Sick chicken or just stressed new bird?

[soot87]

Hi so I'm new here but I just got 3 chickens. 2 1 yr black austrolorps that are laying and a two yr old leghorn that isn't laying currently. Molting I guess. So when we first got the chickens they all checked stuff out for the first couple days walked around and looked like perfectly happy chickens. We're rotting eggs from the blacks but not from the leghorn. Totally fine knew she wasn't laying. Each morning the blacks get up and come out of the coup and when I let them out I find eggs. Totally fine and healthy as far as I can tell. The leghorn has started spending a lot of time in the coup not getting up or standing in there With some prodding she'll come out and poke around for a while according to my wife but she just goes back in the coup. Is she sick, or just stressed from the change in scenery or is this maybe common for chickens who aren't laying and making new feathers. She is still eating as far as a know. Not overly concerned but thought I'd throw a feeler out there.

 

[DavidKerk]

If she is losing feathers and the feather loss started at the neck, then she is probably molting. When my chickens are molting, they do tend to stay inside especially if it is cold outside. Chickens generally molt in the fall or winter and I've heard that the later in the year a chicken molts the better the layer!

 

[soot87]

That's good news. I haven't seen too many feathers but I haven't had them a week yet. So maybe I'll start seeing some. No bare patches. Looks healthy enough. Any other feedback would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[Den in Penn]

The stress of a move can take a couple of weeks to wear off. Staying in the cop for a while after a move is not unheard of. Molt can be brought on by stressing them, but just moving them to a new home isn't usually enough to cause them to molt. I would just give the leghorn more time.

 

[soot87]

Had the day off and did notice some feathers missing on the back if her neck. Sounds like mystery solved to me. Also when I let them out this morning he came out on her own with me standing right there. I closed the coop up for a while just so I could watch her walk around. She looks fine to me.

 

[soot87]

I still don't know what to think about this bird. She's acting super stressed out. I mean she is in a new environment and then we added two more birds. To top it off she's the smallest bird. How long can it take a stressed bird to get the willies out? Obviously it depends on the bird but I'm just wondering when I should actually become concerned. She gets out of the coup and eats I guess but yeah she just seems very stressed. Is this typical for a leghorn? I've heard they're flighty does that make them more succeptable to being stressed by moving locations and introduction of new birds?

 

[Den in Penn]

If she is eating, drinking and coming out of the coop she is settling in. Just taking her time. A chicken can take a month or so to settle in to a new home. So she isn't outside the norm yet. How are the others treating her?

 

[soot87]

Yeah she's eating and drinking and I guess coming in and out of the coop. She just seems really pouty if that makes sense. She puts herself up at night in a nest box facing the corner. We haven't seen her get beaten up buy she runs away from the new chickens like they do. She's definitely the smallest bird. Any thoughts? Is she just being a flighty pouty leghorn?