Hen's saddle feathers standing on end, behaving normal

[BayNatives]

In the photo, you can see Mavis, the hen on the right has all her saddle feathers standing on end, like they do before shaking off but they are remaining erect and only in that area. You can compare to Sarah, normal barred rock on the left. Sarah is smaller.

Mavis is behaving normally. I['m not sure if she's laying now. Probably not. About half of our 27 hens are laying now. She is about 3 years old. They are all very spoiled with plenty of room, organic feed, worms, mice and free range time. We do have a rooster.

We probed around to see if the skin was irritated but couldn't tell because the feathers are so dense.

There was another thread about feathers standing up but the photo isn't clear and that bird was lethargic. One suggestion that she might be egg bound: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...l-feathers-straight-up.1201874/#post-19038623

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Does she get mated a lot? Have you tried brushing them down with your hand? Do they go down or come back up? I haven't seen anything exactly like that before, but that's the area where feathers start to wear off from the roosters.

 

[BayNatives]

I don't recall her getting mounted recently. If they aren't laying the roo usually ignores them. Yep, they pop right back up if you smooth them down.

Does she get mated a lot? Have you tried brushing them down with your hand? Do they go down or come back up? I haven't seen anything exactly like that before, but that's the area where feathers start to wear off from the roosters.

 

[BayNatives]

So, months later, she went a little broody one evening and the saddle feathers flattened out. She stayed in the nest box 1-1/2 hours later than everyone else, and came out cured and went to bed.

 

[micstrachan]

Interesting! I was going to ask if her preen gland was inflamed.