Hen losing weight and isolated

[Chickenfoundme]

Our lavender Orpington within the last 2 weeks has moved from top roost at night to middle roost below the 3 other chickens, to now sleeping in a nesting box. She just had new feathers grow in and looks good except for being thinner and seems to have the same friendly personality with people. She goes out in the run in the mornings but doesn't stay long. All of the hens have stopped laying for the last couple of weeks as the weather has gotten colder and days shorter. One of the hens sometimes bullies her and instead of fighting back, she sits down on the ground or runs away. Other than weight loss, she looks healthy and has access to food and water in the coop. Any ideas on if this could be a behavioral issue or a health issue I can't easily detect?

Thanks

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Is she still molting? That can cause the behaviors you described.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Our lavender Orpington within the last 2 weeks has moved from top roost at night to middle roost below the 3 other chickens, to now sleeping in a nesting box. She just had new feathers grow in and looks good except for being thinner and seems to have the same friendly personality with people. She goes out in the run in the mornings but doesn't stay long. All of the hens have stopped laying for the last couple of weeks as the weather has gotten colder and days shorter. One of the hens sometimes bullies her and instead of fighting back, she sits down on the ground or runs away. Other than weight loss, she looks healthy and has access to food and water in the coop. Any ideas on if this could be a behavioral issue or a health issue I can't easily detect?

Thanks

Hi, welcome to BYC!

What do you feed including treats and supplement? How many birds in how much space? Ever had a fecal float to check worm species and load count? What is her age? How do her droppings look? Is she eating and drinking normally?

It very much to me sounds like an issue other than molting since you say she grew her feathers back in. There are some behavioral changes that would line up with that but going all the way to the nest box is a bad sign if she ain't broody. And for it to be a gradual decline down the roost would not be normal in that instance.

Hope she feels better and you get some good clues.

 

[aart]

Other than weight loss, she looks healthy and has access to food and water in the coop.

Have you actually weighed her?
They can look mighty skinny before all the new feathers fully grow back in.

 

[Chickenfoundme]

There are 3 hens and 1 rooster in a 36'ft walk in coop plus a 150'ft run and occasionally free ranged. The hen still looks thin her feathers are all in. She is eating and drinking but one of the hens in particular will peck at her if she gets close to the others or tries to get on the roost at night. I feed them organic food and some daily scratch, assorted veggies, worms depending on the day.

 

[azygous]

I don't find this unusual. Some chickens lose quite a bit of weight when molting, and it depletes their reserves. They feel out of sorts, and as their weight drops, they will feel weak. This causes subdued behavior.

Other chickens in the flock will be quick to pick up on subdued behavior, and some will feel it's their "duty" to demonstrate to the hen who is not feeling at the top of her form that she's not accepted. This is completely normal flock behavior.

This tends to reinforce the subdued behavior, and the hen will avoid the flock, especially the aggressive members. You'll see them on the edges, very quiet, almost as if they hope to be invisible.

I have a couple of these types right now. Both are coming off molt, but they haven't returned to their old selves, yet. Both had lost a lot of weight during molt. One succeeded in avoiding the attentions of the bullies in the flock, while the other was easily intimidated, and she became a real basket case, requiring intervention. Both are gradually returning to normal.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

some daily scratch

Daily might be a little excessive for scratch. It's empty calories without much nutritional value, similar to chips. Too much diminishes protein level. Since you are feeding organic, I have to figure layer (since I've only seen starter or layer in organic) which is already the minimum amount of protein (16%) needed for a light bodied layer like leghorn. While dual purpose breeds will do better around 18-20%. Orpington are DEFINITELY a heavy bodied breed. Please note that feathers are also made of 90% protein (the amino acids within it). Assorted veggies are mostly water and often low in nutrients.

I would use the scratch as a special treat say to attract them to me or call them in if I needed to lock up early. Well, if I bought that junk I would. Rather spend my $ on meal worms or sprouting some fodder.
I used to put my veggie scraps into a red wiggler composting bin and feed the wigglers out to the girls which they loved. Now though at my new location my pasture is loaded with them and maintaining the bin is a waste of my time mostly. A favorite occasional treat for me is scrambled eggs. I save up any that are to dirty for our family or got a toenail poke or something and feed them out. Egg shells always get set aside, left open to dry.. and then crushed and given back to the ladies as well. Sometimes I will just take it out immediately and stomp it on the ground. However if they happen to be shells from another flock or store bought (my MIL saves them cause she knows I feed them back) I absolutely will not risk feeding those to my birds and instead send them to the garden compost or crush them and spread around the base of plants to combat the slugs.

Sometimes even the rooster will alienate a lady who isn't giving it up. Hopefully she will return to herself soon, I just hate seeing them like that!