Weird Chicken Behavior

[puffypuff]

Hello, friends! I would like some assistance with a question I have. My chicken (a mixed breed) has been displaying weird behaviors lately. Ever since we cleaned out her chicken coop, she has been sitting inside, refusing to come out, and if she does, she does so for only a few minutes. Also, when I went to check on her, she proceeded to lay down, ruffle her feathers, and spread her wings out a bit, while the feathers on the back of her neck were ruffled up. **she is apparently 4 months old, according to the previous owner**

Notes:
She eats well; I put fresh food for her and give her treats once a while, she seems to be eating well with that.

The week before, she has been losing a bunch of feathers, (not noticeably on her body, but I saw them all over the floor) and she seems to have stopped.

I check her feathers for mites but there does not seem to be any.

Additionally, there seems to be little white particles coming out whenever she ruffles her feathers (like dried skin or something)

Can anyone help please? Thank you!
*** if pictures are needed, I will provide some, thanks again!

 

[puffypuff]

I just went to check on her, clean out her water, and as i was walking away i hear the pitter patter of her feet running after me. SO. CUTE. I think she wanted treats. Maybe I should give her treats? I give her a cricket or two a day. Maybe that's why. (I thought the protein would help her grow back her feathers)

 

[iwiw60]

A little young, but from your description she almost sounds like she's tryiing to go broody on you. As for the white particles, I haven't a clue. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[puffypuff]

thats ok! thanks for trying to help anywho! update on chicken: Today she did the pose again: she lay down on her side, ruffled her neck feathers/ head feathers/ and splayed her wings out a bit. She might be broody but she has not been laying any eggs.

 

[lovemy6hens]

I don't know why she isn't leaving the coop, but the pose described is how mine look when they're sunbathing. The white particles could be dander. They can certainly shake enough of it off to look like snow. The feather loss could have something to do with her age. Some of mine lost a lot of feathers around that age.
Yes to the treats!

 

[puffypuff]

Thank you! She was laying in the sun. And I never knew they had dander! Funny, I'm allergic to dander and I have not gotten any reactions from her. This is great, haha. : D

 

[iwiw60]

thats ok! thanks for trying to help anywho! update on chicken: Today she did the pose again: she lay down on her side, ruffled her neck feathers/ head feathers/ and splayed her wings out a bit. She might be broody but she has not been laying any eggs.

Yes, as @lovemy6hens said that is what our silly girls do when they SUNBATHE. The first time I spotted my girls doing that I thought for sure one of them was having a seizure or something awful!!

 

[puffypuff]

Now that I know it isn't some display of seduction (she looks like she was saying, "hey good lookin'"), I can finally rest in peace of her sun bathing technique. LOL Thank you all for the help!

 

[JennieRD]

I like your topic WEIRD CHICKEN BEHAVIOR...Maybe some one has ran into this...I was given what I thought was a young hen, she weighed about 3 lbs at the time. Her previous owners wanted nothing to do with her because she was mean..attacked their granddaughter, and would not let anyone around her. They called her a usless runt and wanted her gone. I agreed to bring her home, if anything she could help with yard up keep with bugs and critters. Well I first kept her with my Cochin Roo for about a month, then she outgrew him and was twice his size. I removed her and placed her in a small coop by her self. She would attack your hands for food, so I started feeding her from a cup, before I filled her feed bowl. She was messy and threw her food he every where and was bad about soiling her water. Resulted in using water bottles. Then she grew so rapidly, she outgrew her cage....So I opened her door to let her free range.

Well she did not leave her cage with the door open for two days. Then she graduated to the ground, found the garage and refused to leave and began sleeping with the cats who often cuddle, ontop of the four wheelers, or under them. Then at feeding time for the cats 6am and 6 pm when she sees me she cuts off the cats, meets me on the steps and waits to eat out of the cup first, she began eating with the cats out of their bowl. Now she sleeps under my chick brooder cages checking on the new hatchlings almost singing to them, and my juveniles in another who I find her clucking too. Then, Nevil (Jungel Fowl) found his way to the garage, well She ran under the 4 wheeler and so did the cats. All hiding from Nevil who is a pure pest! Once Nevil left, they all came back out to finish eating.

The funny part of the black hen, the cats and Nevil the Jungel Fowl is, when the cats are eating, Nevil tries to run them off. The cats wont budge an inch. If Nevil sticks his head in the bowl, the lay their ears back and all of them swat him across the head with their paws. But the black hen, has their approval to eat with them. All the cats move over a little bit, and let her eat as they are eating. Go figure I guess they don't like Nevile either, but everyone likes the black hen....

Then the unthinkable happened, the black giant hen Crowed.....I am terribly confused, she has no rooster markings, no comb, no spurs. She weights close to at least 13 lbs and is still growing. So is it a he or a she. He/she wants nothing to do with any of the other roosters on the property. He/she follows me around like a puppy, along with 8- 6 month old kittens we have. If he/she realizes I have come out of the house and she missed me, she comes running full speed ahead like a big black bullet right for me, and comes and lays down near me.

If I go to the coops to sit under the oaks, her comes the cats, and the black hen. The roosters who free range stay away from her/him what ever it is. None the less, an unwanted mean, wild bird has made a 360 and loves to be around people, baby birds, and cats. But has nothing to do with adult hens or roosters...............I don't know what to make of it, I don't know what breed she/he is(looks like a mixed breed of several breeds). Looks like a hen, acts like a hen, but crows like a rooster......

 

[puffypuff]

THAT PERFECTLY DESCRIBES MY HEN! Whenever she sees me coming out of the house , she speed bullets across the yard and starts pecking around my feet. If I try to go back inside, she waits for me! Her comb doesn't seem to match any description of a rooster, and her tail feathers aren't flamboyant enough in my opinion to be a rooster. Who knows, I may be wrong!
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