Some idea/No experience but sick hen

[coach723]

If she seems normal in the morning I would let her back with the others. I would not do antibiotics unless you see signs of illness. If she's getting kept from food or water by the rooster, or other birds, then add some feeders and waterers so they can't all be guarded and she has more chances. Monitor her weight to make sure she's gaining over time and not losing more. Weight loss could be from that or possibly from internal parasites. If the roo is a problem I would separate him. How many hens do you have for him? How big is your coop and run?

 

[tabs_flock]

Oh boy, 7:30pm PST and Link literally wants to bust loose. She's making angry/frustrated noises and pacing her hospital crate.

If she seems normal in the morning I would let her back with the others. I would not do antibiotics unless you see signs of illness. If she's getting kept from food or water by the rooster, or other birds, then add some feeders and waterers so they can't all be guarded and she has more chances. Monitor her weight to make sure she's gaining over time and not losing more. Weight loss could be from that or possibly from internal parasites. If the roo is a problem I would separate him. How many hens do you have for him? How big is your coop and run?

They get free range of the entire back yard. They have this coop: https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/eglu-cube-large-chicken-coop-with-runs/

There are 4 hens and 1 rooster, which isn't...ideal...but is also not too terrible. He has been very focused on this particular hen for several weeks. At first I figured they would figure things out a la chicken behavior, but she's gotten more and more anxious and reserved over the last 2-3 weeks. As soon as I open the coop, she is the first one out and she immediately bolts as far away as possible with him right on her tail. Sometimes he will eventually lose interest and focus on another hen, but throughout the day he will feint at her and occasionally peck her, so she's mostly been like "eff off, I'm going to find a safe spot."

(Not necessarily *just* because of him but she does keep finding her way into places he can't get to: under the deck, in the forbidden garden(tm) up on the shelves where nobody else will fit. The only other one that follows is the hen she was raised with, Zelda.)

I have a two waterers and feeders, but I do think one of the waterers might have been a vector for parasites so I got rid of it. I may need to better separate the feeders/waterers just to be safe, ie, put them farther apart maybe. She's a lot more energetic tonight so hopefully she will lay normally and I can put her back outside with a few modifications.

 

[coach723]

I'm going to guess that stress is at least part of the problem. I know that coop says it will accommodate up to 6 large hens, but that is pretty optimistic. Most premade coops way over estimate what they will hold. And when you put a rooster in the mix, that just makes space more important. 4 hens to one roo is really not enough, he's going to over mount them, and the more submissive birds even more, you will end up with beat up hens. So, if you want to keep a roo, you are really going to need a larger coop and more hens. Too small a space almost always results in problems. Some birds just need/want/demand more space. Even with just hens, that coop is very small and even a dominant hen could cause problems. Probably the most economical way to get a bigger coop is to find an old shed that someone is getting rid of and convert it into a coop, if your space allows. Even if you feel that is too large, your birds will be much happier. And if you get struck by "chicken math" you have room to add birds without causing a huge problem.

 

[tabs_flock]

I'm going to guess that stress is at least part of the problem. I know that coop says it will accommodate up to 6 large hens, but that is pretty optimistic. Most premade coops way over estimate what they will hold. And when you put a rooster in the mix, that just makes space more important. 4 hens to one roo is really not enough, he's going to over mount them, and the more submissive birds even more, you will end up with beat up hens. So, if you want to keep a roo, you are really going to need a larger coop and more hens. Too small a space almost always results in problems. Some birds just need/want/demand more space. Even with just hens, that coop is very small and even a dominant hen could cause problems. Probably the most economical way to get a bigger coop is to find an old shed that someone is getting rid of and convert it into a coop, if your space allows. Even if you feel that is too large, your birds will be much happier. And if you get struck by "chicken math" you have room to add birds without causing a huge problem.

I would rehome the roo if I could find any takers. I am technically not supposed to have him, only hens for eggs. He sleeps in the garage so my neighbors don’t call the city on me for waking them up at 4am.

 

[coach723]

It can be difficult to rehome extra roo's. If you have any rescue's that deal with poultry, you might try them, they may know of takers, some people who have the space to manage it have bachelor flocks of all roosters. Many of us cull extras and they become soup, as it is so difficult to rehome them. People who keep chickens end up with accidental roo's and with too many, especially if you hatch at home, just kind of a fact of life if you keep chickens.

 

[tabs_flock]

It can be difficult to rehome extra roo's. If you have any rescue's that deal with poultry, you might try them, they may know of takers, some people who have the space to manage it have bachelor flocks of all roosters. Many of us cull extras and they become soup, as it is so difficult to rehome them. People who keep chickens end up with accidental roo's and with too many, especially if you hatch at home, just kind of a fact of life if you keep chickens.

Yeah, I was able to re-home the first one within a few days of realizing I had a cockerel. This one has been a bit harder, but I don't want to cull him. I also don't want him to wind up in a cockfighting ring (illegal but sadly still happens). Behaviorally, he's been rather fine up until this incident with Link and spring hormones are making him a fool when I'm outside. Nothing I can't handle, as he flinches and turns aside when I actually face him but it's probably time to do a new round of Craigslist/Nextdoor/FB posts. The closest rescue is a couple hours away, but it might be worth a call.

I do want to get a larger coop/shed at some point, but I have foundational issues to take care of that have to take priority (as in, my house literally has 20% of its posts failed). Once I re-home the roo, I'm not planning to grow my flock any larger than it is, and it will stay at 4 birds. I need more experience before I grow any bigger and that's plenty for my family.

 

[tabs_flock]

It has been nearly a week and Link still has not laid an egg since that soft-shelled one on Thursday or Friday. She seems fine for the most part- appetite is back, she's scratching and pecking and even bullying the younger hens again. Occasionally I do catch her hanging out on the carport by herself, but she usually wanders back to the main group after a bit. Today's hangout sesh involved Zelda, one of the Eggers, and Mr. Roo.

Honestly, I think it's stress from Mr. Roo, who I still have not found a home for. The problem is, I'm not 100% sure that something else isn't going on. She still hasn't put on much weight, and while she's eating, she's not eating quite as much as the others. I've continued the calcium citrate + d3 but I think my dose is too low (400 mg/day).

I think I will go ahead and put Mr. Roo in chicken jail, because now there are two other birds not laying, which further supports the notion that it's stress-related because he won't leave them alone. If they relax and start laying after a couple days, great; otherwise I need to start isolating them and trying antibiotics.

I've included a picture of Link below. She doesn't *seem* sick to me: her comb and wattles seem fine, and her feathers are clean (I couldn't get her to stop looking at me. She was convinced the phone was a really big treat). Eyes are bright. Her vent did have a couple spots on it but they didn't have legs and weren't wiggly? So I think it's just dirt because she's started loafing again. Outside of the reduced appetite, she's drinking water and doing normal chicken things but maybe I'm missing something.

I'll keep updating as I try to track this down. As a beginner, I don't know exactly what I'm doing but I'm going to try my best. She's earned that, the silly bird.

 

[tabs_flock]

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/grd/d/knightsen-rooster-looking-for-home/7476395141.html

For anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area who might be looking for a roo...

 

[tabs_flock]

Last update but I find it helpful to circle back around and close these loops when I can. I think we can safely say that the roo has been stressing the girls out. I put him in "chicken jail" (my coop that is so too small I only use it for isolation/chicken jail) for most of yesterday and a few hours this morning and Link laid an egg! A normal egg! I'm going to have to experiment with how long Mr. Roo is in chicken jail, because I do want him to be able to roam a bit.

I did also switch their food out to pellets, because I keep anxiety-reading new threads here and it seems like crumbles are less ideal, since they can pick out the bits they like. But I did have a day (4/26) when NOBODY laid and then yesterday 3 out of 4 were back to normal with him in chicken jail. So I'm pretty sure the change in food didn't do it.

I have a posting on Craigslist, NextDoor, and reached out to a local farm animal rescue. Unfortunately they are full up on roosters. Next week I see my doc and she also has chickens. Maybe she'll know a guy. Like, yeah he's annoying and I'm probably breaking some ordinance or the other, but he's also beautiful, healthy, and nice. This is why I tried to get all pullets, sigh. So I wouldn't have to face this.

But Link is better! So that's a win in my book

 

[TOPChickens14]

Last update but I find it helpful to circle back around and close these loops when I can. I think we can safely say that the roo has been stressing the girls out. I put him in "chicken jail" (my coop that is so too small I only use it for isolation/chicken jail) for most of yesterday and a few hours this morning and Link laid an egg! A normal egg! I'm going to have to experiment with how long Mr. Roo is in chicken jail, because I do want him to be able to roam a bit.

I did also switch their food out to pellets, because I keep anxiety-reading new threads here and it seems like crumbles are less ideal, since they can pick out the bits they like. But I did have a day (4/26) when NOBODY laid and then yesterday 3 out of 4 were back to normal with him in chicken jail. So I'm pretty sure the change in food didn't do it.

I have a posting on Craigslist, NextDoor, and reached out to a local farm animal rescue. Unfortunately they are full up on roosters. Next week I see my doc and she also has chickens. Maybe she'll know a guy. Like, yeah he's annoying and I'm probably breaking some ordinance or the other, but he's also beautiful, healthy, and nice. This is why I tried to get all pullets, sigh. So I wouldn't have to face this.

But Link is better! So that's a win in my book

I just finished reading this thread and I wanted to tell you that you are doing a wonderful job caring for your flock. I too have been anxiety-reading threads on here lately because I have had a hen go ill too. She sadly passed. I am really glad that Link is better now. I also wanted to point out that chickens won't lay eggs every day or every day at the same time. They lay about every 26 hours. This means that they will lay about 2 hours later each day. And depending on when it is night, they won't lay an egg. I don't think stress would immediately affect egg laying because the eggs start developing a while before, I'm not an expert on this, that's just my thought about it. Here is an article about egg laying: https://thefrugalchicken.com/how-often-do-chickens-lay-eggs/