Hi Everyone,
So, I don't know if anyone has experience with this kinda things but would love to hear from you if you have---even if you haven't!
Thelma is my Dominique hen, about 10 months old. She's always had a independent sort of personality.......i.e. We have a coop with an enclosed roosting area where they can get out of the wind and cold. Thelma never like roosting inside--she would roost in the coop on a supporting 2 by 4. She was the first to figure out how to fly over the fence to free range. She was often a sentinel when she thought danger was nearby. So, I guess it's only natural that she eventually went feral.
She just stopped showing up at dusk when we put in fresh food and water and put everyone to bed safe inside the coop. We've had no predators (knock on wood) get into the coop as we have buried hardware cloth all around the base and hardware cloth everywhere there's ventilation. So, I'm thinking that she'd have no reason to be frightened of being in the coop? I can't see that she was being picked on---no missing feathers or bare spots--very pretty and healthy looking.
It's been about a week since she decided to do her own thing but we'd have "Thelma Sightings" here and there. We could never get close to her though.
Well, today she was standing in a really large water dish drinking water---which I've never seen my chickens stand in the dish and drink like that. I snuck up behind her and got her. My daughter helped me clip some flight feathers so she couldn't get out again.
She's making a noise I've NEVER heard before......If you were to say "garble garble" over and over it would sound something like that. Her eyes look fine and her nostrils as well. BUT, she let go the biggest chicken poop I've ever seen.
I poked it with a stick to see what was in it and it was just a regular chicken poo--maybe the size of a bantam egg??. Maybe I just haven't really paid attention when they poop, but my word!, it was almost like seeing her pass an egg. She pooped again a little while later and it was not as big but big enough. It looked fine as well. My daughter and I think she's acting weird----walking around incessantly clucking that weird whatever-it-is. She was puffing out her feathers here and there but it's hard to tell if it was due to anxiety and getting flustered or if something else is wrong. I know she's upset but there is something in her behavior that is so different.
Am I imagining things? Can a chicken get a disease that makes them act strange?
I may take a video and post it on youtube if she continues..
Thanks for your feedback
So, I don't know if anyone has experience with this kinda things but would love to hear from you if you have---even if you haven't!
Thelma is my Dominique hen, about 10 months old. She's always had a independent sort of personality.......i.e. We have a coop with an enclosed roosting area where they can get out of the wind and cold. Thelma never like roosting inside--she would roost in the coop on a supporting 2 by 4. She was the first to figure out how to fly over the fence to free range. She was often a sentinel when she thought danger was nearby. So, I guess it's only natural that she eventually went feral.
She just stopped showing up at dusk when we put in fresh food and water and put everyone to bed safe inside the coop. We've had no predators (knock on wood) get into the coop as we have buried hardware cloth all around the base and hardware cloth everywhere there's ventilation. So, I'm thinking that she'd have no reason to be frightened of being in the coop? I can't see that she was being picked on---no missing feathers or bare spots--very pretty and healthy looking.
It's been about a week since she decided to do her own thing but we'd have "Thelma Sightings" here and there. We could never get close to her though.
Well, today she was standing in a really large water dish drinking water---which I've never seen my chickens stand in the dish and drink like that. I snuck up behind her and got her. My daughter helped me clip some flight feathers so she couldn't get out again.
She's making a noise I've NEVER heard before......If you were to say "garble garble" over and over it would sound something like that. Her eyes look fine and her nostrils as well. BUT, she let go the biggest chicken poop I've ever seen.
Am I imagining things? Can a chicken get a disease that makes them act strange?
Thanks for your feedback
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I poked it with a stick to see what was in it and it was just a regular chicken poo--maybe the size of a bantam egg??. Maybe I just haven't really paid attention when they poop, but my word!, it was almost like seeing her pass an egg. She pooped again a little while later and it was not as big but big enough. It looked fine as well. My daughter and I think she's acting weird----walking around incessantly clucking that weird whatever-it-is. She was puffing out her feathers here and there but it's hard to tell if it was due to anxiety and getting flustered or if something else is wrong. I know she's upset but there is something in her behavior that is so different. 
I may take a video and post it on youtube if she continues..
I bet you are right about her being broody. If I can get her back again, I'll get some fertile eggs from somewhere and let her brood away. 
