Crouching

NewlandHens

Hatching
Feb 26, 2017
2
0
7
One of my hens has been crouching a lot. I have read a lot of other posts here and I don't think it is because she thinks I am the rooster. When I went into the run today she was hiding in her shaded area crouching when I arrived and when I picked her up and stroked her etc she went back to crouching. She can walk although I am not sure if she is currently laying but she is usually (about 1 year old). We are in the UK and our hens have been kept in because of the avian flu risk so they are bored and we have tried to keep their interests up as much as possible with tips from here. It is also quite wet and cold here at the moment and we are losing the battle against the run being very muddy. The hens have recently been wormed. Any ideas what else the crouching could mean?

Thank you
 
I wonder is she may be eggbound. Maybe the fact that they have to be kept inside with less light (I imagine) she hasn't been laying. You may want to ask at "Emergencies, diseases, injuries, cures." Is she eating and drinking, and pooing normally. Any details you present to them will help them diagnose her. Hope she will be fine.
 
Greetings and
welcome-byc.gif
! Great to have you aboard! Hope the ER folks are able to help you out and that your hen is okay. Best wishes!
 
Hi and welcome

When you say crouched, do you mean that she is squatting low to the ground with her wings spread out a little like they do when being mated (do a search for images of chickens mating if you are not sure) or standing hunched up like she is sick or flopped down on the ground like a floppy pancake? The latter would suggest that she might be broody. I have two at the moment like that, although they are at least in the nest boxes. If your girl is low in the pecking order, she may be getting kicked out of the nest boxes by the other girls and just being broody anywhere she can..
What breed is she? Try placing an egg on the ground in front of her and see if she tucks it in underneath herself. It's not a guarantee of broodiness, but can be a good indicator and I very much doubt a sick chicken will do that, so it might at least rule out illness.
A photo might help but you need to have made a number of posts before you can include a photo I believe. Hopefully someone will confirm that.

Good luck with her and lets hope she is just broody rather than ailing.

Regards

Barbara

PS. Where in the UK are you? It helps to include info on your location on your profile page so that we can see it at a glance each time you post and saves people having to ask. Advice sometimes needs to be tailored to your location as it is relevant to weather, seasons, likely ailments and available medicines, feeds and other products that are available in your country etc..
 
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You've received some good input so I'll just say hello and thanks for joining us!
 
Thanks for your responses and sorry I started this thread in the wrong place! I will follow up on the advice first thing tomorrow.

We're in Balcombe, West Sussex.
 
You need to update your profile page with that location info. then it will be displayed every time you post, underneath your username. It helps others to give appropriate advice if they can se where you are in the world.

If you hover the cursor over your username on the left hand side of your post, you will get options, click the "View Profile" option and at the top of the profile page you will get an option that says "Edit Community Profile" If you click on that, you will then be able to input your location into your profile and then click "save"
 
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G’Day from down under NewlandHens
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Welcome!

I hope the folks on the ER forum are able to help and your gal is OK.

I also hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends
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