I have my EE, Fussy, and she is just getting more and more nervous and jumpy. She is only 8 weeks, but at this rate, she will give herself a heart attack.
She will calm down if I talk soothing, but I cant be out with her 24/7 to smooth talk the silly girl. She has been extremely this way since little Fandango died 3 weeks ago. She was very attached to her and had taken to "mothering" her since she was so much smaller. The other chicken, Red, it hasnt seemed to affect, except for that night. A bit of it seems to be, when the little one died, I started crying and swooped down to get her out of the box, and now I think Fussy thinks someone is gonna either swoop down and get HER, or the other chick. If I pick Red up, Fussy goes bonkers, and runs after me like I am gonna kill her best friend. She would rather I pick HER up, than the other chicken, and its not jealousy, its sheer panic.
Thats not all, she just is a nervous wreck all the time. Hard to explain, she was always a little on the jumpy side, but Fandango never startled at ANYTHING (I even thot she might be deaf, but found out she wasnt, cuz she would run thru the house straight to me if she heard me calling from the other room) so I think it calmed Fussy to have one around that just never startled. Fussy has taken that trait up now where she will hunt me down. Fandango could see in the dark, and I THINK the sun hurt her eyes, so perhaps that was why she didnt startle so much, or she was just a super unusual chick. (Gosh I miss the lil bugger and wished I had tried harder to feed her, and knew about Penetran earlier).
I dont know where to FIND a chicken that doesnt startle. From what I know, almost all of them startle at loud noises, someone looming over them, etc. Its really ruined the dynamics of chickendom for my Fussy, she just cries and wants attention constantly. I dont think she is still grieving, she seems to be over that, but how do I calm this chickens nerves down? Her poop even is real black and runny almost all the time. I have been giving her rice the last two days, and it seems to have helped, but she gets the runs big time when she gets upset, which is SEEMS to be about 20 hours out of the day, and its not a health thing, its just plain sheer nerves. sigh..
Worried mother to my two kids.
Jill
She will calm down if I talk soothing, but I cant be out with her 24/7 to smooth talk the silly girl. She has been extremely this way since little Fandango died 3 weeks ago. She was very attached to her and had taken to "mothering" her since she was so much smaller. The other chicken, Red, it hasnt seemed to affect, except for that night. A bit of it seems to be, when the little one died, I started crying and swooped down to get her out of the box, and now I think Fussy thinks someone is gonna either swoop down and get HER, or the other chick. If I pick Red up, Fussy goes bonkers, and runs after me like I am gonna kill her best friend. She would rather I pick HER up, than the other chicken, and its not jealousy, its sheer panic.
Thats not all, she just is a nervous wreck all the time. Hard to explain, she was always a little on the jumpy side, but Fandango never startled at ANYTHING (I even thot she might be deaf, but found out she wasnt, cuz she would run thru the house straight to me if she heard me calling from the other room) so I think it calmed Fussy to have one around that just never startled. Fussy has taken that trait up now where she will hunt me down. Fandango could see in the dark, and I THINK the sun hurt her eyes, so perhaps that was why she didnt startle so much, or she was just a super unusual chick. (Gosh I miss the lil bugger and wished I had tried harder to feed her, and knew about Penetran earlier).
I dont know where to FIND a chicken that doesnt startle. From what I know, almost all of them startle at loud noises, someone looming over them, etc. Its really ruined the dynamics of chickendom for my Fussy, she just cries and wants attention constantly. I dont think she is still grieving, she seems to be over that, but how do I calm this chickens nerves down? Her poop even is real black and runny almost all the time. I have been giving her rice the last two days, and it seems to have helped, but she gets the runs big time when she gets upset, which is SEEMS to be about 20 hours out of the day, and its not a health thing, its just plain sheer nerves. sigh..
Worried mother to my two kids.
Jill