I've got a little Cochin hen who's been slowly looking worse & worse over the winter. She used to be a little ball of fluff, so you could hardly tell where her body ended & her tail started! But recently, I've noticed that she's a lot skinnier - she's no longer fluffy. She is shedding feathers like crazy (stupid bird doesn't know its winter!) But I was watching her with the other girls (I've only got 4) and she's obviously the bottom of the pecking order (no signs of actual pecking, though
When she's eating, if the other birds come close to her, she takes a few steps away & waits until they leave before she eats - so she misses all the sunflower seeds & other treats. When I try to feed her separately, the other birds come running, so that scares her away. I can't easily catch her - she was raised in a hatchery for the first 10-12 months and is really skittish around people. I thought about trying to catch her & separating her to make sure she gets enough food, but the stress of being chased will be rough on her & the last time I separated a bird (for 1 mo after dog attack), the other birds attacked her when she was re-introduced. She's never laid any eggs (as far as I can tell). I just don't want to see her slowly starve to death if that's what is happening, or maybe she's just losing all her feathers during a molt & that is why she looks skinnier.... I'll try to get a picture of her today when I get off work.
