- Apr 3, 2011
- 48
- 1
- 84
We have two hens, and one of them is generically not looking great. She's not laying, but that's not unusual given that it's winter. She molted and stopped laying. Since then she's regained her feathers, but hasn't been looking well for about a month. Our other hen has started picking on her a little too. She has a bald-ish patch (still covered with feathers) on her back, which I'm assuming is from being pecked by the other hen. I've included pictures - you can see one of them is happy and perky, and poor Lovey is a little down in the dumps. She does tend to be by herself a little more than usual. Nothing has changed - they have the same food etc.
They're about 3 years old, and have been together since they were born. We did have 3 hens, but one died randomly about a year and a half ago. She was keeping to herself away from the others, and being picked on a little by the dominant hen (by "a little" I mean I witnessed it about 3 times). Lydia looked perfectly fine until I found her dead on the floor of the coop one day.
And now Lovey is not looking great. Any suggestions as to what we could do to perk her up? She's my 8 year old daughter's hen, and she's very sad that her hen is sick. We've been trying to give Lovey special attention and treats. She's eating, drinking and her poop looks normal - as far as I can tell. It's a bit hard to figure out which poop is from which hen, but all that I can find looks normal. She's not eating as fervently as usual, but she is still eating pellets, scraps and treats - we've been watching her. The dominant hen rushes in and gobbles up, and Lovey kind of wanders over and picks her and there. They're both free-ranging around, but pretty much everything is covered in snow, so they mostly walk over to the patio and bask in the sun when they're out.
Lovey is on the left in both these photos. You can see she's just not as perky as our other hen. Her wattle isn't as red, and her comb is kind of falling over.
Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
They're about 3 years old, and have been together since they were born. We did have 3 hens, but one died randomly about a year and a half ago. She was keeping to herself away from the others, and being picked on a little by the dominant hen (by "a little" I mean I witnessed it about 3 times). Lydia looked perfectly fine until I found her dead on the floor of the coop one day.
And now Lovey is not looking great. Any suggestions as to what we could do to perk her up? She's my 8 year old daughter's hen, and she's very sad that her hen is sick. We've been trying to give Lovey special attention and treats. She's eating, drinking and her poop looks normal - as far as I can tell. It's a bit hard to figure out which poop is from which hen, but all that I can find looks normal. She's not eating as fervently as usual, but she is still eating pellets, scraps and treats - we've been watching her. The dominant hen rushes in and gobbles up, and Lovey kind of wanders over and picks her and there. They're both free-ranging around, but pretty much everything is covered in snow, so they mostly walk over to the patio and bask in the sun when they're out.
Lovey is on the left in both these photos. You can see she's just not as perky as our other hen. Her wattle isn't as red, and her comb is kind of falling over.
Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
