Hi,
I have a couple chickens and a duck in my backyard(just pets). The other day my one hen has come in my house , which is where she usually chooses to lay her egg, and just sits on the couch for hours. When I'm talking hours, she was in the whole time I was at work, about 8 hours, and not only did she never lay an egg, she also didn't go to the bathroom either. When I go near her she flares up(gets all puffy). She is very tame and doesn't bite me or anything, and when I turned her over she has lost all the feathers on her underside. She can and will walk, eat, drink etc. but we are going on day 3 of this behavior now, and I don't have a clue as what is wrong with her. I have heard of chickens getting egg bound, but I don't know how to correct this, if this is what has happened. Do you have any ideas of what might be wrong with her and how to fix it?

I really don't want ZsaZsa to die, but I really can't see taking her to the vet. With my luck it would be one of those 100's of dollars things and she'd probably die anyways. I'm not at all squimish about doing anything nessecery to help her if I can do it myself.
Thank you,
Laurie M

My hens have gone MONTHS without laying a single egg. We only have one of our 4 hens laying right now, and she does about 4 eggs a week. So, not laying is not in itself a concern, especially as the seasons change into colder and shorter days. If egg bound, a hen may look and act sickly and ooze egg parts from her vent. Getting "puffy" doesn't in itself mean much either.

How exactly has she lost feathers? Where exactly? My chickens are finishing up their normal fall molt right now which means they are supposed to shed their feathers and grow new ones once a year. During the molt, the chickens rarely lay eggs and often don't eat much of anything. Of the things you've mentioned, only not pooping concerns me because that is the forte of my chickens! They poop a LOT! Perhaps she is simply molting and since she is eating less, she didn't have to go to the bathroom. If it's molting, she should be back to normal in a few weeks.

THank you so very much for the info, but as it turns out it seems my chicken is in a sitting stage. Although I do take her eggs from her, she's determined to just sit on my couch. When she gets puffy , I found out is because she's mad , she even been pecking me now, and gets really mad if you bother her too much. I was told they will sometimes do that. She keeps sitting on the remote control, guess shes decided it's her egg. :lol:
My friend told me the sitting stage last 21 days, I do make sure her eats and drinks though, and since she just sitting there not pooping of anything, I figure I'll just leave her alone for a while. I do make her stay outside at times, when she starts getting to nasty.
For fun I put a golf ball by her and her pulled it under her to sit on it :P
Thank you very much for the info though, I really don't know much about chickens, but I like them and they keep the yard free of bugs :) I bought these 2 in april of this year and the duck too.
The chickens have made it thru 2 attacks on my nieghbors JR terriers digging under the fence getting into my yard. The first one was really bad, I'm amazed Ava made it, although she did have to spend 3 days in the bath tub recovering. I did warn my nieghbor though, next time those dogs get in my yard they are getting a free ride to the pound :angry:
Laurie

Sorry your poor chickens were attacked by dogs. I lost two to hawks in March 2003 and two to foxes this past March.

Hens do often go broody IF they are a breed that does so. The kinds I have all have that quality bred out of them. Since eggs hatch in 21 days, it seems she would stop it around the time if that's why she's brooding. What is REALLY strange is that you say she was laying eggs. Why in the world she wouldn't now be sitting on eggs that she laid instead of a remote control is beyond me! A broody hen will come off the eggs once a day to eat, drink, and defecate. If she's not doing that, I would be concerned. Let me know when the mini remote controls hatch!

The reason my chicken is sitting on the remote is because the couch is where she usualy lays her eggs, I just pick them up daily, being I don't have a rooster, no reason to let her sit on eggs.
I did however get six eggs from the boss that are fertile and we have gone to having her sit on them to hopefullty hatch them. She isn't laying eggs right now herself.
I pretty much feed her where she sits being she is in the house(her choice) diffentily not mine.LOL She doesn't ever get off them though so once every two days i make her get up and go out side to do her business and stretch her legs.
I've only got about 15 days now til the eggs should hatch, then I'm giving the chicks back to the boss, I have ppleanty with my two hens, the duck, 2 dogs , two cats and a hamster around here. And just so you konw I live in the city, not on a farm or anything.
Thanks for the info, I'lllet you know how it goes:)
Pets aka Laurie

I guess by "the boss," you mean your boss at work? I hope your couch-sitting hen can hatch some eggs. It's interesting that she's broody without any eggs of her own. Which breed is she?

I haven't a clue as to what kind of chickens I have, I just bought them at the feed store when they were tiny and cute :rolleyes:
I tryed looking for them online but I hadn't a clue as to how many different breeds of chickens there are. :unsure:
They are normal size chickens with the coloring and pattern of pheasent, if that tells you anything. They could be some mixed breed chickens, they do lay brown eggs though.
Zsa Zsa didn't have any problem accepting eggs from several other chickens, she has brown eggs and one white one under her right now. I Do have to phyically take her off those eggs every couple days to strech her legs and go potty. The chicken is not getting of those eggs for nothing, what a good mommy :)
Laurie

You can kind of see what she looks like in my avatar I added :)

The avatar is so tiny (and I can't seem to make it larger) so it's hard to see the chicken. The colors look similar to our hen Spice though who's an Easter egg chicken but she lays green eggs. She could be a mixed breed. A great site with photos of all the breeds (even rare ones) is at http://www.feathersite.com//Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

Thank you for the site. I went screaching for my chicken's breed there, but after looking at a lot of the pictures and couldn't find one that looked like mine, I decided that it doesn't matter what kind they are, I still like them :)

We have babies now!!! :D I had started with6 eggs, four of them ended up hatching tues night. I saw the eggs having pecking cracks in them thenn later heard them peeping. I held the first one in my hand and watched the baby peck it's self out of it, it was sooo cute :) . One of the chicks died during the night, annd the last two eggs weren't fertile apperentily, but I still have 3 chicks now.
I'm gonna keep them til I get bored or tired of them, or they get too messy, then take them to my boss for his collection.
I let them go outside with mommy today, in fact didn't have much choice anyways, when I put mom out they just jumped off the couch and tryed to get out the dog door to her. it wasn't a good idea though, when they were fliting around her, the duck snatched one up and was thowing it all over and shaking it. I did manage to get the chick before it was too late for it and it seems fine now, but all the same I'm not taking that chance again. Now they stay in a confined area outside far away from the duck!

On a sadder note, I'm only going to get to keep my chickens and duck for a few more months. I've come into a situation of living in my mom's house(she's moving out) and selling my house, but one of the stipulations is I can't take them with me. It will get me out of debt and help me out a lot, so it's a deal I can't pass up.So, although I like my chickens and duck, I'll get rid of them for a better life. I'll get to see my chickens, cause I'll just take them to my boss and they will live at my work.
My mom's house has a fence that couldn't keep them in anyways. I am taking my 2 dogs(golden and shih tzu) my cat, and my hamster though, plus I'll be inherating my moms 2 cat as well. I doubt my fowl would be too safe around her cats anyways.
Laurie aka Pets

I'm glad some babies hatched! Is mommy taking good care of them? It sures sounds like they want to be with her. As you've found, the chicks have to be well guarded from predators, even ducks. It's sad that that you have to give them all up but it sounds like they'll be fine.

Sorry so long to reply. I still have the chicks as of now, I kind of don't have the heart to separate them from mommy, they love her. :) They've pretty much devoloped thier wings now and one even has a tiny cone on it. They are so adorable when you go to look at them they all peek their heads out from uunder momma. The problem I have now is I'm haviing to keep them and momma in a cage in my house, it's a bit cold for the babies right now to stay outside in the atrium, they're safe from the duck their;)
Last week a differennt dog must of got in my yard and managled my other hen pretty bad. It apperentilly came in thru a missing slate in my fence. I came home to feathers all over the patio, and went screaching the yard for her. When I couldn''t find her I decided whatever dog got her and drug her thru the fence. So I went in the front yard and heard her crowing, I found her trying to get back thru the slate in to my yard. She seems ok, but she was torn up pretty bad, these dogs must not be too good of hunters that get my chickens, everytime tit happens they bird rear looks like it was eaten on, If the dog was good I would think it would break the neck or something. Oh well, I guess were lucky these dogs aren't good hunters. LOL This happen on Mon and now my chicken smells like rotten meat. I don't exactly know what to do to fix that, but she's walking around, eating etc, acting perfectly normal, except of course she's not laying eggs again.(that happens after every attack though)
Oh well, I've rambled on enough about my zoo adventures, LOL Hope everyone is doing good.

Sorry that last post was me, I forgot I had used my screen name before :P

Glad the chicks are doing ok.

I feel really bad for the poor hen that got torn up. It sounds like she could use a course of antibiotics and maybe some salve on her injuries. When Salty was attacked by hawks, she got stitches and antibiotics (topical and oral). Alas, a year later, the fox got her. Foxes, unlike dogs, will kill any chicken they get their paws on.

your chicken could be a pheasant chicken they look alot like pheasants but are chickens none the less. our hens luckily havent gotten broody yet as they arent of age but our uggy {turkens} chickens get nasty if you disturd them while they are laying...lol its so funny though. i have had my hounds take out quite a few chickens but they are now on the chain all day and off at night when the chickens are all put up. we have 2 little banties a rooster and a hen, so we get to laugh nearly to death as this little midget crab steps the big hen and if he actually makes it opn top of them before they nail him he just scoots himsefl right off their backs! then of course they nail him and he runs away! but al of our chickens are very tame and theh little banties are so sweet. our guineaus and chickens will jump on your lap and a couple of the araconnas will actuelly jump on my shoulder, aracconnas are easter egg chickens and very sneaky too. :rolleyes: