Won’t leave Perch

[denise62]

Yesterday at 9:59 AM
Hi Iam concerned for One of my chickens she’s been sitting on her perch for like three or more days now and she won’t get down she doesn’t seem like she’s eating or drinking she’s just sitting there on her part she’s not moving I’m afraid she might be sick does anybody have any idea what might be wrong I got her to come down today and as soon as she was out the other chickens attacked her

 

[sourland]

That's why she is sitting on the perch. Provide feed and water for her in a separate place, and try to figure out why she is being attacked.

 

[denise62]

That's why she is sitting on the perch. Provide feed and water for her in a separate place, and try to figure out why she is being attacked.

I don’t know. They always got along. They have been together since they where babies it so weird

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old is she and the other birds? Is it just one other bird attacking her or several. What sex are the one or ones attacking her? What does that attack look like, vicious pecking or more chasing and running away?

When she is up there is she hunched up, feathers all fluffed up, and looking miserable? Or does she look like a chicken roosting? Does she eat and drink when you are there to protect her? When she is down does she move lethargically or is she pretty active?

Different things could be going on. She might be sick or injured, she might not be. I'd isolate her in her own pen, hopefully away from the others if it is a disease, though by now it's probably too late for that. I'd still put her in a pen by herself with food and water.

If she eats and drinks on her own, good. If she doesn't get a medicine dropped and give her some sugar water by putting a drop on the tip of her bill so she can swallow it. Do not force the liquid down her throat, you can drown her. The idea is that water helps rehydrate her while the sugar gives her energy so maybe she will feel like eating and drinking. I use hummingbird liquid. You can dissolve some sugar in water or you should be able to buy something at the feed store like electrolytes. Keep putting drops on the tip of her bill until she stops drinking them. if she doesn't perk up do it again in a few hours.

It's not unusual for some flock members to attack a sick or injured chicken. It's an instinct from before they were domesticated. A sick or injured chicken might attract a predator to the flock's location so they try to run it off or kill it to protect the flock. I've had one chicken take an intense dislike toward a different chicken to the point it killed the other. That was between two cockerels, never did understand that. I had 17 other cockerels that it got along great with but he just did not like the other one. In some ways that sounds like she could be hiding from an amorous cockerel or rooster. Usually a cockerel when she is still a pullet. He wants to mate and she doesn't want to so she stays on the roosts where he can't get to her. This is typically cured by time as he and she mature.

Good luck. It's not always that easy to figure out what is going on.