Unhappy chicken
- Thread starter andya9
- Start date
How old are the hens, any idea? And how long in weeks up have you actually had them? Do you only have these two, or are they in with some other chickens? And lastly, when you got them, did you worm them both with Flubenvet? Hens need this everY 4-6 months, and if these came from a rescue, its very possible they have for behind with their worming, or even never been wormed. If is is so, you may well find that clearing out the worms will make both of them feel a lot better.
Moving home is very traumatic for hens, especially if they've done it twice, from a home that didn't want them for whatever reason, to a rescue centre, and then to you. They will take several weeks to settle in, and the fact that she hasn't laid for four days doesn't necessarily mean that she is ill, though a good check over for parasites, round their vents, under her wings and round her neck in particular, may reveal lice eggs or other nasties. These will pull them down as well as worms.
There's some helpful info on worms and worming on the Poultrykeeper website, see link at the bottom of the page, here http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens and also advice about parasites, especially lice and redmite, if you put these terms into the Search box.
If you can get to the stage where worms and parasites can be ruled out as the main problems, you will be able to decide whether anything else is possibly wrong.
Moving home is very traumatic for hens, especially if they've done it twice, from a home that didn't want them for whatever reason, to a rescue centre, and then to you. They will take several weeks to settle in, and the fact that she hasn't laid for four days doesn't necessarily mean that she is ill, though a good check over for parasites, round their vents, under her wings and round her neck in particular, may reveal lice eggs or other nasties. These will pull them down as well as worms.
There's some helpful info on worms and worming on the Poultrykeeper website, see link at the bottom of the page, here http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/worming-chickens and also advice about parasites, especially lice and redmite, if you put these terms into the Search box.
If you can get to the stage where worms and parasites can be ruled out as the main problems, you will be able to decide whether anything else is possibly wrong.
