feet, I’ve checked them multiple times and they look fine. Also she is at bottom of pecking order and she sometimes gets picked on as she is of small size. I’ve checked her body for bumps and anything out of ordinary and everything seems normal. She doesn’t seem lethargic except for the part where she just lays on the floor most of the day. She sometimes shakes while standing. Help! I want to heal her.

 

[nuthatched]

If she is stunted or failure to thrive, she'll likely never get better an not live past a year. I'm sorry

 

[LizzzyJo]

Does she feel meaty or bonier than the others? What does her breathing sound like? Is she sneezing?

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Poor girl, something is definitely off. Are you sure she is getting enough to eat and drink and the others are not scaring her off? What's her diet like? Is her poop normal? Have you checked for parasites?

You might never know what's wrong and she may not survive, but to give her the best shot I'd start giving her some extra nutrition. 1/4 of a vitamin B-complex tablet and an E pill with some scrambled egg for a couple days can help with some walking/nerve issues. If she doesn't seem to be eating enough I would try making a wet mash with the crumbles/pellets or adding some yogurt or tuna or whatever she shows interest in.

 

[Chickyliz]

I

Does she feel meaty or bonier than the others? What does her breathing sound like? Is she sneezing?

she has very little meat and feels a little bony but she feels like a small runt on skinnier side. No sneezing or breathing abnormally.

 

[Chickyliz]

Poor girl, something is definitely off. Are you sure she is getting enough to eat and drink and the others are not scaring her off? What's her diet like? Is her poop normal? Have you checked for parasites?

You might never know what's wrong and she may not survive, but to give her the best shot I'd start giving her some extra nutrition. 1/4 of a vitamin B-complex tablet and an E pill with some scrambled egg for a couple days can help with some walking/nerve issues. If she doesn't seem to be eating enough I would try making a wet mash with the crumbles/pellets or adding some yogurt or tuna or whatever she shows interest in.

I isolate her a few days out of the week to make sure she is eating enough. She does eat not a lot but does peck at food as well when she’s in the coop with the group I see her eating. I forced fed her some vitamin today, vitamin b complex, selenium and garlic. I also gave her a bit of egg but she didn’t eat all of it. She really likes to graze on grass so I let her do that. I also noticed a few mites near the vent so I made a homemade spray of water, veg oil, garlic oil, oregano, thyme, and eucalyptus, I sprayed her tail area and skin.. after I sprayed her she didn’t want to lay, maybe it was stinging her a bit. She entertained most of the afternoon after that by grazing. Do wet her food she seemed like she would enjoy it more but she didn’t seem to eat a lot today. I also don’t hear her breathing funny or no wheezing sounds, doesn’t seem to have respiratory issues. Poop is also normal I’ve followed her around a couple times and poop seems normal, I don’t know if poop size matters but he poops seem small almost like a weeks old chick, today after feeding vitamins and isolating the poop seemed a little bigger in size. Diet is pellets/ scratch and crumble and kitchen scraps. She tried to get on a low perch that’s maybe 1 foot high and she couldn’t, her beak barely went over the bar. So she is getting weaker, she used to be able to perch on a 3.5 ft high perch. Will try again tomorrow. I’ll try to give her vitamin E also, thank you.
PS: give her oregano oil pills in the last week and ordered DE for dust bath.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I also noticed a few mites near the vent so I made a homemade spray of water, veg oil, garlic oil, oregano, thyme, and eucalyptus, I sprayed her tail area and skin.. after I sprayed her she didn’t want to lay, maybe it was stinging her a bit.

Mites will suck the life out of a bird. Get rid of them by using a Permethrin based dust or spray. These can be found at most feed stores. She didn't lay down, because likely the mites were biting her from being spray with the remedy.
Check the rest of your birds as well. It'd be a good idea to treat their housing and especially focus on areas in side the coop where this pullet lays down a lot instead of roosting.

How much Selenium are you giving and what's it for?

I'd work on her eating chick starter. Get a fecal float to see if Coccidiosis and worms are part of the problem. If they are, then treat her with Corid and Safeguard.
Check to make sure her crop is emptying.
In the meantime, I'd give her 1/4 tablet B-Complex, it probably won't hurt anything, but if you end up treating for Coccidiosis, omit it until you finish treatment.

 

[Chickyliz]

Mites will suck the life out of a bird. Get rid of them by using a Permethrin based dust or spray. These can be found at most feed stores. She didn't lay down, because likely the mites were biting her from being spray with the remedy.
Check the rest of your birds as well. It'd be a good idea to treat their housing and especially focus on areas in side the coop where this pullet lays down a lot instead of roosting.

How much Selenium are you giving and what's it for?

I'd work on her eating chick starter. Get a fecal float to see if Coccidiosis and worms are part of the problem. If they are, then treat her with Corid and Safeguard.
Check to make sure her crop is emptying.
In the meantime, I'd give her 1/4 tablet B-Complex, it probably won't hurt anything, but if you end up treating for Coccidiosis, omit it until you finish treatment.

Working on treating the housing, she still roosts, I just manually put her up there, there’s no safe place for her to sleep on the floor.
I gave her a few vitamins and minerals to boost her rehab.