Hen with mental issues??

[h3nnyp3nny!]

So I have a road island red hen who is around 2 years old, and she has a wacky problem. Every now and then, she'll start to run around in a circle, and then will take off running as fast as possible. She doesn't seem to register where she's going and will run repeatedly into fences, shove herself in tight corners, dive under the hay pallets and get herself stuck, she even scared the rooster badly enough when she had her last incident that he left the coop after coming in after her. We'll catch up to her or save her from whatever tight place she got herself in and hold her until she calms down. She always is panting and exhausted when we catch up to her, and when she calms down, she goes back to her normal self and acts like nothing happened. She's also the only one in both our flocks who has ratty feathers, and her poor wings look raw where there feathers are gone. Are her mental problems and feather issues related??? And what is the weird freak outs she has??? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[chicken_girl2007]

So I have a road island red hen who is around 2 years old, and she has a wacky problem. Every now and then, she'll start to run around in a circle, and then will take off running as fast as possible. She doesn't seem to register where she's going and will run repeatedly into fences, shove herself in tight corners, dive under the hay pallets and get herself stuck, she even scared the rooster badly enough when she had her last incident that he left the coop after coming in after her. We'll catch up to her or save her from whatever tight place she got herself in and hold her until she calms down. She always is panting and exhausted when we catch up to her, and when she calms down, she goes back to her normal self and acts like nothing happened. She's also the only one in both our flocks who has ratty feathers, and her poor wings look raw where there feathers are gone. Are her mental problems and feather issues related??? And what is the weird freak outs she has??? Any help would be much appreciated.

i’ve had the same thing happen to one of my rhode island reds as well, sadly we had to put her down. i’m not sure what causes it bc it just randomly happened. i’m sorry about your hen!

 

[h3nnyp3nny!]

Thanks. Sorry to hear about your Rhode island I hope that we won't have to put her down...if it gets too bad though we will probably have to. She was able to go several months without having the issue, but it started up again recently

 

[chicken_girl2007]

Thanks. Sorry to hear about your Rhode island☹ I hope that we won't have to put her down...if it gets too bad though we will probably have to. She was able to go several months without having the issue, but it started up again recently

poor baby.

 

[Enya2000]

My hen is a mixed breed bantam and she has stated going mental suddenly! She had her babies hatch a couple weeks ago, and now she just went mental and runs around screaming, running into walls and doors! She will lay in the sun after screaming and then get so hot and sweaty that she looks like she will die, so I have to pick her up and put her in the shade. And her comb has gone white, also her pupils go big and small and hen stay huge! She’s so sick and she won’t even notice her babies

 

[Dephora]

Has she been laying normal? Or have you noticed she hasn't laid an egg in awhile?

 

[Dephora]

If you don't think she is egg bound. Then my next guess is that her eye sight is getting bad, maybe something is wrong with her sight in one or both eyes. Much of what you describe sounds like panic from not being able to see where she is or where she is going. You could test her vision some see if you notice anything odd.

 

[AquaDuck]

That's very very strange! Poor girl
It sounds like there might be something neurological. Vitamin deficiencies can cause neurological issues, so you could put her on some multivitamins. A dewormer too, in case there's something inside her "stealing" the micro-nutrients. Probably won't work, but it also won't hurt...

 

[Enya2000]

Has she been laying normal? Or have you noticed she hasn't laid an egg in awhile?

Oh I don’t know! She hasn’t laid since having the chicks

 

[Enya2000]

That's very very strange! Poor girl
It sounds like there might be something neurological. Vitamin deficiencies can cause neurological issues, so you could put her on some multivitamins. A dewormer too, in case there's something inside her "stealing" the micro-nutrients. Probably won't work, but it also won't hurt...

Do I need special chicken vitamins? Or human ones?