Have my chickens gone crazy???

[khsadler]

Hi! We have 5 Black Sex Links hens and a Black Copper Maran rooster. Lately, the hens have been going nuts! They free range during the day and stay around the house, but recently they have been coming onto the back porch and squawking loudly and pecking at the back door. The other day one of them actually jumped up and hit the window. This is the 3rd chicken that has "gone crazy". The other 2 that started doing that disappeared a couple of days after it started (one at a time). I go into the woods around the house to look for them and they are just gone. The other chickens all stay together with the rooster - except the one that is nuts. She stays by herself. Is there a parasite or mite or worm that can cause this? Are they going off into the woods to die? We started out with 8 hens + Red, now we are down to 5 plus him. I'm concerned that this could spread to the other girls. We keep the coop clean. Should we stop free-ranging them? We have a 20x30 pen plus the coop area we keep them in when we are out of town - I just hate keeping them penned up if I don't have to. They seem to love roaming all around the property. Any suggestions or insights are greatly appreciated.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Sounds like a horror movie. Are they acting abnormally in any way other than that?

 

[wf1992]

I can't speak to the crazy, but the disappearing in the woods? Yes, I'd definitely stop free-ranging for a while. I lost a couple in the woods when they decided to range too near the treeline one season.

First day an older hen didn't come back, and we thought she'd gone off to die.
Second day a healthy hen didn't come back.
Third day they stayed locked up.
Fourth day I had coyotes pacing the far side of the fence wondering when lunch would show up.
Fifth day, ditto fourth day.

 

[NatJ]

The other 2 that started doing that disappeared a couple of days after it started (one at a time). I go into the woods around the house to look for them and they are just gone.

How long ago was that?
In the spring, there's a chance that they made a hidden nest and went broody.
And of course predators are quite likely at any time of the year.

Should we stop free-ranging them? We have a 20x30 pen plus the coop area we keep them in when we are out of town - I just hate keeping them penned up if I don't have to. They seem to love roaming all around the property.

I would definitely keep them penned up for a bit--probably several days to a week, and possibly longer. Sometimes a few days of keeping them in will make it obvious what's happening (like wf1992 saw with the coyotes), and sometimes locking them up just keeps the chickens safe while you think and get advice about what could be going on.

 

[khsadler]

Sounds like a horror movie. Are they acting abnormally in any way other than that?

No, just that. I was wondering if maybe they ate something, like some sort of insect that caused it. We live in South Carolina. We give them scraps from the kitchen, but nothing really out of the ordinary. I'm just confused. All of the other chickens are fine. They actually stay away from the ones the go crazy.

 

[khsadler]

I can't speak to the crazy, but the disappearing in the woods? Yes, I'd definitely stop free-ranging for a while. I lost a couple in the woods when they decided to range too near the treeline one season.

First day an older hen didn't come back, and we thought she'd gone off to die.
Second day a healthy hen didn't come back.
Third day they stayed locked up.
Fourth day I had coyotes pacing the far side of the fence wondering when lunch would show up.
Fifth day, ditto fourth day.

Thanks, I'll put them up and see what starts coming around.

 

[khsadler]

How long ago was that?
In the spring, there's a chance that they made a hidden nest and went broody.
And of course predators are quite likely at any time of the year.



I would definitely keep them penned up for a bit--probably several days to a week, and possibly longer. Sometimes a few days of keeping them in will make it obvious what's happening (like wf1992 saw with the coyotes), and sometimes locking them up just keeps the chickens safe while you think and get advice about what could be going on.

It started about a month ago. At first we just thought it was a one off, then after the other one went missing I started getting concerned. Now with Rosa acting crazy I'm worried. I'll round them up and put them in the pen. Thanks!!

 

[aart]

We give them scraps from the kitchen

This is likely why they are 'attacking' your house, they are looking for 'treats'.

 

[khsadler]

This is likely why they are 'attacking' your house, they are looking for 'treats'.

Thank you! I didn't think about that. We always go out the back door and dump the scraps in their pen. So them 'knocking on' or attacking the back door makes perfect sense!!

 

[preciouspanda]

My daughter and I have declared the all animals are born with a wack-a-doo gene but it stays dormant until I start claiming them or as soon as I touch them the gene comes alive and all my animals end up being wack-a-doo’s (act all crazy but in good way) can’t help they do craziest things when I in/out with them as we carry on conversations with the all birds and they talk back