Could my new baby chicks be causing this weird behavior in one hen?

[Astrid]

I have four adult hens and four two week old chicks. I got the chicks at about 4 days old, shipped from a hatchery (a friend and I split the order.)

Sudie, one of my Buff Orp hens is kind of a loner lately, with a shrunken comb, weight loss, etc. She eats and drinks fine, but I'm not sure she's laying. She goes outside, doesn't really act broody, but I've often wondered if she is.

So last night I was in the coop, checking on the babies, who are partitioned off safely from the older girls but still visible/audible. Sudie was doing this odd thing--- taking her beak and "scraping" out lots and lots of hen pellets out of the feeder, which is suspended a few inches off the ground. She isn't eating it, she's just making a mess all over the floor! Could she be trying to "feed" the chicks?

I've NEVER seen her do this before. Any ideas?

Astrid

 

[ChickenCharmer]

That's very strange, and it doesn't sound like broodiness. I believe she is sick.

 

[Uppity Peon]

Could she be going into a moult?

I'll just suggest the obvious here: Give her a close examination, looking for mites, lice, pasty-butt, check her poop, feel her crop, compare her weight against the others. Put some cayenne in the food to hopefully drive out any worms, use vitamins and probiotics, and keep observing her.

 

[Astrid]

Well, she's thin, but has been since they had their first hard moult in March or so. Her comb shrunk then, too. She's picked on somewhat by the others, and prefers to sleep away from them. They used to all sleep together, lined up on a plank that was a bench when the coop was a shed YEARS ago (the shed is attached to our Victorian carriage barn via a big sliding door. It was a potting shed, now it's a chicken coop!)

Her butt is a mess, but I've kind of attributed that to her sleeping arrangement, on a narrow board "shelf" against a wall. We didn't discover her sleeping preference until recently.

No mites that I can see; no bad smell. Should I give her a good sitz bath to clean up her bottom? And what's up with the food scattering?

She just ate some yogurt and scrambled egg; her appetite has really never been affected. They get a bit of scratch, layer pellets (organic) and a daily snack (leafy greens, etc.)

Wonder what's up with her?

astrid