Feathers Standing Up

[Wishapup]

I have a 7 month old Red Sex-link pullet that has an electrified appearance. All her feathers are standing up, especially on her back. To me this tends to indicate discomfort in chickens. However, she's acting quite normally, and has been like this for over a week. She not hunched up or stationary, is moving around and eating and jumps on the roost at night. It makes her look almost like a Frizzle.

I have over forty chickens so I can't tell if she's laying. No other birds have similar symptoms. She's not broody, either. She doesn't display any other signs and I have a large flock, so from searching on this site it doesn't sound very much like cocci. It is very cold, but other chickens would be showing similar behavior if that was the cause. Any ideas?

 

[Wishapup]

It's been about a month and she still looks like this. The way she walks almost seems uncomfortable (waddling slightly) but it's hard to tell.

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know. She may be cold. Is she free of mites and worms? Or it may be genetic.

 

[Wishapup]

I don't know. She may be cold. Is she free of mites and worms? Or it may be genetic.

Thanks for the response! It's puzzling. The temps have warmed up and it's well above freezing, no snow now and the chickens are scratching around outside. There's no reason for her to be cold at these temps.

She is a hatchery bird, and I have five others of the same breed. She started displaying it suddenly. I will have to check her for mites, but it seems like issues like that wouldn't only affect one bird. The other 42 are currently in the same coop as her.

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know if this means anything, but I had 4 Jerseys and one of them was so puffy it was odd. Her feathers still are, and it's not changed in 3 years. No idea why.

 

[Wishapup]

I don't know if this means anything, but I had 4 Jerseys and one of them was so puffy it was odd. Her feathers still are, and it's not changed in 3 years. No idea why.

Thanks for sharing that...did you have her as a chick? Did she look that way from the beginning?

I'll try to get a picture tomorrow!

 

[seminolewind]

I did hatch her. She has always been poofy. She's certainly soft tho!

 

[Wishapup]

Above photo was taken today. Shows the feathers standing up along her back especially. They never smooth back down but she was normal until she was 6-7 months old. Excuse the mud puddle she had walked into at the time!

 

[seminolewind]

I wish I could remember which of my chickens had that. Maybe it went away and I just forgot.