Hen laying down?

[Gerty0630]

Hi all! I’m still probably considered a newbie to chickens. I’ve had my flock of 8 for a year now. Until yesterday I’ve never really notice any of them laying down. Except to lay an egg. Or for a dust bath. I have a cream legbar hen who started laying in a random spot in the coop yesterday. Nothing seems wrong with her but the behavior seems odd since I’ve not noticed it before. When I go out to her she stands and walks away. First thing this morning I opened the coop door and she spent the first many hours out in the yard foraging as usual. I’ve seen her poop. I’ve seen her drink water. Is this just a normal behavior I’ve not experienced before? Or something could be wrong? I’ve read into top chicken sicknesses and it doesn’t seem like she has any of those. Idk that she’s egg bound she walks fine and doesn’t seem to be straining at all. Thoughts?? Pic attached but slightly skewed since it is now raining outside and everyone else is huddled around her. Blue arrows pointing to her.

 

[aart]

When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[Gerty0630]

Good idea! What would an abnormal poop look like? And I’ve never had to check crop function so how would I do that? Thank you!

When I have a bird that is acting 'off' I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor their intake of food and water, crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed), and their poops. Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling. Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.

Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[aart]

What would an abnormal poop look like?

Best to take pics if in doubt....but...
Good visual references for all kinds of poops,
just don't jump to any terrible conclusions too quickly:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/?topic=17568.0

And I’ve never had to check crop function so how would I do that?

Feel the birds crop at night as you put it in the crate, it should be fairly full.
Do not leave any feed or water in crate.
Then feel crop again first thing in the morning before giving feed and water, it should be empty.

 

[Gerty0630]

Upon watching her more today, she has been kind of awkwardly pacing around the coop, rather than just laying down like she did yesterday. It looks like she keeps trying to poop but isn’t pooping. (I know pooping isn’t the issue though as I’ve seen her poop multiple times today). Maybe early stages of egg bound?

Best to take pics if in doubt....but...
Good visual references for all kinds of poops,
just don't jump to any terrible conclusions too quickly:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/?topic=17568.0


Feel the birds crop at night as you put it in the crate, it should be fairly full.
Do not leave any feed or water in crate.
Then feel crop again first thing in the morning before giving feed and water, it should be empty.

 

[aart]

Upon watching her more today, she has been kind of awkwardly pacing around the coop, rather than just laying down like she did yesterday. It looks like she keeps trying to poop but isn’t pooping. (I know pooping isn’t the issue though as I’ve seen her poop multiple times today). Maybe early stages of egg bound?

Has she been laying?
Might be a soft shell working it's way down, can take while and make them act goofy.
Do the crate thing anyway just to rule out some things..

 

[rosemarythyme]

I do have chickens who simply sit down for no real reason, but if you notice she's off in behavior then yes you'll want to keep an eye on her. Do you know if she's been laying recently without issue?

 

[Gerty0630]

I’m not sure if she’s laid recently. Hard to keep track of every bird laying haha. I think it’s been a couple days though. I watched her all day yesterday and she did eat and drink quite a bit. She was up and down from the nesting boxes a lot and never laid. I gave her an epsom salt soak last night then put her in the coop w the door and windows closed for an hour to see if she’d lay but she didn’t. I guess I’ll try that again today?

Has she been laying?
Might be a soft shell working it's way down, can take while and make them act goofy.
Do the crate thing anyway just to rule out some things..

 

[Gerty0630]

I’m not sure the last time she laid. I believe it could be an egg as I saw her jump up and down from the nesting boxes many times yesterday without laying an egg. It looked like she kept trying to poop even though nothing was coming out. (I did see her poop many times yesterday though). So I gave her a soak to see if that’d help but she didn’t lay after that. I’ll try that again today and see what happens!

I do have chickens who simply sit down for no real reason, but if you notice she's off in behavior then yes you'll want to keep an eye on her. Do you know if she's been laying recently without issue?