lbgreenfield
Songster
Hi everyone. Lots of things going on with my 2.5 year old Buff Orpington hen, this is a long post:
1. She has had a bad limp for about 1 month. Still eating, drinking, pooping, and laying an egg every other day, up until yesterday. I put her in a large dog crate within our run for a few days (Thurs, Fri, and Saturday AM only, with no improvement for the limp). I believe on Thursday or Friday she was pecked by someone while in the crate, because her comb was all bloodied and bleeding (I treated with Vetricyn and Blue-Kote). I think this is where the sudden problems started.
2. Before putting her in the crate, I would let her lay in the coop nesting boxes, which she did. On Saturday, I decided to keep her in the crate all day, putting a portable nesting box in there for her. I put her in at 8am, and at 11am I come out to check on her to find her panting, pacing, butthole pulsing, and all puffed up. I immediately open the crate and she runs into the coop, sits in a dark corner on the floor (not in a nesting box), and sits there without laying for over 1 hour.
3. I panic, thinking she is egg bound, I can feel the egg inside with a gloved, lubricated finger. Proceed to epsom salt soak her for 15min, administer 2 mint Tums hidden inside blueberries, and after 30min, put her back in the coop where she lays an egg on the floor.
4. After she leaves the coop, she and my other 4 hens all start fighting with each other, ripping neck feathers out, getting all puffed up near certain other hens. I’ve never ever witnessed something like this, as they have all been raised with one another. I should mention as well that we just put our 10-week old chicks into their “transition” pen within our run, so that the adult hens can see them but not hurt them. Chicks have been in there for about 1 week now.
5. Today, my Buffy has been just sitting in the corner of the coop where she laid the egg yesterday for almost 5 hours now. No egg, no panting/puffiness/pulsing like yesterday, just sitting. I honestly don’t think she is broody, as she doesn’t puff up or screech when I go to pet her. I picked her up and put her outside where she pooped, the ran under our truck, the slowly came out and started eating grass. I took her back into the pen where she puffed up her neck feathers when the top hen (Barred Rock) cane close to her and the she ran away back into the coop where she is just sitting again as I write this.
I have no idea what is going on since all this seemingly happened overnight. Everything was fine as far as I could tell with behavior. They were all getting along prior to me putting my Buff in the crate. My Buff is/was 2nd in the pecking order and that still seems to be the case because she was fighting with the lower hens yesterday after she laid.
Any thoughts or advice on this?? Anything I’m doing wrong?? I’m really stressed about my chickens, my poor hubby can attest to this.
Thank you in advance for your help!
1. She has had a bad limp for about 1 month. Still eating, drinking, pooping, and laying an egg every other day, up until yesterday. I put her in a large dog crate within our run for a few days (Thurs, Fri, and Saturday AM only, with no improvement for the limp). I believe on Thursday or Friday she was pecked by someone while in the crate, because her comb was all bloodied and bleeding (I treated with Vetricyn and Blue-Kote). I think this is where the sudden problems started.
2. Before putting her in the crate, I would let her lay in the coop nesting boxes, which she did. On Saturday, I decided to keep her in the crate all day, putting a portable nesting box in there for her. I put her in at 8am, and at 11am I come out to check on her to find her panting, pacing, butthole pulsing, and all puffed up. I immediately open the crate and she runs into the coop, sits in a dark corner on the floor (not in a nesting box), and sits there without laying for over 1 hour.
3. I panic, thinking she is egg bound, I can feel the egg inside with a gloved, lubricated finger. Proceed to epsom salt soak her for 15min, administer 2 mint Tums hidden inside blueberries, and after 30min, put her back in the coop where she lays an egg on the floor.
4. After she leaves the coop, she and my other 4 hens all start fighting with each other, ripping neck feathers out, getting all puffed up near certain other hens. I’ve never ever witnessed something like this, as they have all been raised with one another. I should mention as well that we just put our 10-week old chicks into their “transition” pen within our run, so that the adult hens can see them but not hurt them. Chicks have been in there for about 1 week now.
5. Today, my Buffy has been just sitting in the corner of the coop where she laid the egg yesterday for almost 5 hours now. No egg, no panting/puffiness/pulsing like yesterday, just sitting. I honestly don’t think she is broody, as she doesn’t puff up or screech when I go to pet her. I picked her up and put her outside where she pooped, the ran under our truck, the slowly came out and started eating grass. I took her back into the pen where she puffed up her neck feathers when the top hen (Barred Rock) cane close to her and the she ran away back into the coop where she is just sitting again as I write this.
I have no idea what is going on since all this seemingly happened overnight. Everything was fine as far as I could tell with behavior. They were all getting along prior to me putting my Buff in the crate. My Buff is/was 2nd in the pecking order and that still seems to be the case because she was fighting with the lower hens yesterday after she laid.
Any thoughts or advice on this?? Anything I’m doing wrong?? I’m really stressed about my chickens, my poor hubby can attest to this.
Thank you in advance for your help!
