not broody...so whats her problem?

[spish]

15 month old 'laying' hen (sorry dont know the technical term but shes an ex battery farm hen)
caught her today sneaking slowly over the grass then snuggled down in a patch and sat there...for 5 hours in the wind rain and hail.
i go to pick her up, she stood up, walked calmy away and snuggled down else where. so i go to pick her up again..she stands up, walks off and finds another area to lie in.

it started getting dark so thought i better go back and check if shes gone to roost, nope she still curled up in the grass, so unlike her (shes normally first in the hen house) so ive brought her inside to give her a good search over.

i cant see anything physically wrong with her, crop has food in, shes not thin, no discharge from the eyes/nose/mouth. no cuts, scraps or other injuries.
poop so far has been normal. shes not laying at the moment as shes just finished moulting.

but shes not right she never sits still like this....... any ideas??

 

[Judy]

You spoke of both her lying around in the grass and her never sitting still. I'm going to guess the never sitting still is happening since you separated her from the flock, in which case this may be because she isn't with her buddies.

It could well be something is brewing but I don't think there's any way to identify it at this point.

You could try the usual approach of worming and treating for mites/lice if you aren't already up to speed on these. And you can always up their nutrition a bit, and give some vitamins/minerals.

If it were me, since looking her over gave no clue, I'd put her back and see what develops. Good luck!

 

[spish]

sorry i meant sh never normally sits still shes always running around, so her wanting to stay sitting in the grass is not normal for her

 

[chkn]

I wonder if she's egg bound or full of parasites? I know when one of my hens have layed internally, they sort of 'cross country ski' the way the walk. I hate it when I see that.

 

[spish]

i cant see it being parasites as they've very recently been wormed and dusted (just 4 weeks ago)

egg bound could be a possibility as we've had no eggs from her for a while (thought because she was moulting but shes near enough done with that)


she seems perkier today (not sitting so much) but im not gonna put her back out so quickly. she has a friend inside with her so shes not lonely