Dawn S
In the Brooder
- Sep 4, 2016
- 18
- 2
- 49
We have two four year old chickens who have been raised together - a Black Sex Link (Buttercup) and a Barred Rock (Sami). They have both been laying eggs still, getting about 4 - 5 eggs a week between them and both have the same egg sizes (XL to Jumbo sized), but none in the last week to my recollection. Sami was always dominant and weighed almost half again as much as what Buttercup weighed, but last fall when Buttercup was sick with sour crop, she kind of became a chick again and acted like Sami was her mom. Buttercup would kind of burrow her head, neck, and chest under Sami's chest/belly and make Sami 'sit' on her. Initially we thought Sami was bullying Buttercup, but we found that it was Buttercup who was the one who dove under Sami rather than Sami trying to sit on Buttercup. They are inseparable.
This interesting behavior has continued to today without any other major issues or different behaviors until 10 days ago. It appears clear that Buttercup is now broody - sitting on the floor of their coop on the bedding floor (they have no separate nesting boxes) or outside on the grass or in a dirt hole; pulling out chest feathers (she's bald there); comb was pale and limp for about 2 days - now pretty much red again, but just very limp; sometimes snapping at Sami, us, or our dog if we got close; not eating, drinking, or pooping as frequently (too 'busy' laying down, but will eat well if we hand feed her); has massive, jumbo egg sized poops almost immediately after she starts walking after we take them outside; sticks her butt in the air when we arrive to move her if she doesn't get up on her own; fluffing her feathers when we go near her; not going up on the perch to sleep at night; no egg production; often making totally different, but adorable cooing noises; and weight loss (now about half the weight of Sami although she looks very healthy). We have not separated her and done the typical wire floor with air underneath anti-brooding treatment because we use our dog crate for the dog when we are out of the house and don't have another crate and because we'd basically be 'punishing' Sami by taking her only buddy away from her. They live in an open wire-sided tractor/coop that comes inside the garage at night and goes outside in different grassy areas of the yard assuming it doesn't rain. When I take them out I cover one end of the tractor (where their perch is) with a shipping blanket during the day to give them protection from rain, wind, sun, heat, etc. We have coyotes, foxes, and occasional roaming dogs in the area, so we only allow them monitored release to the yard to try to get Buttercup up and walking around and break the broodiness. While Buttercup is like this she is not eating as much, so my daughter is hand feeding both of the chickens scrambled eggs and dampened handfuls of their regular crumbles. Buttercup only seems to want to eat if Sami is competing for the same food, so my daughter has been hand feeding both of them although they do both eat out of their water and food bowls (but less than normal) .
Our dear, elderly, indoor/outdoor Maine Coon cat who used to watch out for the chickens died 3 weeks ago and my daughter is still distraught. She is frantically afraid that one or both of her chickens are dying...
Finally to my questions:
This interesting behavior has continued to today without any other major issues or different behaviors until 10 days ago. It appears clear that Buttercup is now broody - sitting on the floor of their coop on the bedding floor (they have no separate nesting boxes) or outside on the grass or in a dirt hole; pulling out chest feathers (she's bald there); comb was pale and limp for about 2 days - now pretty much red again, but just very limp; sometimes snapping at Sami, us, or our dog if we got close; not eating, drinking, or pooping as frequently (too 'busy' laying down, but will eat well if we hand feed her); has massive, jumbo egg sized poops almost immediately after she starts walking after we take them outside; sticks her butt in the air when we arrive to move her if she doesn't get up on her own; fluffing her feathers when we go near her; not going up on the perch to sleep at night; no egg production; often making totally different, but adorable cooing noises; and weight loss (now about half the weight of Sami although she looks very healthy). We have not separated her and done the typical wire floor with air underneath anti-brooding treatment because we use our dog crate for the dog when we are out of the house and don't have another crate and because we'd basically be 'punishing' Sami by taking her only buddy away from her. They live in an open wire-sided tractor/coop that comes inside the garage at night and goes outside in different grassy areas of the yard assuming it doesn't rain. When I take them out I cover one end of the tractor (where their perch is) with a shipping blanket during the day to give them protection from rain, wind, sun, heat, etc. We have coyotes, foxes, and occasional roaming dogs in the area, so we only allow them monitored release to the yard to try to get Buttercup up and walking around and break the broodiness. While Buttercup is like this she is not eating as much, so my daughter is hand feeding both of the chickens scrambled eggs and dampened handfuls of their regular crumbles. Buttercup only seems to want to eat if Sami is competing for the same food, so my daughter has been hand feeding both of them although they do both eat out of their water and food bowls (but less than normal) .
Our dear, elderly, indoor/outdoor Maine Coon cat who used to watch out for the chickens died 3 weeks ago and my daughter is still distraught. She is frantically afraid that one or both of her chickens are dying...
Finally to my questions:
- Buttercup started intermittently shaking her head (but usually when she is eating) about 2 days ago and she is now missing a bunch of feathers from behind her neck. There is no discharge from her nose. We suspect Sami plucked Buttercup's feathers because we don't think Buttercup is capable of plucking them there herself (although we have never seen either chicken pluck her). There is no sign of bruising or sores in the missing feather areas, nor any sign of a mite, flea, or other parasite infestation. Any ideas on the shaking head, missing feathers, or suggestions on breaking the broodiness behavior?
- In the last 2 days Sami has occasionally sat down in the coop with Buttercup and is missing some of her feathers (although we have not found any of her black and white feathers in their coop), but pretty much all over rather than just on her chest/belly area (possible beginnings of broodiness(?)), but when we see this, we try to get her up and doing something. This afternoon Sami started closing her right eye while her left eye is still open. When open, the right eye looks totally fine - is not red, swollen, or anything different from normal. She occasionally opens it though. To me it looks like she might be tired, although she normally does not sleep during the day. She is eating and drinking fine, but is now sitting down, which is very unlike her. Any ideas on Sami's right eye closing, laying down,sleeping during the day? Does this sound like broody behavior that we need to stop?
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. Please keep us posted, hope you figure out what's wrong! Ps: you could add probiotic and electrolyte to their water, that will help them stay hydrated and help their digestive system.
