16wk pullet panting hard, wings out, tail down.*nothing new to report*

[Ebony Rose]

Your boy knows that she's fertile and he's making sure that she knows he's interested. Also, he sounds like a real nice gentleman with her... dancing and courting, not TAKING.

 

[speckledhen]

Someone asked me to weigh in on this thread. The only things I can think of other than she is hot is why she's hot. Perhaps she is having a hard time breathing due to her heart pounding. I lost a point of lay pullet to a heart defect. She was about 23 weeks old, had not laid her first egg. Found her sitting under the roost, so I picked her up and put her in a nest, thinking she may be ready to lay. She was panting and I realized it was becasue her heart was racing, visibly pounding in her chest. We took her inside and sat with her, no signs of anything wrong except her racing heart. So we put her back in the coop. The next morning, she came out with the others so we went to town. Two hours later when we got home, I found her just inside the coop door, apparently just then deceased with blood in her mouth. We did open her up and found her chest cavity was filled with that dark arterial type blood and one chamber of her heart had collapsed. I would not be surprised if your girl has a heart defect. She seems a big young to lay, but stranger things have happened. So, if that is what is wrong, there really isn't much you can do except keep her cool and unstressed. Nothing dietary will do anything for something like that.

 

[lisahaschickens]

Quote:

He dances, sings, THEN takes! He's still young, though. He's fighting his urges to just take, but so far it's been a losing battle

Silly boys! They're all the same...

SpeckledHen -

Thank you so much for weighing in. She is definitely confusing me. WHY is she hot is a good question. The others are in the same environment with no panting... plus she stayed last night in the house in a nice cool room and still did the panting thing.

If it's a heart defect, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I'm hoping that she is a really early layer and that it's giving her a hard time, but that it will eventually come out.

When I put her back out this morning, a few minutes later I heard scratching and thumping and cakcling inside. One of my Marans pullets (same age from MM) was in a nesting box scratching and thumping around and cackling loudly.... that sounds like laying behvior to me too, from what I've read. But really, I'm clueless. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Thanks to all! I'll let you know if anything changes.

p.s. they'll all be 16 weeks old tomorrow.

 

[sammi]

if they "scrunch" down when the rooster is near..it's a submissive posture ..
if she does the same thing when YOU approach..same thing..
you're bigger and considered dominant.

the cackling and carrying on in the nest boxes is "egg" behavior.

hope your hen is ok and everything goes well..

 

[andrea98]

just wanted to know how Dorothy is

 

[lisahaschickens]

I appreciate your checking. I haven't posted here because I feel a little silly with nothing much to report. Maybe I'm an overly-concerned mommy. It's hard to tell right now.

After that first day and night when I posted about her and then I put her back with the others, it has gotten really hot here. Thus, all of my chickens have spent the last couple of days panting and holding their wings out during the hottest parts of the days...including Dorothy. However, when I had her in here, she was still panting all night in the cool, air-conditioned house and also holding her tail down and when she laid/sat down, she was all fluffed up. None of the others do that stuff. She still is less likely to come out to free-range with the others, though she comes out sometimes. She is spending an unusual amount of time sitting crammed face-first into a corner of the coop. Could she still be gearing up to lay her first egg? I don't really know.... could she be sick? Maybe. I'm just still waiting to see. She also still lets me pet her and pick her up, which she never did before the first day that she started acting strangely.

 

[Barnyard]

Has she had any thing happen to her head? I have been told by my vet when an animal stands in a corner with his head down that means they have a headache. Is her vision still good?

 

[lisahaschickens]

her vision seems to be fine, as far as I can tell. She's still eating and drinking, etc. She seems fine in most ways. But, she still pants on and off even when no one else is panting and it's not that hot. It's not panting 100% of the time, but she still does it when it doesn't seem like she should be.

When she comes out to free-range (which is only sometimes), she now often hops up on the armrest of the bench where I sit and settles down on the perch with me instead of grazing. She grazes some, but not that much. Also, the rooster still seems to be paying her A LOT of attention.... he likes all the girls, but now he follows Dorothy around and courts her and mounts her way more than anyone else. Yesterday, I saw that she fought him for a second, but then she submitted. It was the first time I have seen her submit.

 

[LynneP]

If Dorothy is his favorite, she may be running more than the rest and is therefore more overheated than them...will your hens stand in a couple of inches of water poured into a livestock bowl?

 

[Chic Chick]

I'm glad she's ok back with the flock now. Too much time away from them and the rest could pick on her when she joins them again.

Did you feel her heartbeat? Does it seem faster then the others?

If you think the rooster is chasing her too much you might want to put the rooster in a separate cage for a while until all the pullets start to lay. Less stress on them if he's not around to chase and harrass them.
Yep those in puberty sure have it tough!

and it looks like you'll be getting eggs soon....
Good luck!