Molting or Illness or ?

[slimpys]

Hello,

We have 1 hen that we bought at about 1 year old when we got tired of waiting for our 10 other pullets to start to lay. A few days ago I noticed that the older hen spent all day in the coop and a lot of her feathers appeared to be on the ground. I figured she was just molting given the number of posts I've seen about molting lately, but now the rooster seems to be harrassing her. She has been hiding away from the other chickens and when we brought her back to the paddock, the rooster attacked her again.

Is it normal during a molt that the hen is withdrawn or harrassed by other chickens? Or is there something else that could be going on? She hasn't laid in several weeks, but I have found several empty, rubbery shells around that I assumed were from her.

Thanks!

 

[Kassaundra]

Mine are molting right now, but this is my first ever experience w/ molting chickens. Anyway mine are not acting mean or aggresive to each other.

 

[kari_dawn]

how long ago did you get your new girl? If it is recently, she will have to establish her rank. I like to put my new birds (after quarantine) in a cage inside the main coop for a few days to not only show her where she should come to roost, but to allow her to passively integrate herself into the flock, and therefore, making pecking order establishment less agressive from the original birds.

What breed is she? Pictures? How old are the pullets? Could the rubber eggs be from the other pullets?

 

[lc3414]

we have a austrolope ,forgive the spelling , that is about 8 months old and has lose her feathers underneath from the neck line to her bottom and was wondering the same thing. I was told to try and put some antibiotic stuff in the water but i can't remember what the stuff was called. She also hangs out in the nesting boxes and has been for days now. I did get her out the other day and she walked around the yard just fine and she is eating and drinking just fine but I'm stumped on what the problem could be was wondering if she could be brooding.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sounds like she's molting. They can get withdrawn and grumpy when they molt. They just like to be left alone.