Advice - quiet chook/not sure what to look out for.

[DaisyDiamond]

I have had my 2 garden chooks (ISA Warrens) for 18 months or so now and this is the first problem I have really had and I would appreciate any advice.

One of the girls had a quiet couple of days about a week ago so I dosed them up with Poultry Spice and she seemed fine again although for about a fortnight I have had soft/no eggs from one of the girls (I am presuming her). I gave them a good spring clean this weekend and noticed signs of mite. Disinfected and sprinkled diatom - need to get poultry shield tomorrow. Could the mites result in soft /less eggs? No egg again today. The worry is she is very quiet again this afternoon. Just got in and let them into garden, she pottered down slowly before heading back to the run, which is very unlike her. Normally she'd charge down, go mad for a treat but just had a gentle poke about today. In all other aspects she seems fine, although one night she did not want to go in - now putting that down to mites. Could the clean out have disturbed the mites and made it worse? It is almost like she is depressed. (I did wonder if they may be about to moult as there have been a number of disgarded feathers but nothing has progressed).

My other concern is, should something happen to her I know I can't keep one chicken on its own. What is the best way to deal with this - I am thinking it is not good to introduce a new girl now as I don't know what is causing this quietness but I know sometimes it is not always possible to get new chooks immediately so that could leave one alone for a while if something happens. Hopefully it wont come to this but I want to have a contingency plan. (Lesson learnt about just having 2).

Any suggestions welcomed.

[Glutton4...]

Are they ex-Batts? My Warrens are all ex-Batts, and they will occasionally go quiet for a day or so, then perk up again. Several of mine are beginning to moult now, so it could be that, or she could have other problems. Is she walking normally, or does she have the ex-Batt 'waddle?' It may, as you suspect, just be a case of the Mites - I've heard that Hens often get depressed when there is an infestation.

Good luck with her.

[jessmorris]

..is her comb very pale? If you've got a heavy mite infestation she may be very anaemic which might make her take life a bit more slowly perhaps?? (I think you'd have noticed a lot of mites before now though, though they can multiply exponentially when its hot). Just a thought,
JM

[DaisyDiamond]

Thank you for your suggestions. They aren't ex-batts and I haven't noticed a significant change in their combs/eyes. Investigating further on the Vine there are comments about chooks being quiet before laying a soft egg which she has been doing a lot recently. Thinking about it, the 2 days she has been particularly quiet she has laid a softie the next morning (rather than no egg at all). This morning and tonight she is much better and more spritely. She is currently happy as larry scratching through all the compost out of my potato grow bag

Have been to animal feed place and they did confirm that the mites can cause lethargic, quiet chooks and soft eggs. Have doused coop in Poultry Shield and Diatom tonight and dusted the girls too. Have also got stressless vitamins to give them a boost.

I am hoping she was just fed up with mite, soft egg and possibly starting to moult. I'll just have to keep an eye on them and the blasted mite!!!!!

[Nicos]

Push her calcium levels if she's been laying soft eggs.
I had to do that with my gals as they had to eat goose pellets which weren't quite right.

I added a small amount of olive oil, ground oyster shell, their own ground up shell to a porridge feed- with garlic and spice to take away the eggshell flavour- been doing it a short time and not had a soft shell for a while.