First time I've seen this...cause for concern?

[IvanK]

Hi all. Here's one that I've never seen before. This morning everything was fine but I went into the coop with treats this evening once of my hens was off against a wall with her butt arched in the air. She seemed disinterested in the food though eventually did eat a bit. When walking her butt stays way up there...and her vent seems to be pulsating more than usual. She's not waddling and walking fine other than her peculiar posture.
I also noticed that when trying to inspect her she was unusually feisty and almost combative...I couldn't calm her down enough to have a look...NOT normal.
Any ideas what's going on with this girl?
Really appreciate it!

PS I just want to stress that her butt is way up there..the photos don't really show this all that well.

 

[Altfrizzle]

When did she last lay?

 

[IvanK]

When did she last lay?

I'd imagine either yesterday or today. I still have some girls coming of age so my egg numbers fluctuate a little...and I have 30 hens so it hard to keep track. You think this could be an egg bound hen?

 

[Altfrizzle]

That’s what I was thinking, yeah. Try a bath?

 

[Eggcessive]

You can insert a finger into the vent an inch or two to feel for a stuck egg. I also was wondering if she apwas showing signs of being broody, such as pulling out her chest and belly feathers, clucking when she walks around, pecking at you if you disturb her, or holds her tail feathers shaped in an inverted V.

 

[IvanK]

You can insert a finger into the vent an inch or two to feel for a stuck egg. I also was wondering if she apwas showing signs of being broody, such as pulling out her chest and belly feathers, clucking when she walks around, pecking at you if you disturb her, or holds her tail feathers shaped in an inverted V.

No, no signs of broodiness other than when I try to hold her she goes crazy...I handle these hens all the time and she won't calm. Come to think of it, it's winter here and we did have a few days at -1 (a huge difference from the typical -30) so maybe the warm up, if you can call it that, triggered her to go broody? The barn she is in is heated to about 8-10 degrees celcius and recently went up to about 14 degrees with the warm up. It could be broodiness I suppose. Perhaps its time to take her to build a snowman with me I'm going to check her vent to rule out if she is egg bound first.

 

[IvanK]

Just writing to follow up and conclude. I didn't think it could happen in the dead of winter but the hen was apparently broody! I guess the huge swing in temperature, despite it still being below zero, triggered it!
I laid a path of straw out for her outside so she wouldn't freeze her feet and much to her dislike, took her for a lengthy stroll to lower her body temp (it was -28). She's back to normal now Thanks everyone!