Off-colour hen with inexperienced owner!

[soloequestrian]

I've had my hens since July of last year. Today one of them, a Light Sussex, hasn't come out of the coop - she has just sat in there all day. She has a small bald strip down her breastbone and some feathers that seem to be matted with poo (the coop is very clean so this isn't normal). She doesn't seem to have any other symptoms - not lame, not straining, not scratching, not particularly sick-looking. Could she just be moulting? She was totally normal yesterday, including laying an egg.
Any advice welcome!

 

[xMoodyMarex]

The same happened to one of my neighbour's hens a couple of weeks back. She just didn't have any energy and wouldn't move all day, she also had poo matted into her feathers like you described. Sadly she passesd away a few weeks ago I'd advise you to leave food and water next to her, and encourage her to eat as much as she will allow. I also decided to clean her of all the poo that was matted into her, as it mustn't be very pleasant. May be worth getting a vets advice, sadly I didn't have much control over what happened to this hen due to her not actually being my own. best of luck x

 

[millsandboon]

What does she do when you go and try and pick her up? She could be broody.

 

[jrp204]

Have you wormed them, if not this would be the first thing I would do, should do it 2 x year. You can buy Flubenvet from most ag merchants, you mix it with the feed.

 

[WelshD]

She sounds broody. Some of them are such dedicated sitters that they will mess the nest. The baldness is where she is plucking her own feathers to get her warm chest muscles in contact with the eggs.

They commonly don't need any eggs to sit on if they are determined!

You need to break her broodiness or she could literally sit there and waste away. Simply move her off the nest as often as you can, she will most likely scream at you but persevere.hopefully she will snap out of it but if she doesn't then she may need to be confined with no access to a nest (a 'sin bin') for a few days till she (literally) cools down and gets back to normal

Sussex are awesome broodies and very prone to it so this will happen again I'm afraid, the sooner you can snap them out of it the easier it will be

 

[Twinkley Lights]

Broody , but the matted bum is unrelated and is either worms, lice etc so you may want to do a spring treatment.

 

[millimoo]

My mum has a couple of broody hens.
She sin bins them in a wire dog cage in the stable with food and water away from the coop.
She knows when theyre no longer broody by their cluck???!?!!? Usuay a few days
If your still worried, pop her to the vets to check she's not got an infection, worms it other ailment.

 

[Paint Me Proud]

yes sounds broody to me too.

If she has a glazed expression and takes you attempts to move her with a most disdained annoyance then she is broody.

I have a hen who is a broody repeat offender and refuses to break her sit no matter how many times i move her. She is currently as happy as you like as I have finally let her sit 3 fertile eggs

I would second the advice to worm though, always good practice. I use Verm-ex that seems to do the trick.

If you hen is broody dont forget to get a good anti mite dust (especially one for red mite) as sitting hens are prone to falling victim.

 

[soloequestrian]

Thanks, I'll try worming. I don't think she is broody, and she did appear at tea time and eat some treats.... fingers crossed that tomorrow is better.....

 

[Jobi-Wan Kenobi]

If she didn't have the matted poo in the feathers near her vent I'd say she was broody. Because of the matted feathers I'd suggest she may be eggbound. Keep an eye on her, and if her undercarriage becomes hot and swollen then you may need the vet. She'll also start waddling and deteriorate quickly. Keep moving her off the nest and the broodyness will go, if she is just broody.

 

[Twinkley Lights]

If she didn't have the matted poo in the feathers near her vent I'd say she was broody. Because of the matted feathers I'd suggest she may be eggbound. Keep an eye on her, and if her undercarriage becomes hot and swollen then you may need the vet. She'll also start waddling and deteriorate quickly. Keep moving her off the nest and the broodyness will go, if she is just broody.

I thought that but she is on the nest and if egg bound they normally hunch up with third eyelid over or wander around looking dazed.

May be worth giving your girls some calcium if you don't already. I get mine from the poultry vet.

 

[Honey08]

Egg bound hens are normally hunched and upright (sounds a contradiction I know, but you would know what I mean if it was like it) and have hot abdomens.

If you're worried that a hen has not been eating and is losing energy, dissolve as much sugar into boiling water as you can, allow to cool, then gently syringe drops of the liquid into the beak. It usually perks them up a bit and gives them some energy, then tempt them with mealworms or something they love Hens do seem to give up and fade away if you leave them poorly..

 

[soloequestrian]

She seems to have recovered. I swear the animals have a rota - whose turn is it to worry me next.....
Thanks for all the advice - I'm sure it will come in useful in the future too!

 

[stacey_lou]

Is she eating? Her cone of colour? Is she feeling skinny? One of ours started becoming very quite, felt skinny, lost colour in her cone not so much at first but you could tell difference. Her sack was empty too, if she's not eating check that.

 

[Adopter]

One of my hens was broody for over 2 months, kept trying to cool her down as per advice, I did manage to get her off nest each day and she would eat some corn, but I could not shut her out because of the others needing to get to the nest boxes.

She pulled out the hair on her chest and did mess the nest box each day as she would not move, unless I moved her!

 

[stacey_lou]

We though one of ours was she was dazed, quiet, loss of feathers though only I you really looked at her, crown was becoming paler each day.after a few days I checked her out and her sack was empty as I was inspecting her she threw up stomach boil so took her to vets and was PTS vet said she had no idea what It was but seen many chickens like it and never been able to cure one to date.

 

[Twinkley Lights]

We though one of ours was she was dazed, quiet, loss of feathers though only I you really looked at her, crown was becoming paler each day.after a few days I checked her out and her sack was empty as I was inspecting her she threw up stomach boil so took her to vets and was PTS vet said she had no idea what It was but seen many chickens like it and never been able to cure one to date.

Egg peritonitis ?