Sleepy Chook - I think she's poorly

[Milims]

One of our hens has been very sleepy over the last couple of days. She usually the one who wanders round chuntering, is always the first up for some goodies and is generally really energetic. But now she's taken to coming out of the hen house in the morning and going straight to sleep, for a long time. It's most unusual for her - she's even lost interest in following anyone with a spade!
Can anyone offer a suggestion as to what could be wrong?

[Millymollymandy]

How old is she Milims? As mine got old or sick (or both) they tended to spend a lot of time sitting around rather than doing the usual chickeny things. Is she making any chickeny noises and is she eating or drinking? She may sadly just be coming to the end of her days. Or she might just perk up again as that's happened to ours several times as well when I've thought they were at death's door!

[Milims]

She's just over a year old so age shouldn't be the problem. We've checked her for scaly leg and she's ok. She has a full crop, so she seems to be eating. She just seems completely miserable and sleepy. Do chickens suffer from depression???

[Millymollymandy]

I don't know about depression other than sometimes chickens just do get like that. I'm trying not to be horrible here but sometimes they just die for no apparent reason and sometimes they just seem to snap out of it and get back to normal. Obviously I've only experienced this with 3 hens so I'm no expert! Hope someone else can give some more advice and cross fingers for poor henny.

[jampot]

is the choock just sarting (or finishing ) a moult , our ladies can be very sluggish when moulting and for a while after give a bit of cider vinegar in the drinking water just to ward off anything nasty . if she doesnt perk up in a few days id think about the vet to be on the safe side.

[Gert]

Hi,

about the only thing I could really add to the list is check the house for red mite. They will feed off hens at night, making them sleepy in the day. It may be that she is sleeping in an area of the house that has a lot of mites, which would explain why she is knackered all day and not the other hens.

Keep us up to date on her progress

[Milims]

Thank you all for your tips and concern. She's perked up a lot today - she's wandering round the garden making her ususal squeeky bike noises so it looks like she's on the mend!

[Gert]

glad to hear it

[red]

glad to hear it. they can have minor illnesses, just like we do . lets hope thats done with.

[Millymollymandy]

Goodo - squeaky bike eh? Some of them do have their own very peculiar noises whilst others just sound like 'chickens'.

[Milims]

Goodo - squeaky bike eh? Some of them do have their own very peculiar noises whilst others just sound like 'chickens'.

Lol! I don't think any of our gals sound like chickens - one does a Jimmy Saville kind of warble, one croons like Bing Crosby and the rest do a pretty good impersonation of a turkey - but they did come from a place that had turkeys in the next field!

[red]

I shoveled the new light sussex hen off the nest yesterday and the noise she made! - they normally cluck and complain, but hers had an added parrot squark - and really loud! - and the thing is this is the one hen that is a pet, belonging to my son... so she is here to stay for a long time...

[Millymollymandy]

My light sussex makes a really low grumbly growl type of noise which always really amuses me and my new little red hen sings. My last remaining old biddy used to just make normal chook noises (albeit in a prima donna way) but has developed a very strange throaty rattle of late - just sometimes.

However the ducks just make a racket!