I think my hen was abused :(

Sobek

Songster
Aug 12, 2018
397
540
151
orlando florida
I'm not too sure... but... we have a poultry shop and I picked my chickens up from there. EVERY chicken I have EVER got has a medical issue. As I've learned more and more I've been able to treat my most recent chickens. But some have passed. The list of illnesses were E.coli, fowl pox, Worms, and Pseudomonas. I got two from small baby pullets and the other two from pullets about 1-3 months shy of laying. Time all kind of blends. Chicken nugget is the oldest and other than her beak being trimmed she's the SWEETEST chicken I have ever seen. Sunshine is the one that acts a little funny. She's constantly scared of me even after months. She always seems like she's in distress. I think she wants to raise chicks but I don't think that's really why the behavior has been going on since she was like that before she layed. She just walks around the yard all day whining. She lets me hold her and she'll sleep in my arms. She'll lay down with me on her own accord as long as I stay still and don't look at her too much. But a lot of the time she just acts like I'm about to beat her to death. Truthfully I have lost my cool with her a few times because of how excessively loud and difficult she became.... but I stopped getting mad and I don't handle her rough if I really did at all? I never physically abused her but I'm sure getting angry in general scared her. It started me make me think she may have been abused or traumatized some how before I got her. I've been treating her very sweet and our relationship seems to be getting a little closer and we're human-chicken bonding but she still acts a little off. She's very calm when I'm holding her now like she's at peace and she feels safe in my arms. She's really a sweet chicken but I'm just trying to understand why she's always so shaky about everything
 
She was probably mishandled when she was young. Feed her treats and give her lots of attention to gain her trust and make her feel better.
 
Do not "loose your cool" or you will loose all the progress you have made with her.
She is just a chicken. Each chicken in your flock will have a different personality.
Enjoy them for who they are.
Make no sudden moves, be dependible, gentle and make good things happen when you arrive.
They will learn to trust you. They may not all turn into puppies though, again they each have there own personality. Good luck!
 
I wouldn't want to be near you either honestly.
Chicken's are loud. End of story. You don't get mad and yell or lose your cool as you say. maybe she's just scared of you.
IT's been like 3 months and it's when I'm not even around she just does it for fun. And FYI LIKE I SAID. Her and I are getting closer. She was a rescue. I took her on even though it was a slight burden of course I will get frustrated she wasn't really my chicken until now.
 
@Sobek, I've dealt with this before and your girl may have been mistreated in the past. My first flock of hens came from some friends, they had many children and they were very rough with the hens (eye witness here :p).
They couldn't keep the hens because of their neighbors, so we took them. They were all very timid and acted like they were scared to death of us. After a few months of pampering they were lapdogs!

This may be the case with your girl, or she might just dislike humans. I hatched some pullets in spring, and one pullet (only one) is very loud and pecks me any chance she gets. I've never mistreated her, she just doesn't like me.

With some time and pampering, I'm sure your girl will around, though ;)
 
Also, try not to take it out on your hen when you lose your cool. Your hen won't understand that she's being loud and your getting angry won't help solve anything.
If I'm having a bad day and one of my girls is being unusually loud or mean, I do get frustrated, but I know getting mad at that chicken is actually very pointless. I'm always the one who needs to calm down most of the time :)
 
I don’t have any loud chickens, the flock is all pretty quiet unless they’ve just laid. But I have 3 that are flighty. Like “she must have a axe hidden behind her back, flap Wildly and fly into walls”. They were never mistreated they just are like that. They’ve got a light Brahma that sticks close to them and acts the same way. I’ve learned to just move slow, roll my eyes if the wind blows suddenly and freaks them out and make sure they see me sprinkle the scratch grains on the ground, which brings them running lol. Maybe the chicken will come around, maybe not. Just keep her safe and feed her well and know she may settle down or she may be the loud and annoying one in the flock.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom