Why is her chest protruding?

[Wannabefarmer256]

She is lethargic and does not want to eat, barely drinking. Tried feeling for her crop but all I can feel is what seems to be her chest bone, which is protruding.

 

[azygous]

There may be several reasons why she isn't eating.But if she's hasn't eaten in several days, it may be time to tube feed her to avoid her dying of starvation.

How old is she? Has she been laying eggs until just now? What does her poop look like? Is there a watery discharge from her vent?

 

[Wannabefarmer256]

There may be several reasons why she isn't eating.But if she's hasn't eaten in several days, it may be time to tube feed her to avoid her dying of starvation.

How old is she? Has she been laying eggs until just now? What does her poop look like? Is there a watery discharge from her vent?

I got her from a farm last month… they said she was maybe 6 months old but weren’t entirely sure. She has not laid any eggs since I got her. She has been isolated in a coop all day to keep the other birds from bothering her. Only saw two poops from her and they were both very small but normal looking. Her vent looked clean, butt feathers are clean, too. How do you tube feed?

 

[azygous]

You will need a tubing kit for a small animal, obtainable from a vet or online. The tube should be at least nine inches long. You insert the tube into the beak and then into the crop. Once the tube is in place, you syringe the liquid food into the chicken.

When you get the tubing and syringe, I will give you more detailed instructions. Tube feeding is only for a day or two until the chicken has enough strength to eat on her own.

Have you observed her behavior with the other chickens? Or is she the only chicken you have? The most common cause of starvation in such a young chicken is bullying, making the new chicken feel undeserving of time at the feeder. If this is the case, this pullet will need to be reintegrated. I also have detailed instructions on that, as well.

 

[Wannabefarmer256]

Thank you! I found instructions for torpedo feeding while looking for a tube feeder, so I did that. She was one of a group of 8 that were integrated with an existing flock of 6. But she is definitely on the low end of the pecking order so it is possible they’ve been keeping her from eating much. Not sure how to figure that out as I’m working most of the day…or keep it from happening…

 

[azygous]

I've never heard of "torpedo feeding". Want to share how it's accomplished?

If you can rig a safe enclosure for your pullet, you would need only to place her in it with food and water before you go to work and then when you return home in the evening, put her in the coop to roost with the others. Here is a write up of my integration technique. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/

It would involve brief supervised mingling with the flock which you might do at the end or start of her day in lieu of doing it for brief periods during the day. On weekends, you could supervise these during the day.

 

[Wannabefarmer256]

Oh that’s a good idea, thank you! For torpedo feeding, you grind the feed into powder then mix with raw egg to get a dough-like consistency. Then you roll it into pill shape (torpedos, lol) and push it toward the back of the chicken’s mouth, and down the hatch it goes. Worked very well for me. Hoping doing this a few times will recover her strength and that there isn’t some underlying health issue…

 

[azygous]

Torpedoes! Awesome! Get some Poultry Nutridrench and mix a few drops into the recipe for a complete nutrition.