Hen hiding from others...

[luvmyboyz]

This morning my Roo was trying to get frisky with one of the hens. She put her head down a hole in the ground and lay there still for 15 minutes or more. I thought she was dead and went to go check on her. When I did she reluctantly got up and ran back to the coop with the others.

I've noticed throughout the day that she was not with the others and just went to check up on her again. She is hiding in some tall weeds/bushes and won't come out. None of our chickens have ever ventured into the tall weeds before and even now the others aren't even attempting it.

She is a 17wk old Araucana. I'm curious if this is a sign that she needs to lay her first egg, is she traumatized from the rooster, is she sick and going off to die??? I'm a total newbie to chickens!

 

[Mahonri]

She may be too young for the roo and is hiding from him. Many EE's, Ameraucanas & Araucanas are not mature enough to lay eggs until after 25 weeks.

Isolate her to make certain that nothing else is wrong and perhaps you can restrict the roos access for a while. I have three roos in a pen (prison) right now because they were beating up the hens too much.

Good luck.

 

[luvmyboyz]

Thanks for the tips!

We took seperated the Roo for awhile, and the hen is back to her old self. Now I'm wondering if he will always be agressive like this or not? He is also 17wks old. Is this a phase?