Chicken Depression?

[oliviabasic]

Recently, I have been worried about one of my chicken's attitude, she is a barred rock that lives with 3 other sex links. My BR is slightly younger than the other three sex links, and she has been acting odd lately. We originally bought her with another BR, but she passed awhile ago (4 months ago). Winter, my BR, has lately been shifting away from the others and is at the bottom of the pecking order. For example, sometimes she sleeps on a different perch from the others or forges alone. She also hides in our bag of flakes for a decent amount of time and makes quiet awkward sounds I usually don't hear from the others. Her tail is still up though, and her poop looks normal, but she sometimes gets pecked while eating. Is it depression or I'm I just paranoid? How can I fix it?

 

[Rod-T]

Maybe get another hen new hens are usally at bottom of the pecking order..she might bond with new hen..maybe she's missing her buddy that died.. or just give it time.. not much you can do

 

[chickengr]

I have the same situation with my 5 mo silkie/araucana cross. I put her with marans and lakenvelder 3 mo chickens and she is on the top of pecking order now and looks happy.

 

[shortgrass]

She isn't "depressed", she is alone. Just that. She's the only BR, so she keeps to herself. Tgat might also be why she's the bottom of the pecking order.

From what I've always noticed, they partner up with their own breeds, even as broodmates. Like for instance, among others, I have 6 BRs and only one sex link, and my sex link is always by herself and the BRs split into two flocks of " 3 musketeers". Peaches(the sex link) spends almost all day following me, or foraging by herself. She gets pecked by the BRs, but everybody does. The BRs are the biggest chunk of one breed, and they're like a gang

Keep an eye on her just for health reasons, but its normal and ok for a hen to decide to be by herself

 

[Sonya9]

Maybe get another hen new hens are usally at bottom of the pecking order..she might bond with new hen..maybe she's missing her buddy that died.. or just give it time.. not much you can do

I agree, especially if the new hen is the same age or younger, and the same breed or at least a less aggressive breed.

They could even be housed together for a while to create a bond. While members of the same breed may stick together, birds that were raised together or otherwise become friends often bond quite well.