- Oct 10, 2009
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I wondered if anybody could recognise the signs:
We got 3 x 16-week old hens about 7 weeks ago. One Goldline, one Bluebell and one Speckeldy Hen. Since then they seemed to settle in fine, ate and drank loads, became fairly tame and friendly and one has started to lay eggs.
Over the last two days I have noticed the Speckeldy Hen's behaviour has changed. Each time I walk up to the coop she is sat crouched on the ground while the others are striding around scratching and pecking the ground. When I let them out in the garden, again she just crouches up and sits while the others walk around.
I can't see any obvious signs of bullying. The coop is fairly new and is cleaned out regularly and there is no sign of red mite, although I have sprayed the crevices in the coop with a red mite spray to make sure. On examining the hen she made a horrible screeching noise when I caught her, but then remained calm as I checked carefully for mites or other problems on her legs and in her down feathers. Her ears also looked clear. There was no obvious bump hinting a stuck egg that I could tell.
I have added some worming pellets to their feed just to make sure - but is there any other reason that people know why a hen would start to crouch? She is feeding and drinking, although her stools seem to be quite watery.
Many thanks in advance.
We got 3 x 16-week old hens about 7 weeks ago. One Goldline, one Bluebell and one Speckeldy Hen. Since then they seemed to settle in fine, ate and drank loads, became fairly tame and friendly and one has started to lay eggs.
Over the last two days I have noticed the Speckeldy Hen's behaviour has changed. Each time I walk up to the coop she is sat crouched on the ground while the others are striding around scratching and pecking the ground. When I let them out in the garden, again she just crouches up and sits while the others walk around.
I can't see any obvious signs of bullying. The coop is fairly new and is cleaned out regularly and there is no sign of red mite, although I have sprayed the crevices in the coop with a red mite spray to make sure. On examining the hen she made a horrible screeching noise when I caught her, but then remained calm as I checked carefully for mites or other problems on her legs and in her down feathers. Her ears also looked clear. There was no obvious bump hinting a stuck egg that I could tell.
I have added some worming pellets to their feed just to make sure - but is there any other reason that people know why a hen would start to crouch? She is feeding and drinking, although her stools seem to be quite watery.
Many thanks in advance.
