Tail down and very tentative

[Jajika]

It always seems strange when one day a chicken seems fine and next they are not acting normal. Laverne suddenly is not eating much, her tail is down and she is hunched over. Obviously something is wrong, but I can't tell what and don't know what to do for her? In the past, I always rushed them to the vet, get a couple of prescitpions, force feed them and they never recover but have gone through the trauma of me shoving droppers into their mouth. She is Red Star about two years old.

Has anyone ever seen a hen recover on their own?

 

[lysmandor]

It really depends what is going on with her. If she has (for example) minor egg binding and then manages to pass it on her own, yes. If she has some other issue, then no.

I'm sorry you've had bad experiences in the past treating your birds, but I'm not sure the solution is to hope it gets better by itself - you'll have worse odds with that.

What is going on specifically with your bird? What have you done so far?

 

[Jajika]

Hi lysmandor: Thanks for responding. I usually get a notice when someone responds? Anyway, what ever was going on with her seems to have passed. The next day she was more alert and even came out on the field trips. Then the following day she was back to her old self hanging with her peeps. So, you have picked the right thing. I don't know their tails are down, it's not a good sign. So, maybe she was "egg bound" as that would be the reaction, then feeling better right away. Thank you so much for responding, Be safe