Hen not eating, drinking, or moving, what is wrong?

[alliehartley]

My hen is just over a year old. She has layed eggs regularly for awhile now. Recently she hasn't moved out of her nesting box. She doesnt move all day and from what i can tell, she isn't eating or drinking or moving at all. This afternoon I picked her up and set her out in the pen area and made her eat some lettuce which made her poop immediately. I decided that since its summer and its not too cold outside i would leave her out in the pen by herself so she wont get picked on and has plenty of access to food and water and made up a smaller nesting box for her outside. I dont know what else i can do for her. she's so skinny it looks as if she hasnt eaten in days. she also plucks out her own feathers and gets picked on by the other hens. is there anything specific wrong with her or anything i can do to save her from starving herself to death?

 

[drumstick diva]

Is she sitting on eggs? Does she get puffed up or aggressive when you approach her? She may be "broody." That is when a hen decides she wants to hatch eggs. If she doesn't have any, she will sit on rocks, golf balls, or even plain air. She doesn't want to leave the nest to eat, drink or poo. If you don't make her leave to do so, they can starve too death. This can easily be interpreted as a disease or illness or ???. Hens will pull out their belly feathers in an attempt to make a nice nest.

Put "Broody Hen" in search box and get more info. This is NOT to say she couldn't have some serious health problems - so please post in detail on "emergencies, diseases, injuries, cures," thread.

Broodiness does mimic symptoms of other conditions but given her age it seems this is likely the answer. IF she is broody, you can get her some fertile eggs to sit on and that will make her happy but, you still need to Make her leave the nest at least once a day to eat/drink/potty. Or see if she will eat if you have a food dish and water close to her nest..

You can try some tempting foods to get her to eat, mashed boiled egg yolk moistened with some plain yogurt, watermelon , grapes, black oil sunflower seeds, meal worms, oatmeal etc.

She should be kept away from other chickens because they may pick on her, or if she did hatch out chicks they would likely kill them.

Please let us know either way if she is broody or other health situation.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, alliehartley, and

! Happy you joined our community! I think drumstick has it well covered so I'll just say best wishes to you and your birds!!

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan

You may enjoy browsing through the Learning Center for more info on hen behaviour

 

[liz9910]

Welcome to BYC! drumstick diva has given you some good advice, good luck to you.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!

 

[BantamFan4Life]