My Hen is Walking Backwards

[cmom]

I have never seen or heard of a chicken walking backwards. I learned something new today!!!

 

[addiedunn]

Hey, you have my avatar.....!
I had to put a chicken saddle on one of my RIR hens last night. She has been walking backwards ever since. I hope she gets the hang of it or I'll have to take it off.

 

[ChickBond 007]

As long as they are just walking backwards and don't start wearing one sparkly glove...or getting plastic surgery....

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
My birds do that too. I think it's a challenging behavior. After my birds scoot backwards they charge another bird and bump chests.

I know that move, but this one does not resemble it in any way. The chicken stares at the ground and moves rapidly backwards for maybe 20 steps, all the while keeping her head low to the ground....almost like those pics you see of a hen being hypnotized by a line drawn on the ground. Then she stands upright and walks away. Freaky as all get out....

 

[JoyfulPromise]

I know this is an old thread, but I found it when searching for this exact symptom! Beekissed - We have a Delaware hen that does EXACTLY what you described your White Rock as doing! I usually notice it when I am feeding them in the morning in our coop. She will duck her head in an exaggerated motion and then scoot backwards several feet, like she is trying to avoid the other hens, even though none of the other chickens are near or even paying attention to her! It is very weird! She also is the only one in our flock that seems to have a (possibly unrelated) diarrhea problem. BUT, in a recent 5 day egg watch, she was one of our best layers, laying 4 eggs in 5 days!

Has anyone found any more information on what this strange "bowing and scraping" might be, or any nutrients or supplements that might help treat it?

 

[Beekissed]

My hen stopped that and never did it again...so, who in the world knows? That was the only chicken I've ever had down through the years that did that, so I haven't got a clue as to what would cause it or what stopped it.

 

[Whiterabbit]

So I found this looking for an answer ... My easter egger has been walking backwards for about a month. Shes an older bird around 3yrs and in the process of finishing her molt. If my camera was connecting to my computer properly I would take a video. She ducks her head and then starts walking backwards. At first I thought it was because there was something on her face she was trying to get away from. But after a month it doesn't seem to be the cause. Other wise her head and neck are not crooked.

From these links: http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=emergencies&action=display&num=1160928615

and if you scroll down a little on this link: http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30534&hilit=walking+backwards , and then this article talks about a lot of vitamins and how they effect chickens http://www.pjbs.org/ijps/fin714.pdf

It seems to be a vitamin deficiency - which seems weird to me since they are on the layer feed, have access to the backyard almost all year, and are given healthy veggie treats. I guess I figure that they would get the vitamins they needed. I am probably going to treat the whole flock (6 birds) as the electrolyte package that I have has both vitamin A and E in it.

Thoughts?

 

[Whiterabbit]

Managed to get the camera and computer communicating so here is my chicken Cheetara walking backwards :

(couldn't figure out how to embed the video! )

 

[KayTee]

Managed to get the camera and computer communicating so here is my chicken Cheetara walking backwards :

(couldn't figure out how to embed the video! )

The link works - except that youtube tells me your video is private, so I can't watch it. Can you make it public, because I would LOVE to see a chicken walking backwards!

 

[Whiterabbit]

Okay! It's fixed there's the link again!