hens under the weather???

[Help_battery_hens]

does anyone have any ideas why my hens are looking a little out of sorts this morning? they are usually very lively when i let them out of their coop for a few hours free ranging before i go to work but this morning they were all subdued. chloe the cheekiest girl usually holds a full scale conversation with me every morning and this morning she didnt make even a sound. i brought them some breakfast (porridge with mealworms) and she was also reluctant to eat but she did eat some. usually she is the one to fly over the fence and run down the garden and into the house to get to me when i am cooking the breakfast. She hasnt laid an egg in four days and the eggs she has been laying for the last three months (since i got her from the battery farm) have all been so soft they have broken and i had read that this usually meant she was coming to the end of her egg laying but i wasnt sure because she had no feathers so i thought it might be because the protein was going to feather production and not egg production?
i am worried about chloe in particular but they all seem subdued today. do you think something could have scared them during the night? my dog kept wanting to go outside and was running down the garden barking which is unlike him. i did check but i couldnt see anything unusually and the hens were asleep.
any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

How are your girls now?


It does sound like something was bothering them during the night.



Do you offer them free choice oyster shells? This will help with calcium for harder egg shells - each bird is different, so some need more calcium and some less. Free choice oyster shells give each bird the chance to eat what they need.

 

[Help_battery_hens]

Thank you for your response. Yes Chloe is fine now but this morning I found Georgina not wanting to come out o the nest box she won't eat and is all puffed up. I'm very worried I will take her to the vets this afternoon. I don't know if she's got a cold?They have a little cup filled with oyster shell and grit in their coop to peck at is this what you mean?

 

[sheaviance1]

Georgina may be broody

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Yes if she is in the box, flattens herself but aslo puffs up her feathers when she sees you and growls or complains.............there is a good chance she is broody. If she spends the night there also, yup.