Depressed chicken?

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings dpetzen,

You will find that there is little discussion regarding depression in animals. This is something mainly seen in small flocks.

But, it is a real condition. I was surprised to hear from my vet, that my hen was in deep grief...depressed over the death of her best friend.

I observed the same behavior, as you have described, in my hen, Ginger, earlier this year. I assumed she was ill. So, I decided to treat her with my herbal remedy. When she didn't respond, I took her to my vet. He examined her thoroughly, listened to her lungs and heart. Checked her for egg binding, took a sample of her feces and examined it under the microscope. He looked at me with concern in his face, and asked me if there were any changes in the flock. I told him about the hen that had passed away. He told me that my hen had an infection somewhere in her body, her feces was not right. But, that she was also very depressed. He felt she was reacting to the death of her friend.

He explained to me that some animals are very sensitive to sudden changes in the environment. Especially if the change involves a companion, even if the companion was not a best friend. Deep depression or grief in an animal, can initiate illness. I wanted to help Ginger get over her grief. I decided to put a stuffed toy chicken in the hospital crate with her. I was surprised again, when she cuddled with that toy every night, and sat with it during the day. After three days, she was returned to the flock. She recovered from her illness, and after a month or so, began to form a close relationship with the alpha hen.

Keep working with your hen, add environment enrichment, and interact with her more, too. And as Helloworld, mentioned adding music is good. I use my tablet and wireless speaker to provide soft music for the chickens. They lay consistently and do seem calmer when there is music.

While animals do experience depression, grief, and fear, they also live in the moment. So, they do eventually move forward in life.

These are my thoughts on your hen's issue. I hope I have been helpful.

God Bless

 

[Col1948]

The above post made me think, when I bought my hens, I picked different breeds, mainly so my grandkids could name them.
So they were picked at random from a large flock, I had one that seemed lethargic and she used go off on her own, after a while she did interact with the others, but who knows may be she was missing a best friend she had from the large flock she came from.

 

[PouleChick]

who knows may be she was missing a best friend she had from the large flock she came from.

Awwwww!

 

[dpetzen]

Greetings dpetzen,

You will find that there is little discussion regarding depression in animals. This is something mainly seen in small flocks.

But, it is a real condition. I was surprised to hear from my vet, that my hen was in deep grief...depressed over the death of her best friend.

I observed the same behavior, as you have described, in my hen, Ginger, earlier this year. I assumed she was ill. So, I decided to treat her with my herbal remedy. When she didn't respond, I took her to my vet. He examined her thoroughly, listened to her lungs and heart. Checked her for egg binding, took a sample of her feces and examined it under the microscope. He looked at me with concern in his face, and asked me if there were any changes in the flock. I told him about the hen that had passed away. He told me that my hen had an infection somewhere in her body, her feces was not right. But, that she was also very depressed. He felt she was reacting to the death of her friend.

Thanks for your post. I really liked reading it and I felt really encouraged.

I'm sorry for the delay in answering, but I did read your post in the weekend and decided to take Boudie back to the vet first thing on Monday morning, as I want to know with absolute certainty whether this is a physical illness or psychological.

If it's physical, then I hope the vet can help me, but if it's not, then I think I have a very good idea of how I can help her, based on all suggestions and ideas I've received, in particular yours.

She's spending an entire day at he vert for testing, it'll cost an arm and a leg, but I'll do anything for my chooks. I really, really hope it's a matter of depression instead of some terminal illness.

He explained to me that some animals are very sensitive to sudden changes in the environment. Especially if the change involves a companion, even if the companion was not a best friend. Deep depression or grief in an animal, can initiate illness. I wanted to help Ginger get over her grief. I decided to put a stuffed toy chicken in the hospital crate with her. I was surprised again, when she cuddled with that toy every night, and sat with it during the day. After three days, she was returned to the flock. She recovered from her illness, and after a month or so, began to form a close relationship with the alpha hen.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, Boudie wasn't that close with Cthulhu who died recently, but my partner suggested that perhaps they used to sleep side by side?

So I'm definitely not ruling out that it's the loss of Cthulhu that is on Boudies mind.

Keep working with your hen, add environment enrichment, and interact with her more, too. And as Helloworld, mentioned adding music is good. I use my tablet and wireless speaker to provide soft music for the chickens. They lay consistently and do seem calmer when there is music.

I ran out of time this weekend, but I'm going to experiment with some music. I actually already have speakers in their enclosure.

While animals do experience depression, grief, and fear, they also live in the moment. So, they do eventually move forward in life.

That reminded me of something heartwarming that happened this weekend.

Boudie was sitting by the gate and Bruce was digging for worms about a metre away. Bruce found a worm, made the "look I've found something yummy!" sound, so Boudie lumbered over. Bruce then picked up the worm and gave it to Boudie.

Bruce is the top hen and must have been worried about one of her flock members being ill, so she cheered her up by giving away her own food.

Quite remarkable.

View attachment 1558566

These are my thoughts on your hen's issue. I hope I have been helpful.

It has been thanks!

I absolutely love the picture. Not only is it such a fantastic picture, but it also helped me get loads of ideas as to how I'll help her back on track if she gets the all clear from the vet.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Col1948]

Wow, I've not had my hens long but I've read before of another chicken giving food away to what could possibly be a sick hen.
As a rule if one finds a worm or something they dash away with it and are chased by other members trying to get it from them.
I read a thread on here about the use of a large mirror, some freak out when they see their own reflection others sit by it and can get comfort, could be worth a try may be.

 

[dpetzen]

Wow, I've not had my hens long but I've read before of another chicken giving food away to what could possibly be a sick hen.
As a rule if one finds a worm or something they dash away with it and are chased by other members trying to get it from them.
I read a thread on here about the use of a large mirror, some freak out when they see their own reflection others sit by it and can get comfort, could be worth a try may be.

It certainly changed the way I see chickens and animals in general. I was quite surprised.

Just as you say, what normally happens is that a wild chase and fights breaks out. When one of them find a really huge worm, then it's like having a feathered riot on my hands.

I tried a mirror on them once and it was quite a huge range of reactions ranging from ignoring it to going nuts and looking behind the mirror. They are more fascinated with looking at themselves on my phone, though.

Boudie has been diagnosed with Gastroenteritis. She had so many tests that she was under general anaesthesia. She was completely wiped out today.

I've hand fed her little bits of grapes. I'm of course worried, but I hope shell start to recover tomorrow.

 

[dpetzen]

Here she is the day after coming back from the vet, in her own little fenced off section (to allow her to have exclusive access to high energy food and water):

 

[aart]

Boudie has been diagnosed with Gastroenteritis. She had so many tests that she was under general anaesthesia. She was completely wiped out today.

WOW! That must be some vet to be able to anesthetize a bird, tricky business there.
So what is the cause and treatment of the Gastroenteritis?
What all did they test for?

 

[dpetzen]

WOW! That must be some vet to be able to anesthetize a bird, tricky business there.
So what is the cause and treatment of the Gastroenteritis?
What all did they test for?

Yes, it was very thorough (and very expensive), but they did multiple X-rays, blood analysis and various other tests. They also sent off a blood test to an external lab for additional testing, which I hope could narrow things down further and hopefully tell us what the cause may have been.

I know, but I really love my chooks and will do what I can to save them.

She was given a more narrow antibiotic and anti inflammatory medication.

Unfortunately this didn't help and I only managed to get her to eat 3 grapes in two days and she didn't drink very much either. I called the vet and booked in an appointment that day, as I was working from home.

I took her indoor and close to a heater, so I was working in the same room at 28 degrees Celsius.

The vet and I did a stomach pump and then feed her nutrition and liquid through a tube. The vet saw that Boudie was in a very bad state, but refused to give up on her, so she took it upon herself to try to save her.

The visit was free and she took Boudie home with her to tend to her 24/7. Boudie survived the night and the vet will take her with her to work (today), so I hope to see Boudie tonight.

The vet is prepared to keep her over the weekend (if she survives) and it would be called for.

I'm so glad that there are people who genuinely care, even if it's "just a chicken".

I really hope it ends well.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[dpetzen]

Boudie came home last Monday!

The vet took care of her for almost 2 weeks. She was tube fed twice a day with regular crop massage. She just refused to give up on Boudie.

I visited her on the Wednesday and I was really saddened over how sick she was. I then visited on Thursday and her personality and returned. I showed her a video of the other chooks and her best friend Gentle and she started pecking at the screen every time Gentle was on

We decided that the vet would keep her over the weekend and I picked her up on Monday. She was back to her old self, albeit a bit tired.

Ironically enough, the main problem now is that she's really struggling with getting back into the pecking order and is getting a beating from Hugin and Tahi, so there is a lot of babysitting involved.

She'll have to be in her own little fenced off area tomorrow.

But none of that matters, as my beloved Boudie was saved!