Adult Hen Can't Eat.. Pecking air and missing food

[Rainbow Eggs]

A hungry bird can be hand fed. If I moisten the feed- even moisten sprouted grain bread, so you can make a pellet or actually a cylinder- think bug sized worm like a play dough worm? It has to be able to hold together not be drippy then open the beak, insert a long pea sized piece in the mouth. They swallow hungrily. They need water too so use a dropper- BUT BE CAREFUL not to squeeze too fast or the water can go in the wind pipe and they will get sick from that. A slow dropper of water works great.

 

[jgregorin]

I searched the threads, and couldn't find a match.. It seems that similar problems were caused by injuries, or were prevalent in chicks. Here's my issue..

I have a two year old hen that I've had for about three months. She was perfectly healthy and happy until today.. I was sitting in the grass and she ran up to me and started pecking at the air (I was eating dinner). She's always been friendly, but never got this close to me willingly. I got out some scratch and offered it to her, and she turned her head, eyed it, and pecked the air.. Missing by a few inches. She kept frantically trying to get it, but couldn't. I tried holding it in a flat hand, and then putting it on the ground. She couldn't get it either time. I put her back in the run near the food, and she pecked at the canister, but never made contact.

What could cause this in an adult him with no injury? And what can I do about it? She's acting like she's starving, and I'm worried! If it makes any difference, she's a partridge Brahma.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[SuperChook]

My chicken has exactly the same issue.
No obvious signs of illness or injury. Very lively and perky. Eyesight seems good. Whenever I enter the yard, she sees me a long way off and runs up to meet me. Follows me everywhere.
Doesn’t bump into things. Can go up and down stairs without any problem. Flies up to the perch and lands on it with pin-point accuracy. It’s just her pecking that is completely uncoordinated. Keeps pecking and missing. Just hits thin air.
She’s a six month old Vorwerk.

I noticed that the original post is a few years old. I’m curious as to what happened with that chicken.