Chicken:
Blue hen, no idea of breed.
Less than a year old, began laying regularly a month ago.
Fed laying pellets, gets access to scratch as enrichment (I toss it all over the run for them to look for)
Has access to oyster shell
Free access to clean water
Symptoms:
Lethargic, non-vocal, staying alone
Comb is normal/red
Feet/legs are pink, normally slate
Putting head in corner
Empty/normal crop
Other Chickens:
No issues. One of my younger orpingtons audibly pooped clear liquid in front of me mid-week, I've not seen it happen again.
Coop/Run Conditions:
Fine. I neglected their dropping board the weekend this started, but it's been cleaned since.
The open part of the run has been muddy and parts of it has had standing water for over a week, due to heavy rains.
On Monday, I noticed one of my hens was standing in the corner of the run, next to the coop, with her face in the corner. Not moving or vocalizing, just standing there. I watched her for a bit and she would lower her head so the top of her head was against the wire and her "chin" was against her body.
I checked on her that evening, and she had moved to a little cage door that separates the run from a "quarantine" coop, where I had my rooster locked up. He has been separated on Sunday night from the hens because he sustained an injury (my puppy ripped his tail off two weeks earlier) and the hens wouldn't stop picking at it, so he's there until his feathers grow back. He stayed on the other side of the door cooing at her, so I wondered if maybe she was just distressed by him being stuck behind the wire.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it was the same thing. Stand next to the rooster, top of head against the wire. The only movement she'd do while doing this is to look down and pick at her feet, and at the feathers at the top of her legs. I picked her up and looked her over, and I didn't see anything wrong with her feet -- other than they've turned pink. I've seen that happen with my cockerels and some hens, and was told it was hormonal.
She is generally alone when doing this. I have 13 other hens, and if they come into the part of the run where she is hiding, she'll mingle a bit with them instead of stay in the corner, but she won't scratch, dust bathe, cluck, or anything else. She does go back into the coop at night with them and jumps up into her spot on the roost.
Today, she wouldn't even shuffle out of the corner or turn her head to look at me when I walked up behind her. All she did was squat and put her wings out. I left to prepare a kennel for her, and came back, and she was still in that position. When I came up to her again, she kind of squished herself down in a depression, laying down. Didn't cluck or move when I picked her up.
I put her in the kennel in my shop and she has sat there in the exact same position I sat her down in and hasn't moved. She has her beak slightly open, but I figure that's from distress.
I have removed food, but gave her water.
Any suggestions?
Blue hen, no idea of breed.
Less than a year old, began laying regularly a month ago.
Fed laying pellets, gets access to scratch as enrichment (I toss it all over the run for them to look for)
Has access to oyster shell
Free access to clean water
Symptoms:
Lethargic, non-vocal, staying alone
Comb is normal/red
Feet/legs are pink, normally slate
Putting head in corner
Empty/normal crop
Other Chickens:
No issues. One of my younger orpingtons audibly pooped clear liquid in front of me mid-week, I've not seen it happen again.
Coop/Run Conditions:
Fine. I neglected their dropping board the weekend this started, but it's been cleaned since.
The open part of the run has been muddy and parts of it has had standing water for over a week, due to heavy rains.
On Monday, I noticed one of my hens was standing in the corner of the run, next to the coop, with her face in the corner. Not moving or vocalizing, just standing there. I watched her for a bit and she would lower her head so the top of her head was against the wire and her "chin" was against her body.
I checked on her that evening, and she had moved to a little cage door that separates the run from a "quarantine" coop, where I had my rooster locked up. He has been separated on Sunday night from the hens because he sustained an injury (my puppy ripped his tail off two weeks earlier) and the hens wouldn't stop picking at it, so he's there until his feathers grow back. He stayed on the other side of the door cooing at her, so I wondered if maybe she was just distressed by him being stuck behind the wire.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, it was the same thing. Stand next to the rooster, top of head against the wire. The only movement she'd do while doing this is to look down and pick at her feet, and at the feathers at the top of her legs. I picked her up and looked her over, and I didn't see anything wrong with her feet -- other than they've turned pink. I've seen that happen with my cockerels and some hens, and was told it was hormonal.
She is generally alone when doing this. I have 13 other hens, and if they come into the part of the run where she is hiding, she'll mingle a bit with them instead of stay in the corner, but she won't scratch, dust bathe, cluck, or anything else. She does go back into the coop at night with them and jumps up into her spot on the roost.
Today, she wouldn't even shuffle out of the corner or turn her head to look at me when I walked up behind her. All she did was squat and put her wings out. I left to prepare a kennel for her, and came back, and she was still in that position. When I came up to her again, she kind of squished herself down in a depression, laying down. Didn't cluck or move when I picked her up.
I put her in the kennel in my shop and she has sat there in the exact same position I sat her down in and hasn't moved. She has her beak slightly open, but I figure that's from distress.
I have removed food, but gave her water.
Any suggestions?
