Somethings up with my chicken

[inlovewithatree]

...I hope this is how to ask questions...

I have a sebright chicken, she's about a year old. She's a bit picky about things, and comes inside to sleep, lay eggs, or to cool off(I live in Texas). She doesn't like chicken feed, so we feed her other things. She hasn't had issue, nor have our other chickens over the years. She's the only chicken we have now.

She hasn't acted like this before, she's a bit a stubborn butt, just not like this. She now puffs her feathers up, making noises she's never made before(she almost makes me think of a feral cat in heat). She also makes these noise when she eats. Her poop is quite liquid like, the last it was like this was when I first got her(she about 2-3 months old). She will not come inside, she also doesn't really like other chickens(she normally plays with our cat and dog). She normally has kinda a nice sweet smell to her, now she smells just awful. Do chickens roll around in dead things? I did find a couple of dead birds around the yard, our cat doesn't do things like that. I'm not sure if she noticed that and got upset(because I know chickens are quite emotional), or maybe there's another sickness running around(lost one of our already weakened chicken because of it). I thought maybe she could be in heat, but then was told that chickens don't go into heat(a man that lives next to us has a roaster).

We've had several chickens, never had issues like this. She's so different than our other chickens. I obviously don't know much about'em. I'm only asking, because when I look it up there are so many different answers. I don't have much money right now, so I'm asking before I start freaking out and take her to a vet.(this happens often as I am a worry wort, and it's never anything)


I had already typed this out, only to turn out you needed to know peoples names and use that in order to post...i dunno it was confusing, sorry if this isn't right. I've been on this site posting to wrong things. haha so embarrassed...

 

[inlovewithatree]

Welcome to BYC.
Chickens are flock animals, she should not be living with out at least one other chicken.
She is not picky...you are just not feeding her properly.

Have you ever treated her for worms?

sigh, she has her own kind of flock, and yes I am feeding her correctly. I feed her other things, her eggs and feathers are a sign of that. She's not my first chicken, or my first bird. Like I said, she is picky, she hates normal chicken feed, the people I got her from told me what to feed. She likes real food, fresh fruits nuts, things like that. I'm a vegan that cares for animals, not tortures them.

 

[Kiki]

Help would be to offer it a complete feed, get it another chicken or two, and let it be a chicken.
Do you know what broody means?
It could be broody.
Water poops could mean it has worms.

 

[B Redhawk]

She hasn't acted like this before, she's a bit a stubborn butt, just not like this. She now puffs her feathers up, making noises she's never made before(she almost makes me think of a feral cat in heat). She also makes these noise when she eats. Her poop is quite liquid like, the last it was like this was when I first got her(she about 2-3 months old). She will not come inside, she also doesn't really like other chickens(she normally plays with our cat and dog). She normally has kinda a nice sweet smell to her, now she smells just awful. Do chickens roll around in dead things

Ok, this is what you say is going on, so what changes have occurred in her normal routine? That would be the first items to consider. An unnatural (to the hen) odor suggests also that something is not quite right, as does the liquid poop. This could be caused by; improper diet, change in diet, stress, disease, you need to find out which apply and then correct the issues. If she was a member of a flock prior and is now a solo chicken, that very well could be at least part of the problem. It could be that she is going broody too.

In our flock, loose stool can be worms, this one is easy to remedy, if it continues after worming, then I start looking for diseases. We don't make any changes to diet quickly either, if we do make a change it is over at least 3 weeks time. We are careful to give free choices in supplements so the chooks can be chooks, they tend to know what they need and do a fair job of correcting their health problems.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
Chickens are flock animals, she should not be living with out at least one other chicken.
She is not picky...you are just not feeding her properly.

Have you ever treated her for worms?

 

[Kiki]

I didn't suggest you were torturing her.

 

[inlovewithatree]

I didn't suggest you were torturing her.

Did I say you said that? Just stating that I do not. I just wanted an actual helpful answer, instead of someone saying I'm not taking care of my beloved family members.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Egg bound? If not, worms? In the summer heat, could some of her food have gone bad? Could she have eaten of the dead bird carcasses?

 

[Abriana]

Try different brands of chicken feed. Find one she likes, buy one bag, and mix it a lot to a little of feed that you want her to eat. Keep adding more of the one you want her to eat until she's eating it without a problem. She should have calcium, you can buy some and put it in a pan, which layer feed has and she has to be eating to make good eggs. Hope this works. She could be broody. I do suggest getting her a chicken friend or two. Chickens are flock animals and do prefer other birds around. Good luck!