i'm having an issue with one of my hens. I aquirred her last fall and didn't know her age, breed or anything. She has quite a bit of white on her but she's mostly buff. i think that she's etiher a splash or buff orpington, but i could easily be wrong. anyway, i've never gotten a single egg outta her. I think that she's old (but i might have just assumed that becasue of the amount of white on her and the fact that she just LOOKS old) the other thing is that she can't fly at all. its really pitiful. she'll be on the middle roost and i'll come in and she's so skittish that she sees me, freaks out, flies off the roost and promptly crashes into the wall or feeder. then i noticed that her one wing is quite a bit smaller than the other. i eventually caught her and examined her wing, discovering that her bone is like folded back on itself. if you have any thoughts on this, let me know
The wing may be an old healed injury or a deformity. As long as you don't see any swelling/bruising she should be fine. None of my grown Orpingtons can fly, They sometimes use their wings to help them run faster. As long as she can hop up on a roost, and get down without hurting herself, it should be ok. A few of my rescues are terrified of me and despite great coordination when left alone will crash all around into everything if I move too fast when I come near them. Try to move very slowly around her, bring some treats with you when you go in, place them on the floor and step back out of arms reach. As far as not laying, you may be right, she is old. Sadly a lot of people who sell off hens do it for a reason. With roos, it's usually because they have too many, but with hens it's mostly because there's a problem - who's going to sell their healthiest , best layer? That said, I've rescued some hens who did not lay for a while, some due to poor diet from previous owner, stress from being in a new place or an overload of worms or mites or poultry lice, sometimes all three. I'd also watch her for signs of a more serious illness. Hopefully she'll come around for you.......