HEN SOS

[Naz3]

My hen ande her chicks are in their indoor coop..in the last couple of hours the hen seems to hav become distressed..she keeps her beek open and makes a weezing type sound...they have been in there for abou 2 weeks now we i dnt thinks shes distressed about the environment...could she be wanting 2 lay eggs?the rooster outside is now making wailing sounds 2..HELPPP

 

[SpottedCrow]

Is it hot where you are?
Chickens can't sweat so they pant with their beaks open and their wings spread.
If she's got chicks, she won't be laying for a while.
The roo is probably worried about her.
Have you checked the area for predators?
What kind of sound is the roo making?

 

[Naz3]

it was quite hot today..she just looks really distressed..we dont get snakes in this part of england, so i dont think its that..and i cant see any mice or rats!the roo was making barking type noises he makes when he gets scared..but has now stopped...its very confusing..it cant be bird flu can it?she just seems to have her beak open making noises..im worried:S thank u for ur advice

 

[dlhunicorn]

(I am assuming she has brooded and hatched these chicks herself)...brooding can be very hard on a bird ...they eat and drink minimally and then when you put a hot day on top of that... the chance is high that your bird is dehydrated to one degree or another... this is difficult as you do not want to unnecessarily give electrlytes to the chicks which may not need them... try offering her a bit of (diluted) gatorade (if you do not have bird electroytes) underneath her beak ... if she drinks it then keep doing this... I know it is a bit of an expense but you can also go buy a watermelon...scoop out a bit of the middle part to make a kind of "bowl" and put the chick starter in there (watermelon saved my birds last summer when it was so hot and they were refusing to drink their water > they went wild over the watermelon tho!) and also offer a bowl of live culture (not desert flavored kind) yogurt...this is nutricious and will also provide some fluid to your mama hen. I also have a hen which goes on "mama overdrive" when she is brooding and has chicks denying herself to the point of suicide if I do not take extreme measures and I suspect that you have such a bird too. Normally I would just say to take mama away for a few hours and make sure she drinks and such but I fear when you do this it might stress her out to a dangerous point...you can try though be prepared to put her back if she goes bonkers on you (she is already so stressed now)