Flock shaking their head

[Mommachick87]

I have 17 Cornish Rock/ Leghorn/ Orpington/ Rode Island Reds/ i don't know lol. But i have a question that maybe you could help me with. But a small background first...
My Roo's and hen have been separated for about 3 weeks now. I had 2 birds that have been down for about two months now and have had them in a separate coop. Well one of them died last night and we are having a bad cold storm. I was worried the other one wouldn't make it with the cold so i put him in with my girls (the roos would have killed him)
Now my question is... When i set him in the coop the girls went wild and once they all calmed down they started to shake their heads. What does this mean? Is the roo that i put in there going to be ok or is he going to get beaten up?

 

[azygous]

I'm wondering how old your chickens are. I'm wondering if you might have coop mites. If you've had a chicken die after two months of being "down", you definitely have a disease in your flock that could end up killing more.

You have more problems than worrying if the hens will pick on a sick roo. If you could describe the symptoms this sick roo is showing, and tell us how the chicken that died was behaving for the past couple months, maybe it would give us a clue.

Are any other chickens acting sick? You need to examine them for parasites and also look at the coop at night to see if any mites are running around on the perches.

 

[Mommachick87]

[azygous, post: 22062516, member: 45606"im sorry about how i wrote that.. This was my first post so i didn't know how much i could say.
All of them are 6 months old. We have a big coop for all but my girls only stay in half (they dont like the other side for some reason) my boys now are separated from them because they were trying to kill one of my girls.
The 2 that are "down" is because of them being "to big for their legs" but other than that they were completely healthy (eating, drinking, and somewhat moving around) we had a really bad storm here yesterday and the wind knocked over the coop that the 2 were in. I think it caused her to have a heart attack because of it. My concern was because of the other one being alone he wouldnt have anyone to keep him warm so i decided to try and put him in with my layers to keep him warm. Thats when just my girls started shaking their heads (no) and I guess im trying to ask if that could mean they are rejecting him? I am very big on making sure they are clean and well taken care of. I clean their coop and run weekly, i put DTearth down, clean shavings, and hay on a weekly basis.

 

[azygous]

Head shaking in chickens doesn't mean they disagree with the program. It more likely indicates a physical issue. Head shaking can indicate mites, ear infections, respiratory disease, and maybe crop issues. What it does not indicate is an opinion. Chickens express opinions by communicating them with their beaks, with one another as well as with humans.

Young chickens very rarely die of fright, but they can die of an injury if something hits them or crushes them. Did you examine the dead chicken for injuries? It's unfortunate bad weather caused damage. Many of us have had that happen, and it's an opportunity to examine the vulnerabilities of your structures and fix them so it doesn't keep happening.

As for your concern about the rooster being picked on by the hens, yes, you are likely to see that whenever you place a strange chicken in with others. They all see him as an intruder, and it stresses them as they adjust to him being there. How they will react is not predictable. They may kill him if he is down and can't flee to safety. Or they may end up giving him a few pecks and then decide to ignore him. It's up to you to be ready to step in to intervene if things take a violent turn.

If you are raising the Cornish for meat, it's time to harvest those that become so heavy they can't stand or walk. They will be vulnerable to injury from the others if they can't run away. Sometimes folks with Cornish decide to place them on a restricted diet if they are gaining weight more quickly than they are prepared to slaughter and harvest.

 

[Mommachick87]

Head shaking in chickens doesn't mean they disagree with the program. It more likely indicates a physical issue. Head shaking can indicate mites, ear infections, respiratory disease, and maybe crop issues. What it does not indicate is an opinion. Chickens express opinions by communicating them with their beaks, with one another as well as with humans.

Young chickens very rarely die of fright, but they can die of an injury if something hits them or crushes them. Did you examine the dead chicken for injuries? It's unfortunate bad weather caused damage. Many of us have had that happen, and it's an opportunity to examine the vulnerabilities of your structures and fix them so it doesn't keep happening.

As for your concern about the rooster being picked on by the hens, yes, you are likely to see that whenever you place a strange chicken in with others. They all see him as an intruder, and it stresses them as they adjust to him being there. How they will react is not predictable. They may kill him if he is down and can't flee to safety. Or they may end up giving him a few pecks and then decide to ignore him. It's up to you to be ready to step in to intervene if things take a violent turn.

If you are raising the Cornish for meat, it's time to harvest those that become so heavy they can't stand or walk. They will be vulnerable to injury from the others if they can't run away. Sometimes folks with Cornish decide to place them on a restricted diet if they are gaining weight more quickly than they are prepared to slaughter and harvest.

We are planning to harvest all the roosters and the ones that are down. We are just waiting for a break in this northeastern weather. The hens might be Cornish Rocks but some might be leg horns. I am getting about 3 to 4 eggs a day right now out of 8 hens. I am planning on setting up a box to check weight and eggs once they roos are gone. I just think its odd that they JUST started this once i put the other bird in there. My other roos are in the same coop but separated through chicken wire. They arent doing the head shake thing... Just my girls. I will check tonight for the mites but have no clue what im looking for. Can you help me with that also please?

 

[azygous]

Go out after dark with a flashlight and a damp paper towel. Shine the light on the roosts and the legs of the chickens. Look for reddish "dust" on the perches and the legs. Wipe the damp towel over the perches. If you see a red smear on the towel, you have coop mites.

 

[Mommachick87]

Thats going

Go out after dark with a flashlight and a damp paper towel. Shine the light on the roosts and the legs of the chickens. Look for reddish "dust" on the perches and the legs. Wipe the damp towel over the perches. If you see a red smear on the towel, you have coop mites.

Thats going to be a problem... My girls can't fly and cant get on the perches i put in there. They don't even go into the nesting boxes so the only place i can look would be the floor but that has DTearth on it.

 

[azygous]

Then inspect the legs of your chickens tonight. If you have mites, they will be crawling on your chickens at night. Pull the bedding away from the walls and shine your light on the floor where it joins the wall. If you have mites, you will see them marching in formation to conduct their feeding frenzy on your chickens' blood.

It will be good for your peace of mind to rule this issue out.

 

[Mommachick87]

Then inspect the legs of your chickens tonight. If you have mites, they will be crawling on your chickens at night. Pull the bedding away from the walls and shine your light on the floor where it joins the wall. If you have mites, you will see them marching in formation to conduct their feeding frenzy on your chickens' blood.

It will be good for your peace of mind to rule this issue out.

so i have been looking around the coop and there is still nothing there.... they are still shaking their heads but seem healthy and happy. i did end up getting rid of all my roosters other than 1 Rode Island Red and still have the one that is down, although since i put him with the girls he has been getting up and trying to walk more so i am happy about that.... now im just concerned about this new head shaking thing they have going on. BTW its only a few of my girls (maybe only 3 or 4 of them are doing it now)

 

[azygous]

Would it be possible to post a video of this head shaking action? It might provide some clues.