Sooo much pooping

[peebles]

Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could help a newbie

 

I had 3 pekin bantams from chicks. They soon grew into two beautiful ladies and one rooster - eek! Tiny Tim, the smallest hen of our tiny brood fell to the bottom of the teensy pecking order. In order to even it out, we decided to add to the brood with two more bantams. One frizzle and one pekin, both 13wks. At this point our original 3 were 23wks (still not laying in wintery weather).

 

Tiny Tim was no longer at the bottom and two weeks in is behaving a little more oddly than usual.

She no longer rushes to food, preferring to wait behind and not to push - she had no problem with shoving the newbies when they arrived. She is also preferring to eat out of my hand and pecks very slowly and delicately.

As far as I can tell, she is fine otherwise, drinking and poo-ing and roosting in her coop.

 

Does anyone have any idea what's going through Tiny Tim's (Tim Tim, nice but dim) tiny mind?

Thanks in advance

Tim & Co

[Olly]

Hello,and welcome to the forum. Hard to advise - is she generally active and looking 'busy'? Is her comb red and firm? Does she run forward if you offer treats, even if she is at the back of the queue?

 

I'm not clear if any of them have laid yet - chicken behaviour does change when they come into lay, they are a lot less flighty and a bit more sedate. It's also possible that if she's just begun laying, she could be laying a soft-shelled egg which can make them seem off-colour, however you say this has been going on for two weeks if I understand you correctly, which would be too long for that.

 

The best guidance is if she's exhibiting normal chicken behaviour. Even though she's older/bigger than the others, she may still be bottom chicken and so she might hang back at feeding time.

[peebles]

Thanks for your reply Olly

 

No one in our brood is laying as of yet. The newbies arrived 2wks ago, but Tim's behaviour didn't change in the immediate days after that, so I wondered if it was stress related.

Her comb is as it always was, red and firm. Her eyes and feathers are glossy too, what worried me was how slowly she was eating, but is still chasing the two new ones off 'her' food patch, just very slowly.

She has also nodded off on the lawn two or three times and woken wondering where her friends have gone!

She runs forwards for treats but eats very slowly, extending her neck slowly and pecking and swallowing slowly.

Harriet's (Tim's sister) behaviour hasn't changed at all.

 

Thanks

[Egluntyne]

I'd give her a **Basic Health Check** to see if anything obvious shows up.

[The Dogmother]

I once had a dim chicken like that - she lived to be 4, but never behaved much like a hen. Very sweet, but ever so slow

[peebles]

Thank you everyone for your replies! Very helpful

 

Claret, I think we are joining you in the dim but adorable club!