Chickens fighting

LuckyandPete

Hatching
5 Years
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
7
I have a flock of 30, all different breeds and one bantam rooster. We introduced 20 (pullets) of the 30 back in April and have not had any problems. We let them free range all day, but them lock them in the coop at night so predators do not get to them.

One of our original 10, a Wyandotte, started acting funny a few days ago. She kept her fluffed feathers out and was walking a little staggered. The next day she stayed in a nesting box all day and when I picked her up, she just laid down, not holding herself up with her feet. I inspected her feet and found nothing wrong. After a bit she left the nesting box and was walking around with the others and I noticed our rooster picking on her and they started chasing each other, picking at each other, ect. She kept her feathers fluffed the entire time.

I was leaning towards the idea that she was sick with something since she had been walking a little funny and her feathers stayed fluffed out (I read online a bunch of articles online suggesting a hen could be sick with this behavior). So I isolated her and put some antibiotics in her water. During these three days, she acted completely normal---she was her old self again. So then I leaned towards a behavioral issue since I witnessed her being picked on by our rooster.

When I let her out, it seemed like she wanted to fight every other chicken! Our rooster immediately started fighting her and another hen really went after her (that hen, weirdly enough is usually the hen that our rooster really picks on)! She kept her feathers fluffed the entire time and would try and "head butt" the other chickens.

I'm just baffled. I have never seen this behavior in the 3 years we've had our chickens. Is this a sickness or a behavior issue? Any advice on what to do would be great. I'm worried if I leave her in the coop she will be pecked to death!
 
welcome-byc.gif
It almost sounds as if she is going broody.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom