hen that has never acted right... what's with her?

[OHChick]

i have a hen who is picked on by all the others. her tail and back feathers are all plucked out by all the other hens. i've seperated her and sprayed her with blue kote but she just keeps getting picked on when she gets back in with them. she shakes her head nonstop (not in a hen-like way). i thought maybe she had mites, i checked her out closely, saw nothing but dusted her just in case, but no change. she does not appear to see well, she stays in the hen house 99.9% of the time. when u wave your hand in front of her, she acts like she can't see it. but if you move your arm further out, she does see it. DH wanted me to post to see if you all had any ideas what was wrong with her. he suggested a video, i just have not had time to make one. (to help with the diagnoses).

my question is does she just have a neurological defect? or do i need to be worried she has a disease that the others could catch. she's 21 weeks old. she loves to be held and she knows her name and will come running if i call her. i do not want to cull her but if she's diseased, i can't risk the other 26 getting it. she's been like this for as long as i can remember.... we put them down in the barn at 8 weeks of age, so probably since then.

ideas? thanks in advance.

 

[chickbea]

If it were a disease, I would imagine that the others would already be showing signs of illness since they have been together all this time.
She may have suffered a brain injury, or she may simply have been born "special". It sounds like she is a sweetie-pie, though - maybe you can make her into a house chicken or pet.
Does she lay yet? Are the others laying?
If you have the space and the desire, you could make a separate run for her, and choose one or two other docile hens to keep her company. If she's last on the pecking order of 26 hens, she's going to be beaten up all the time unless you do something...

What's her name?

 

[OHChick]

Does she lay yet? Are the others laying?

not sure. i have found eggs in the temp coop, no one else seems to lay in there, so i think they might be from her.

If she's last on the pecking order of 26 hens, she's going to be beaten up all the time unless you do something...

if i take her out, won't they just find another one to pick on? on the plus side, i bought some barred rocks a little over a week ago, this chicken (Blue) was pecking at one of them. she decided she's not going to be low-hen-on-the-totem-pole.

too bad she pecked so light the BR didn't even notice her.

What's her name?

i call her blue. since she spent so long dyed blue from the Blue-Kote. when it first started i thought she was injured and covered her back in it and kept her apart from everyone. but then the blue wore off, she got some new feathers and those are gone too.

one thing.... i assume they're being pecked out. because they appear to be broken off, like the feather shaft is still there. i assume that is different looking than when they moult and u can actually see skin, right? at least my neighbor's chickens look 'naked' when moulting.​

 

[dlhunicorn]

she may have had avian encephalomyelitis and recovered from it... only some dont completely recover and often show a head "tick" and other slight neurological symptoms when stressed or weakened. A good poultry vitamin/nutritional supplement like Avia Charge 2000 and keeping her separate from the others (perhaps with a couple of younger birds eventually that will not pick on her?) might be your best bet to improve the situation for her. Here is an article on that:
http://www.spc.int/rahs/Manual/AVIAN/AVENCEPHALITISE.htm

...you can order the AviaCharge from McMurry online or Strombergs (it is a good thing to have on hand) and for right now you can give her POLYVISOL (liquid childrens A-B-D vitamin) three drops in beak once a day for a week then taper off.

 

[bantymum]

I hope she is ok, she sounds like a sweety.
Can you get a rooster?, He will sort them out.
The others dont want her around so she will be better off on her own or with a friend.
They may not pick on someone else, they may have realised that she was different, and picked on her because of it.
I would definately give her some space to herself!!!

 

[schmoo]

If you can I would keep her separate from the other girls. I doubt they would "pick" on another girl to replace her. None of my 21 hens are picked on THAT extreme. She does sound "special" and if you want to keep her I would make her a little home of her own (if possible) Otherwise it sounds like shes pretty miserable getting picked on all the time. :|

 

[chickbea]

I'd move little Blue to her own digs. If you don't want to put other hens in with her, maybe you can get her to go broody and she can be a mom - that'll keep her occupied!