Tail Down, sleepy young hen

[JanineE]

Hello,
Newby owner here. Only had our hens about a week & so far been fab. This evening children come in & said Delilah was laying down sleeping & hadn't moved for a long time. Went out as she's the timid one of the bunch usually & legs it down the garden if you get too close. She was curled up with her tail down sleeping. We picked her up & have checked her vent, which is clean. Her comb is red & as it always is, but she's really not right. We've crated her & bought her into the house to keep an eye on her. She's very sleepy, but obviously she'd normally be sleeping now anyway so hard to say if she's just sleeping or it's because of her being poorly. As far as we know she's not laying yet. We've only had 3 eggs from the 4 hens since we've had them & Delilah seems to be one of the younger hens so I'm guessing they've not been from her. She does have a bit of a runny bottom but it's cream almost white & there's not a lot of it she just passes a little bit every now & then. I've looked on several sites & at the book we have but wondered if anyone could give any advise/experience? Many Thanks In advance J

 

[VALBURNHAM]

just wondered have you checked her crop to make sure there is no sign of an impaction if food was not getting through her system this would mean little or no poop. There is also the possibility she could be having problems with her first egg.

 

[JanineE]

I did check it yes, & it seems fine (to me, who is inexperienced! but it's not enlarged or bulky) Good news is she's still with us this morning. What she passed in the night is VERY white & dried like Tippex on the paper in her crate. She actually made little resentful clucking noises as I took her out of the crate to clean it which is an improvement on last night as she was making no noise at all. I'm wondering if it's a soft shell egg, or if like you say she's just having trouble with her first? Thanks for replying

 

[JanineE]

OH Has been out into the Hen House. We have 3 eggs. 2 broken with very soft shells and one intact but shell very thin in places. I'm wondering if this is the girls just getting going with their egg laying as I'm pretty sure only one has laid so far & those eggs have been perfect. They were only just at POL when we got them & we've been feeding them layers pellets & they roam around the garden a lot. I'm wondering (hoping) if Delilah is just having trouble passing a softshelled/first egg????

 

[Chuck]

They should settle down and it's not uncommon to have soft eggs at the beginning and end of lay and sometimes in the middle as well.
You don't mention grit. They should have access to a mixed grit put in a pot where they can help themselves. They should find a fair bit of grit at free range but it's important so better to be safe.

 

[JanineE]

Thanks Chuck. yes sorry, I do give them grit as well as baking egg shells & grinding them up. Hopefully they will settle down. I've put her back with the other hens. She's certainly no worse & she's at least standing today. Another hen seems to be keeping her company & we're making sure she drinks. Think it's a watch & wait situation. Thanks for replying

 

[Marigold]

Another factor is that you've only had them for a week. Moving home is a big trauma to hens, however nice the place they're going to, and it's very common for their laying patterns to be disrupted whilst they settle in, in response to the stress they are under. When you say they were 'just at POL' when you bought them, do you know how old this was in actual weeks? POL can mean anything between 16 and 28 weeks, ie from the time they are nearly grown up until they actually lay, which can be up to nearly 3 months later. It will be good if Delilah is young enough not to have started lay yet, as then she will lay when she settles in and is ready - this the reason why many people try to buy pullets at about 16 - 18 weeks old, so they have time to settle in and grow on before starting to lay, instead of having interruptions to their early laying patterns if bought at a later age. You say they are allowed into the garden - do they also spend some time in an enclosed run, and if so, how big is this? For 4 birds it needs to be a minimum of 8 square metres of floor space, as less than this will also cause stress.
I expect nothing is wrong with yuor lovely hens, and all you have to do is to be patient and wait for them to settle down. If there is no sign of bullying, it's good that you have returned Delilah to the flock as soon as you feel she can cope, so she doesn't get isolated and pecked when she does go back, thus making her problems worse.

 

[JanineE]

Thanks Marigold. Their run is about half of the back of our garden, so very spacious & the house is huge! When I looked at pictures of ones to buy it said one like ours was suitable for upto 24 hens! (4 is plenty for us!) I don't know their exact age. A farmer my OH knows got them from the breeder he gets his turkeys from so I didn't get to go along myself but I believe them to be very young birds. I'm not even worried about the egg side of it so long as their happy & healthy. We've been out in the garden ourselves most of the day & she's gone between resting & pecking around with the others, so a definite improvement. Also she's now drinking for herself (I was syringe feeding her tiny amounts of water) & at times her tail is going back up for a bit. They're all such lovely birds & we've all become very attached, I just hate the thoughts of her being poorly. but she does seem to be perking up & I really appreciate all the advice given. Many Thanks

 

[chrismahon]

Sounds like she has taken the move badly and has stopped eating. Might be being bullied off the feeder, a problem we've had. They just stop eating and then keel over. Two feeders is the answer and tempt her appitite back with some nice treats. Problem is her digestive system flora starts to shut down then she can't digest food properly, just goes straight through grainy and undigested.

The egg problems will sort themselves out later.