Molting chicken refuses to come down from roost

[NyxKnocks]

Hi all! I have a 3 yr old chicken that is going through a hard molt. Today she didn’t come down from the roost. I’m only concerned because that means she’s not eating or drinking water. Should I just leave her be and hope she comes down tomorrow? The roost is, unfortunately, 12 ft above the floor so retrieving her would entail pushing her off with a broom and I’d rather not do that. I can see pin feathers coming in on her belly and I imagine they hurt or it’s feeling sensitive. I also wonder if she’s not feeling confident in her ability to fly down having less feathers.

Force her down? or cross my fingers and hope for the best?

Idk if it’s relevant, but I treated this chicken for coccidia with Corid 3 weeks ago. But she recovered fine, back to her spunky self and started to molt a week later.

 

[BDutch]

Dont you have a ladder to offer her some water (with electrolytes ) and little balls made from wet feed in front of her?

I presume she gets down by herself if she is getting thirsty. But it doesn’t help her recovery if she is not coming down very soon.

Such a high roost is quite inconvenient imho. For the future I would block the high roost area completely with a strong net. Something like cat netting,

 

[NyxKnocks]

Hi all! I have a 3 yr old chicken that is going through a hard molt. Today she didn’t come down from the roost. I’m only concerned because that means she’s not eating or drinking water. Should I just leave her be and hope she comes down tomorrow? The roost is, unfortunately, 12

Dont you have a ladder to offer her some water (with electrolytes ) and little balls made from wet feed in front of her?

I presume she gets down by herself if she is getting thirsty. But it doesn’t help her recovery if she is not coming down very soon.

Such a high roost is quite inconvenient imho. For the future I would block the high roost area completely with a strong net. Something like cat netting,

Agreed that it’s inconvenient, but in the winters I think that’s where it holds heat, so they love it up there. I’m having a hard time believing that she would literally stay up there and dehydrate to death, but I can’t help but worry. I’ll climb up there if she doesn’t come down by tomorrow morning. She’s not too keen on being touched with all the pin feathers coming in. I dont know if I can get a tall enough ladder turned into the door, but I can try.

 

[NyxKnocks]

Update: she came down on her own yesterday, but today she wouldn’t. I climbed up there and got her down for the day. Poor thing looks like a pin cushion and uncomfortable pink skin. Hoping these new feathers fluff out soon because she went right back up there tonight.

 

[MagistraTn]

I have 2 similar hens, 3.5 yo, molting, 8’ high roost. Was just checking on them and wondering why they don’t come down. One looks like she wants to, but the other seems content to stay in bed all day. They’ll have a new home with 3-4’ high roosts in a couple weeks, which will be best for everyone.

How’s she doing now?