Darcwaynard
Hatching
- Sep 25, 2021
- 3
- 1
- 9
Good day all I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. I had noticed similar posts but I didn't want to hijack anyone's thread.
I have a pullet hen that is acting strange. First of all she was 2nd hand so I'm not sure exactly how old she was. I was told she was 2 years old but I suspect it might be older than that. She lives with 2 roosters and 4 other hens.
She stopped laying eggs at one point and we noticed she was standing in the middle of the yard (they free range in the afternoons) not moving and when approached she would slowly move away. She did not eat much during this period. After few days she started acting normal again again and began laying eggs once more, although the shells were thinning out and the odd one would break in the layer box. We suspected a calcium deficiency do we tried feeding dried crushed egg shells for a few days and that seemed to help.
This lasted about 2 weeks and now she's stopped laying again and exhibiting the same strange behavior where she just stands there kind of spaced out. She might stay in one spot for up to 2 hours before moving a bit to get to the next spot where she will freeze again for a while.
I'm worried it might be mereks, but she doesn't seem to be paralyzed at all or showing any other signs. I did noticed a sore patch on her back where the wing meets the body but I don't know if that's the rash from mereks or from getting pecked. She is kind of puffed up and hunched down so I was also thinking she is egg bound but I haven't had to deal with that yet so I can't be sure.
Attached is a pic of Rosie from this morning.
Anyhow thanks for any help you can offer and I look forward to participating in the forums!
I have a pullet hen that is acting strange. First of all she was 2nd hand so I'm not sure exactly how old she was. I was told she was 2 years old but I suspect it might be older than that. She lives with 2 roosters and 4 other hens.
She stopped laying eggs at one point and we noticed she was standing in the middle of the yard (they free range in the afternoons) not moving and when approached she would slowly move away. She did not eat much during this period. After few days she started acting normal again again and began laying eggs once more, although the shells were thinning out and the odd one would break in the layer box. We suspected a calcium deficiency do we tried feeding dried crushed egg shells for a few days and that seemed to help.
This lasted about 2 weeks and now she's stopped laying again and exhibiting the same strange behavior where she just stands there kind of spaced out. She might stay in one spot for up to 2 hours before moving a bit to get to the next spot where she will freeze again for a while.
I'm worried it might be mereks, but she doesn't seem to be paralyzed at all or showing any other signs. I did noticed a sore patch on her back where the wing meets the body but I don't know if that's the rash from mereks or from getting pecked. She is kind of puffed up and hunched down so I was also thinking she is egg bound but I haven't had to deal with that yet so I can't be sure.
Attached is a pic of Rosie from this morning.
Anyhow thanks for any help you can offer and I look forward to participating in the forums!