Hen acting strange

[KWGypsyChickenGirl]

My hen, Stella has been acting kind of weird since yesterday. She doesn't seem to want to stand up. If I have food for her, then she'll come to me, but then immediately plops down into a laying position as if her legs have given out from beneath her. Any time I stand her up, she just plops right back down like she's too heavy to stand. Other than this, she's still acting fine. It's kind of scaring me though because she's never laid an egg before, and I'm worried she may be egg bound. I have no idea if this is a symptom or not. I also don't know how old she is, as we found her about a month and a half ago wandering Duval St. I believe she may be an ISA Brown, but I'm not too sure. Anyway, if someone could PLEASE give me some information on this sort of behavior, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm really starting to worry about her.

 

[chi-rn]

I'd bring her inside, put her in large dog crate with heating pad under damp towel & have her lay on that. It can relax if egg-binding is the problem. Also, put vitamins in her water. Hand feed her whatever you can get into her... favorite treats like plain yogurt with some mealworms & vitamin-enriched seeds/scratch, tomato pieces, scrambled eggs with well crushed egg shell. This'll help revive her is she's weak or even just overheated. Good luck.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Please read post #4 at this link to help you with Stella: Good luck.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=557188

 

[KWGypsyChickenGirl]

Thanks guys! I think maybe I'll go with heat exhaustion first, since it's been very hot lately. Is there any other way to tell if a hen is egg bound. I definitely don't want to rule that out.

 

[Gypsy07]

Eggbound hens tend to spend a lot of time in the nesting box straining to pop out the egg. They walk about with kind of bandy looking legs and an uncomfortable expression on their faces, and they stop walking and squat down quite a lot. Your hen sounds more like she's just resting. If it's been hotter than normal lately, that's probably all that's up with her. On hot days mine all sit around my front door looking like someone cut their legs off...

 

[KWGypsyChickenGirl]

Ok, I've had Stella inside for a few hours now, and she still doesn't want to stand, and she's all of a sudden got an attitude which is out of character for her. She's usually very sweet, and friendly, but now she keeps pecking at me violently whenever I put my hand near her. She still has quite the appetite also. I really don't know what's up with her. If she's still acting this way tomorrow, I might check to see if it's a stuck egg...

I'm so used to my little Key West chickens, and I'm not used to this big fat girl. I'm really hoping the A.C. will cool her off, and help get her back to normal.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
It almost sounds like she has gone broody! Whoops!

 

[starforever61]

Is she falling because she loses her balance? They lose their balance when something gets into their ear, eg. water, a bug, etc. It can kill and has killed. If you find that the hen has bad balance and it has rained hard recently or you accidentally got water on her head while watering them, then try one ear drop in each ear. Then again, it doesn't even sound like it's a balance problem. She sounds moody to me!

 

[KWGypsyChickenGirl]

I'm hoping she's just broody, and moody, and that I'm just not used to the way she acts when in this state. As far as I know she hasn't laid any eggs yet. My other hen only goes broody after she's actually laid a clutch of eggs. Do chickens go broody in hope of having eggs? Maybe Stella's just jealous of Hen's egg laying ability! Ha ha!

 

[KWGypsyChickenGirl]

She doesn't seem to be losing her balance. It's more as if her legs are just giving out from beneath her, and she just plops into onto a laying position.