Injured hen. Help.

[jnicholes]

Hello,

So my mother came to me and told me that she heard weird noises from the chicken coop this morning. After going to a friend's funeral, I went out to check on my eight golden sex links. They are all hens. When I went out, I discovered that one of my hens has lost a massive amount of feathers. She is isolating herself from the flock, moving very slowly, acting very scared, when I tried to pick her up, she was clucking as if my picking her up was causing pain. When she jumped out of my arms and spread her wings, I noticed that her wings have very few feathers. Almost bare, to be exact. I would estimate about 60% of her Wing feathers are gone. She's standing on one foot very often, as if the other foot is injured. I don't know what attacked her, but I'm going to set up a time-lapse to figure it out.

She seems to be in pain, and I don't know what to do.

Does anybody have any advice on what I can do? If you need more information, I will get it.

Pictures





Any help will be appreciated,

Jared

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How old is she?
She looks like she might be molting, check her over for new feather growth. Birds that are molting can be skittish.

Hopefully she sprained her leg and it will be o.k. in a couple of days. If she still acts off, then you may want to cage her in the run for a few days to limit her activity.

 

[Shadowfire]

There's probably some feather picking going on if she's not molting. Carefully pick her up and check her feet; limping/not putting weight on one foot is usually a sign of bumblefoot.

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have a rooster, and is she low in the pecking order? The flock might have attacked her if she was showing signs of an injury or illness. A rooster might attack a hen to attempt to mate her, and if she resists, they can get rough and peck or wear feathers around the neck and wings. But I would look her over carefully for any puncture wounds or cuts/gashes.

Raccoons, foxes, oppossums, and other animals can get into very small openings in coops, and raccoons can insert their hands through wire fencing, especially chicken wire to injure chickens.

 

[micstrachan]

She appears to be molting, but if your mother heard distress calls, I would look her over. Keep in mind, if she is molting, she IS sore and WILL cry out when you handle her. But if she's injured, you probably want to know that.

 

[jnicholes]

Hello,

Well, she is about one and a half years old. I got her in March of 2017. All I can see when I look at the bare spots are pin feathers. I don't see any signs of injury. She does have new feather growth, but not much. I do not have a rooster, only eight hens. I'm also noticing that a lot of the feathers are on the ground in many places.

She is not the lowest on the pecking order, that would be my other hen misses broody.

If she is molting, is there anything specific I need to do?

Please keep in mind that I only started raising chickens in March of 2017. What is going on is completely new to me.

Jared

 

[micstrachan]

Hello,

Well, she is about one and a half years old. I got her in March of 2017. All I can see when I look at the bare spots are pin feathers. I don't see any signs of injury. She does have new feather growth, but not much. I do not have a rooster, only eight hens. I'm also noticing that a lot of the feathers are on the ground in many places.

She is not the lowest on the pecking order, that would be my other hen misses broody.

If she is molting, is there anything specific I need to do?

Please keep in mind that I only started raising chickens in March of 2017. What is going on is completely new to me.

Jared

She is the prime age for molting, and the feathers on the ground is a sure sign. Just realize she is very uncomfortable right now and has a good chance of losing weight due to loss of appetite. I'm sure she would appreciate a protein treat. My go-to protein treats are scrambled egg and canned tunafish. I even offered some finely chopped steak at one point!

Good luck. I think she will be OK.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello,

Well, she is about one and a half years old. I got her in March of 2017. All I can see when I look at the bare spots are pin feathers. I don't see any signs of injury. She does have new feather growth, but not much. I do not have a rooster, only eight hens. I'm also noticing that a lot of the feathers are on the ground in many places.

She is not the lowest on the pecking order, that would be my other hen misses broody.

If she is molting, is there anything specific I need to do?

Please keep in mind that I only started raising chickens in March of 2017. What is going on is completely new to me.

Jared

Thank you for the information.
From your description, she is molting. They don't feel too well during this time, so just keep a watch that she is drinking an eating. I like to give mine poultry vitamins once a week a long with a treat of eggs or fresh greens.

The limping - let's hope that resolves itself. Since a commotion was heard she might have sprained it during a scuffle. Time will tell.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hello,

So my mother came to me and told me that she heard weird noises from the chicken coop this morning. After going to a friend's funeral, I went out to check on my eight golden sex links. They are all hens. When I went out, I discovered that one of my hens has lost a massive amount of feathers. She is isolating herself from the flock, moving very slowly, acting very scared, when I tried to pick her up, she was clucking as if my picking her up was causing pain. When she jumped out of my arms and spread her wings, I noticed that her wings have very few feathers. Almost bare, to be exact. I would estimate about 60% of her Wing feathers are gone. She's standing on one foot very often, as if the other foot is injured. I don't know what attacked her, but I'm going to set up a time-lapse to figure it out.

She seems to be in pain, and I don't know what to do.

Does anybody have any advice on what I can do? If you need more information, I will get it.

Pictures

View attachment 1579807

View attachment 1579810

Any help will be appreciated,

Jared

I think if your mom came to you and told you she heard weird noises it must’ve been pretty loud, so I am sure that one of the chickens was probably getting injured or attacked by the other ones. I think that if your hen is missing a massive amount of feathers in a short period of time it would be from being attacked. I would think maybe if the hen is very frightened, put up some wire so she is still with the other chickens but they are not able to attack her.

 

[jnicholes]

Thank you for the advice. My mother said she did not hear distress, but a lot of flapping. It was hard to tell so early in the morning. However, I'll take the necessary precautions.

Jared