susan1981
Songster
- Apr 5, 2013
- 44
- 10
- 104
I have one chicken (the other one we had died in around October time, and she's been on her own since). She's seemed fine, we let her out all the time, but the past couple of days, she's been a bit off.
She's about 4 years old. She's never been a very good egg layer and hasn't laid eggs now for about a year I think. I've googled the symptoms of a chicken that's egg bound but she doesn't seem to be showing those symptoms.
Usually in the morning when I open the hatch part of her cage, she comes straight out. As soon as I open the cage door to let her into the garden, she's straight out. But the last few days, she's not been doing that. We've had a fox coming in our garden recently, so I haven't been letting her out quite so often. We used to let her out pretty much all day up until a week or so ago. Now, we still let her out but definitely not all day.
Now, whenever she's in her cage, she just goes straight into her hutch part, not in the run bit. When I open the hutch, she doesn't come out unless I open the cage door for her to come into the garden, but even then, she's taking a good while to come out. This morning, when I let her out, she came out eventually, but she just stayed near her cage. Usually when I let her out, she starts running and fluttering down the end of the garden. It's almost like she's a bit scared. Could this be why she's behaving like this? I don't think she's broody either. We had a broody chick before and wow, she was aggressive when broody.
She doesn't seem like she's ill. She just seems a bit nervous almost. Any ideas? Could it be the fox making her anxious?
She's about 4 years old. She's never been a very good egg layer and hasn't laid eggs now for about a year I think. I've googled the symptoms of a chicken that's egg bound but she doesn't seem to be showing those symptoms.
Usually in the morning when I open the hatch part of her cage, she comes straight out. As soon as I open the cage door to let her into the garden, she's straight out. But the last few days, she's not been doing that. We've had a fox coming in our garden recently, so I haven't been letting her out quite so often. We used to let her out pretty much all day up until a week or so ago. Now, we still let her out but definitely not all day.
Now, whenever she's in her cage, she just goes straight into her hutch part, not in the run bit. When I open the hutch, she doesn't come out unless I open the cage door for her to come into the garden, but even then, she's taking a good while to come out. This morning, when I let her out, she came out eventually, but she just stayed near her cage. Usually when I let her out, she starts running and fluttering down the end of the garden. It's almost like she's a bit scared. Could this be why she's behaving like this? I don't think she's broody either. We had a broody chick before and wow, she was aggressive when broody.
She doesn't seem like she's ill. She just seems a bit nervous almost. Any ideas? Could it be the fox making her anxious?
