Sitting chicken

[MountainChickenMama]

I never see my chickens sitting down unless they are dust bathing, however, I have a chicken right now who is just sitting down and "picking" at her feathers....should I be concerend...she has eaten today and layed her egg.....Thanks for any thoughts....

 

[faykokoWV]

just keep an eye on her, if she continues to act that way you may want to isolate her until you know she is ok. If she's eating, drinking and laying that's usually a good sign

Have you checked for lice/mites?

 

[MountainChickenMama]

No, I have not checked for lice/mites, how do I go about doing that? She was fine yesterday ( I let them free range for a good 1.5 hours), and I only saw her do the "sitting" one time today....should we not eat the eggs she has laid the past few days or does that not matter....

She is a "Golden Comet" if breed matters.....Thanks SO much for responding, you were the only one so far

 

[faykokoWV]

Quote:
I try to go through every once in a while and look for unanswered posts, even if I can't answer, getting it moving sometimes gets and answer for you.

how long have you had chickens? I know mine will lay down and stretch out in the sun.... scares the crap out of me every time because they look like they died and are all sprawled out.

Lice wouldn't affect the eggs. http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

Mites will often show up on the legs, it makes the scales on the legs lift up, so check the legs and see if the scales are smooth.

If it just happened once, she could just have been preening

 

[MountainChickenMama]

I have only had chickens since May of last year, so I am a nubbie....It did look like she was was preening for sure, so hopefully that is all it was....she was also in the sun......I will try to take a look at there legs and look for mites/lice....Thanks for you help....I will keep ya posted....