Is my chicken molting or impacted?

[Jaron_Green]

Hello everyone! I've just joined the forum today to take some of the guess work out of caring for my chickens.

One of my hens, who is a buff orpington named Queeny, started acting a bit strange but I don't know whether to be worried or not.

Her symptoms are tail down SOMETIMES and also sometimes seeming low on energy. she goes back and forth.

Now here's the deal. It's November, fall, where I am right now and many of my chickens are molting and I've read that sometimes slight lethargy and tail down can be a pre molt thing. And now that I have queeny inside and have been watching her she doesn't seem lethargic anymore and he tail will go up and she'll look normal but every now and again I'll see her tail down again.

I gave her a epsom salt bath the other day because I was worried she might be egg bound but I've read that egg binding doesn't really happen in the fall and molt season. is this true?

It's always so hard to tell what's going on with a chicken's health and sometimes it feels like it's either 0 to 100 with nothing in between. I've already lost two of my darling girls this year and I don't want anything to happen to Queeny so any help will be had.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Jaron

 

[ExoticPetOwner]

Having a chicken that is egg bound only happens when the chicken is actively laying eggs, usually in spring and summer months, maybe early fall. It sounds like she's just molting, as they have 2 molts in a years time period, both spring and fall.Do you have any pictures? Is it just her tail and no other signs of anything being abnormal? Eating, drinking fine? Normal daily routine? Is her crop hard, squishy...?

 

[Jaron_Green]

Having a chicken that is egg bound only happens when the chicken is actively laying eggs, usually in spring and summer months, maybe early fall. It sounds like she's just molting, as they have 2 molts in a years time period, both spring and fall.Do you have any pictures? Is it just her tail and no other signs of anything being abnormal? Eating, drinking fine? Normal daily routine? Is her crop hard, squishy...?

I've watched her for 24 hours now and there are no other symptoms beside the tail being down sometimes. She's eating and drinking fine and seems normal. I've just put her back out with the others to see how she would behave and honestly she looks to be doing better now.