Help!!! Silkie Hen Strange/Concerning Behavior

mdtansley

In the Brooder
May 8, 2021
17
6
21
Please help us! We have three 7 month old silkie hens, two of which have started laying. The one that has laid for the longest is exhibiting alarming behavior recently. She will stay in the area they lay and back herself into a corner where she stays for a very long time, not leaving for food, water, or to poop. It is like she has no energy, but she still has been laying. She keeps her head down/nestled into herself as she backs into the corner. When we try to push her out, she dose not move and her wings will become droopy. Yesterday, after we saw this go on for a day (the previous one, the 6th) we decided to scoop her out of the corner and place her on the ground. For about a minuet, she sat there just sitting there, she was walking slow and gingerly, until the other two birds came from their wondering. Then, like nothing was wrong, she began to speed up and proceeded to go to the feed where she ate. Then, the three of them all went outside where the one of concern pooped. An alarming amount of poop came out and it smelt very, very bad. After that, it was almost like she was okay, but she kept shaking like a dog dose when it is wet, stretching/ flapping out her wings and her fluff looked fluffier then usual. Today she was back in her corner and I do not know what to do. If you have had a similar experience, please do tell me what you did and what helped!
 
Is the making any noise when you try to move her or when she's sitting? She may be broody silkies are well known for being very broody hens. If she's fluffing and dropping her wings low that's a pretty good indicator too. Get on YouTube and look up a broody hen and see if that's the same behavior your hen is showing
 
Is the making any noise when you try to move her or when she's sitting? She may be broody silkies are well known for being very broody hens. If she's fluffing and dropping her wings low that's a pretty good indicator too. Get on YouTube and look up a broody hen and see if that's the same behavior your hen is showing
I'll check that out, thank you!
 
I'll check that out, thank you!
Sounds like she’s broody? Although the lethargy sounds a little weird. And your sure she’s still laying eggs?
I'm pretty sure she is laying, but I am setting up a brooder area to snap her out of it because we cant have chicks right now. Im doing this because I think she is broody and is just neglecting her health, its been hot lately and she might be hydrated. Maybe that is the source of the lethargy.
 
Is the making any noise when you try to move her or when she's sitting? She may be broody silkies are well known for being very broody hens. If she's fluffing and dropping her wings low that's a pretty good indicator too. Get on YouTube and look up a broody hen and see if that's the same behavior your hen is showing
I think that this is it, she was similar to the chickens in the videos I saw. I discussed with somebody else about the weakness possibly coming from the heat we've had lately and her neglecting of her health combining to make her dehydrated. Thank you so much for the help! Will continue to act on what I now know and update you if you want.
 

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