[crowndale]

I think one of my girls is poorly.  there is nothing specific that i can see.  she is tucking into mash in isolation quite happily but was very reluctant to come out of the coop this morning and has basically just been standing next to the pen walls all morning.  plus she's very docile, she is a docile breed, but this is super docile, no attempts to escape me when i pick her up, no attempt to run when i put her into the pet carrier (my isolation 'room' for now).  she did appear to be holding one of her feet in a clawed position when held but she is not hobbling and it goes flat when she stands on it.  she does feel a little skinny but that could be the breed i guess or her age, certainly she's not showing signs of being off her food now and she's always been one of the more dominant chicks so am a bit concerned for her.  any ideas?  as said i cant see anything obvious.  she's a white silkie (bantam) and about 20 weeks old.  dont like to see one of my babies poorly. sniff 

[ANHBUC]

Have you wormed your hens recently with flubenvet?  If she has a burden of worms she could be still eating well but not gaining weight.

Check for parasites on her and for red mite in the coop.

If she hasn't started to lay yet it could be that she is going to and feeling a little uncomfortable.   

[crowndale]

she doesn't appear to have any pests on her or in the poop (poop all looks fine as much as poop can look fine anyway!).  she didn't eat much yesterday having made a good start on the mash i gave her, but she was removed around lunch time so may have eaten her fill before then.  she's just lethargic and extremely docile (for her).  am hoping its that shes ready to lay.  i live in hope!  I'll keep her isolated a day or two more though.  she did seem a little perkier this morning, but not much.

[ANHBUC]

Worms are not always seen in their poo.

Have you checked the distance between her pelvic bones which is an indication of ready to lay.  When laying hens have a gap of three fingers between their pelvic bones.  It possibly would be two fingers in a bantam so you could check to see what gap she has. 

You could try a warm bath for her to help relax her muscles if you think she is ready to lay and having difficulty.   Use a hairdryer on a warm setting to dry her thoroughly afterwards, they usually love it.

[crowndale]

sadly snowflake is no more.   she had some sort of infection, raging temp, very very thin, blood in her poop, and an intestinal mass.  been put to sleep this afternoon. very sad, she was just a lovely little chick bless her.

[ANHBUC]

   So sorry crowndale, snowflake was really young you would not expect something like that. 

At least it was nothing contagious and she is no longer suffering.   

[crowndale]

hoping the infection was related to teh mass but it could have been something in addition to it so am watching the other girlies carefully but they seem full of it this afternoon and none of them have lost weight (to teh naked eye anyway).  so am hopeful they'll be ok.