- Sep 7, 2011
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Background: I have 5 bantams: 1 silkie, 1 frizzled cochin, 2 sizzles, and 1 smooth sizzle. They're all about 6-7 months old. At least one has started to sing the egg song over the past week, but it's not Scout. I still don't know which are male or female, but I think Scout is a hen. None of the chickens has laid eggs yet. We live in Sacramento, CA. The weather has been pretty mild lately. The coldest it's been in the mornings is in the high-30's/low-40's, but the temp at midday today was in the 60's. The chickens free range in an enclosed pen on the side of our house.
So this morning at around 9:00 am, I heard a ruckus in the chicken pen and I went outside to investigate. Spike was singing the egg song; s/he has done this sporadically over the past week. (Which is odd, because I thought s/he was a rooster, but that's a story for another post.) The other chickens were squawking a bit too, but not making any unusual sounds I haven't heard before. I noticed that Scout was making a weird sound like she's agitated or upset or something. The sound is like a cry or a moan, and she keeps doing it continuously. It's a really annoying sound! She was doing some little head shake too -- you can see it in the video. I don't know if that's a sneeze?
She didn't appear sick or listless or lethargic. I picked her up and checked her out and she didn't appear injured, either. I felt around her body, and nothing seemed abnormally bumpy or lumpy or swollen or painful. I checked her vent (not really sure what I was looking for -- these are my first chickens), and it wasn't pasty or crusty or anything like that. I guess it looked normal -- nothing unexpected found there, although her vent was kind of slowly pulsating. I don't know if that's normal or what; I'm new at this whole staring-at-a-chicken's-butt thing. She was running around the pen normally, but her feathers were somewhat puffed up. None of the others were pecking at her or otherwise ostracizing her. She was eating and drinking normally. I didn't see any obvious predators about (the pen is pretty well-concealed by trees), and my dogs were in the house at the time she started making the noise. She was still making the noise when I left the house about 1:30 pm. I haven't been back home yet to check on her.
I took a video. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utHCUAc1k9A&feature=youtube_gdata_player
So anyway, I don't know what's wrong with her. Any insights/comments/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
So this morning at around 9:00 am, I heard a ruckus in the chicken pen and I went outside to investigate. Spike was singing the egg song; s/he has done this sporadically over the past week. (Which is odd, because I thought s/he was a rooster, but that's a story for another post.) The other chickens were squawking a bit too, but not making any unusual sounds I haven't heard before. I noticed that Scout was making a weird sound like she's agitated or upset or something. The sound is like a cry or a moan, and she keeps doing it continuously. It's a really annoying sound! She was doing some little head shake too -- you can see it in the video. I don't know if that's a sneeze?
She didn't appear sick or listless or lethargic. I picked her up and checked her out and she didn't appear injured, either. I felt around her body, and nothing seemed abnormally bumpy or lumpy or swollen or painful. I checked her vent (not really sure what I was looking for -- these are my first chickens), and it wasn't pasty or crusty or anything like that. I guess it looked normal -- nothing unexpected found there, although her vent was kind of slowly pulsating. I don't know if that's normal or what; I'm new at this whole staring-at-a-chicken's-butt thing. She was running around the pen normally, but her feathers were somewhat puffed up. None of the others were pecking at her or otherwise ostracizing her. She was eating and drinking normally. I didn't see any obvious predators about (the pen is pretty well-concealed by trees), and my dogs were in the house at the time she started making the noise. She was still making the noise when I left the house about 1:30 pm. I haven't been back home yet to check on her.
I took a video. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utHCUAc1k9A&feature=youtube_gdata_player
So anyway, I don't know what's wrong with her. Any insights/comments/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
