Hen acting lethargic; "scrunched-up" look

[petitbleu88]

I have a 22-24 week old silkie who is acting very lethargic. She is standing up, but she moves only slightly and makes very soft noises--no loud squawks or clucks. She has a scrappy appearance (feathers very rough looking, but she looked like this before I got her--not sure if this is normal or a symptom of something; as far as I know she has not been losing feathers). She is also standing in a "scrunched up" position. I don't know how else to describe it. Her neck is contracted, and it's as if her shoulders are tensed. Her tail feathers are pointed downwards. As far as I can tell, she does not have diarrhea. I am feeding all the hens a pretty standard layer pellet and make sure they have fresh water at least a couple times a day. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm new to chickens and am really not sure what I'm looking at here. Thank you!

 

[BrokenRoadFarm]

Sounds almost like she is doing the "squat"...would be the right age. Does she only do that if you walk up next to her?

 

[petitbleu88]

She definitely does it when I walk up to her. What exactly is the "squat?"

 

[BrokenRoadFarm]

When a pullet is close to ready to begin laying eggs, they do the squat. They squat down about half-way, spread their wings a little and point their tail feathers down. They are basically "presenting themselves to the rooster". And they view YOU as the rooster

They will continue to do it after they start laying their eggs. Makes it much easier to pick them up if you need to...instead of running around chasing them

 

[petitbleu88]

Thank you so much! I certainly hope this is what se's doing.