EE change in behavior (Should I be concerned?)

[PhantomSlayer]

(Older picture) Our EE Goldy (The girl in the back by the chicken door) Has had an odd change in behavior. I'm trying not to concern myself to much since she doesnt seem "sick" but it brought up some questions about the change.

First off I feel like I haven't seen any of her bluish green eggs in the past month. (We don't keep their eggs I feed them back to them.) I know its winter here and we just got a snowstorm so she may just be done laying for now. But we are strangely getting a very light colored tan egg thats almost white every once in a while. And our breeds aside from her are only buff orpingtons, black australorps, gold lace wyandotte and a light brahma. I heard its very rare for chickens to change the color of her eggs but is it possible? Or is it possible that our light brahma is just now laying eggs. I've never actually been able to catch the brahma right off the nesting box I've only finally caught her on the nesting box once two weeks ago but she was laying on a couple brown eggs so not to sure if she could be the light colored egg layer or not.

Aside from not seeing her egg color in a while. With the snow storm I was going out multiple times a day to refresh water but Goldy would resist harshly going outside to even eat.. She was never that friendly but she acts more like a raptor out of any of them now. I guess you can say she acts like its the end of the world when I try going near her. Before she would just keep her distance but now shes really noisy and freaking out when I go near running to the corners. Does winter laying stopping change behaviors?

Yesterday during feeding she finally came out but it seems that our gold lace wyandotte and the brahma went to peck her when she tried to eat with them which brought about the possibility. Maybe her role in the pecking order has changed and now shes at the very bottom? I always thought our runt was bottom of the pecking order is our white leg tag black australorp in the picture. The one with two different size wattles and staring toward the camera lol But anyways. Thoughts on the behavior change?

Change in pecking order? Or could it be a laying/weather change or perhaps a health change?

I don't know how pecking order works very well but if I had to assume something thats more likely with the behavior change is maybe because shes stopped laying their pushing her out which is making her anxious and causing her to act less confident and scared. But this is our first winter with chickens so I was hoping to get more experienced opinions on if I'm right or if I should be watching for anything specific about her change.

If it helps theres been a change in sleeping habits as well. She now joins the brahma and the runt on the other side of the coop on the nesting box. She used to sleep wherever our rooster was.

Shes a pretty girl. I just wish her personality was a little more friendly lol. I call her one of our problem chickens. Shes almost always the one to remain outside the coop after free range time. She wont go in for normal food only bird seed XD

Incase of wondering. The buff orpington in front with the yellow leg tag is our friendly girl Rosemary. She was being little miss nosey and I have several other pictures of her being at the front like that blocking the view lol.

 

[aart]

How old are these birds, in months?
Yes, pecking orders can change during molting season.
Maybe add another feed/water station.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

@aart Their all less than a year old for sure. Um... I don't have the exact dates with me right this moment lol so im not 100% positive But if I remember correctly....

Buff orpington, gold lace wyandotte and black australorps are all march babies. Not 100% sure on day. I think it was 24th. So thats about 8 months and maybe a week or so? lol

Brahma is almost 2 weeks older than the two EE which one EE is our rooster. The EE were recieved april 27th i think? I think they were a day or two old when we got them.

I havn't noticed any significant change in feathers but I could just be missing it. I don't get up close to half of the birds because they keep their distance.

 

[aart]

Some pullets will have a soft molt their first fall/winter.
Some pullets will lay all thru their first fall/winter others may not.

No eggs will not change color, unless a green egg goes blue, or a brown egg goes white, due to lack of coating.

How many birds do you have, in how much space(feet by feet)?
Do they free range every day?

 

[texsuze]

I was going to ask the same question: how much space to these girls routinely have when confined? And how much free-range time is available? Space in which to move about and do their chicken things without constant pestering, pressure or contact from flockmates is essential to their well being.

My 1 1/2 year olds have just finished their first heavy molt. Personality changes and some pecking order changes have taken place during that time. Things are still sorting themselves out.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

She may be going through a soft molt then. After returning home from grocery shopping today I went out to feed and was watching them longer than usual because we got timothy hay cubes while out and wanted to see if our geese would eat it soaked but that doesnt seem to be a immediate concern as they went straight for their crumble mix lol.

Anyways as I was standing there Goldy came from the extended run and I noticed she had a 2 feathers hanging off her chest. I guess I've heard so many molt stories about bald patches that I thought it would be easier to notice.

We have 10 chickens and 2 geese.

Space wise..... No idea lmao hmm. I believe the coop size wise its two 5 x 3 metal sheds attached to each other. Theres a partial wall in between both so I figure thats why the not so high on the pecking order birds are sleeping on the nesting boxes in one and the rest on the roosts in the other side..

Run size is harder.... I really cannot remember since its a dog kennel with half a wall of chain link taken off and then extended beyond that with the chicken wire and metal posts we had left over from a past garden. Topped with green netting.

Free range is a can of warms between my mother and I... I dunno if you wanna hear the drama I face to try free ranging the birds my mother bought but I do all the bird care for.

To me their a food source. To her their pretty much unwanted pets now.

My mom continues to buy store eggs and chicken despite the reason for chickens was for our own eggs and meat.

I try to let them out when I feel like I can handle the backlash. Is the short answer.


~Extended in-depth drama incase anyone curious~

Funny we bought them for eggs and meat, gave away probably 6 dozen eggs and ate none of them or their eggs. I very rarely eat eggs just not the first meal id pick to make usually but my mom often fries eggs for her lunch. She won't stop buying store eggs.

So yeah.. The birds get their eggs back to eat. Because I got tired of them sitting on the counter. I'm surprised I haven't caused any eggs eaters yet. But yeah..

I try to free range sometimes. I get yelled at if I don't do a chicken count every hour through the day while their free range. So sometimes I just avoid letting them out if I don't wanna hear it and capture/let the geese out because I know they need more room to stretch and in our female Gizzy's case fly a couple feet off the ground lol. The last all flock free range was yesterday. But the chickens kept going out and then back into the run because of the snow. Before it snowed probably 2-3 times a week free range for the chickens.

I would rather take the risk of free ranging if it means I didn't have to listen to rants about feed costs and yet being denied ideas to help lower said feed cost by fermenting feed or free ranging full time.

Next years arguments. She thinks 10 is to many. I think we should get a few new of different breeds to expand colorations. And I think we should hatch and sell chicks we don't want to keep. (I'm hoping the girls go broody then theres no reason to not have some babies) Only in spring though. One of our buff orpingtons LemonPepper gave me a scare last week she sat on the nest for six hours and didn't leave until I took the eggs under her lol. It's to cold to be having chicks.

 

[Possum-Pie]

For your size flock, they may be feeling a bit cramped, 5' X 6' IMO is small for 10 chickens. I know some folks cram over a dozen hens into a tiny coop, but this is inhumane and leads to fights. Unless you can expand your coop and run, getting more hens is maybe not the best idea. I have 7 hens and 1 rooster in a 12 X 10 coop with several levels of roosts. My run is 5 feet by 125 feet and for 8 birds this seems roomy enough.

I agree with the other poster who says hens don't change egg color, light brown eggs most likely from the Orpington or maybe the Austrolorp. They sometimes lay light brown eggs with a pinkish tint, but I've seen Austrolorp eggs that were darker brown.
My guess is a battle for pecking order, be on the lookout for injuries but most of the time they just scuffle around.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

She seems to be acting a little better today. We had good weather and most of the snow in the extended run was melted so instead of feeding in the feeders I toss the majority of feed onto the ground and she was happily pecking away with our rooster next to her.

After that I let them out and they all bolted for the freedom lol. They went to their favorite area in a bunch of shrubs and some downed branches.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Update: Goldy is back to acting normal. But now that I'm watching them closer I'm definitely seeing much more molting as the days go by. Our little runt is being hit the hardest is seems. Half of her back is missing feathers now. And little miss Rosemary has some patches by her wings missing, her personality is the same though lol. I've been letting them out more often despite the risk of predators and they seem to be doing well. Not much to forage probably but atleast they get to stretch out. I'm a little worried as its December and they seem to be molting but not seeing any snow on the forecast for a while so hopefully they can get those feathers back before we get any more very cold snow storms.


I didn't know molting can cause such a change in chickens personalities.. I just definately didn't appreciate Goldy acting like that.

 

[Possum-Pie]

Update: Goldy is back to acting normal. But now that I'm watching them closer I'm definitely seeing much more molting as the days go by. Our little runt is being hit the hardest is seems. Half of her back is missing feathers now. And little miss Rosemary has some patches by her wings missing, her personality is the same though lol. I've been letting them out more often despite the risk of predators and they seem to be doing well. Not much to forage probably but atleast they get to stretch out. I'm a little worried as its December and they seem to be molting but not seeing any snow on the forecast for a while so hopefully they can get those feathers back before we get any more very cold snow storms.


I didn't know molting can cause such a change in chickens personalities.. I just definately didn't appreciate Goldy acting like that.

I agree...from a biological standpoint, I don't understand why a chicken molts during cold weather, rather than before. Some start molting in early Autumn, but some are losing feathers during cold weather. I know my girls are often happily prancing around in 4-inch snow and 20-degree temps so I try not to worry about them getting cold. Cold is fine, wet is fine...Cold AND wet is a big problem.