You think your chicken is ill she has her coat puffed up and is standing alone she is eating and drinking but not a lot?

Answer 1

Puffed up coat and lethargy is not much to go on, but she sounds ill.

Check her over. You will need to look at her nasal area midway up the beak. You will be looking for excess mucus (wet or dried). If you find this then two teaspoons of cider vinegar added to one gallon water for three days will help clean out mucus buildup and not harm the rest of the flock. Do not use more than recommended and do not use for longer than 3 days. Open her beak if you can and look for impacted food. She will fuss through all this handling but just tuck her under your arm or get some help to do this. If you have a separate area you can put her in I would suggest fresh bedding and a heat lamp, get some water soluble Tonic with an antibiotic. Once in a weakened condition the other birds will harass her and do more damage so a separate living area is best until she recovers. What you will be looking for with the separate bedding is the condition of her feces. Well formed with a white area shows good digestion and uric acid processing.

Loose stools are a sign of intestinal illness and a medicated diet for a few days will help.

Your local feed store will have medicated "chick" feed and it helps with adult hens who are showing digestive problems.

She may just be getting ready to either molt or go broody...both of these are natural and nothing to worry about.