My chicken keeps lying down in the corner of her house?

[MariaVanS]

Earlier today I noticed that one of my chickens, Harley, was lying down in the corner of her house. She lay there for about 2 or 3 hours before getting up and walking around a little bit again. When I approached her, she stood up a little bit, but her tail feathers were low, and facing downwards. She is also less interested in food. The other chicken, Hazel always comes to me when I'm bringing them food, and tried to gobble it up as quickly as she can, while Harley either takes none, or only a little bit.

I returned to her later, and she seemed to be perfectly fine. She still didn't seem to be interested in food, but apart from that she looked as though she hadn't been acting strange in the first place.

I gave them some Blackcurrant berries today, I keep thinking that it's why Harley is acting like she's sick. I popped one of the berries by accident one time, and a small tiny white worm came wriggling out. Maybe this worm was in one of the berries I fed her? I doubt it, though. Hazel ate quite a lot of the berries, and she seems fine.

I took two pictures of her so you can see if there are any details that I missed out on.

 

[azygous]

You are right. Harley is sick. The way you describe her behavior, tail held low, lack of appetite, wanting to curl up near a fence, all points to a chicken who doesn't feel well.

No, it's not likely the berries or even a worm caused this. But it's not going to be easy diagnosing her.
Feel her crop. If it's a yeast infection, the crop will be full and squishy. If she has an impaction, it will be empty except for a hard rock-like lump. These are common causes for illness.


A lot of the time, chickens will take sick and it will resolve itself in time. Other times, the chicken will get worse, and an antibiotic is needed to reverse it. Sometimes it's not bacterial but a virus, and antibiotics aren't any help.


I'm no vet. I have no avian vets around my area. So I need to make the call myself when I think one of my chickens needs an antibiotic. I keep them on hand, and it's saved the life of several.

In lieu of an antibiotic, you can try to boost your hens nutritional levels with Poultry Nutri-drench, boiled egg and Greek yogurt, and other highly nutritious special foods and hope she can fight it off and recover. I hope she can.

 

[Teila]

Hey there MariVansS

I agree with azygous and would start with ruling out a crop issue.

If all is good there, I would move onto an egg laying issue. Do you know the last time she laid an egg? Any chance she could be egg bound?

I would also check for parasites mites/lice.

Do you worm your chickens?

How are her poops? Normal, runny etc?

PS. Welcome to BYC! I wish the circumstances in which you join us were nicer.

 

[MariaVanS]

Thank you so much azygous, and Teila for the suggestions.
I really don't know very much about chickens, so I'm not sure if when I went to feel the crop if I was doing it in the right place or not, or what it's normally supposed to feel like.
She kept running away from me, but I am not sure if I was actually able to feel her crop, or if I was just feeling the feathers in front of it, but from what you have told me, she probably has a yeast infection.