Poorly looking chicken

[FuriousGeorge]

One of dh's hens does not seem to be herself.She is 6 months old and the past 2 days,has taken to spending a lot of her time in the hedge,just standing stock still and looking all 'humpy' with her tail down

Dh says she is coming out of the shed with the others fast enough in the morning,putting herself to bed as normal at night,her comb is bright red & looks healthy,but she didn't come rushing over with the rest when I took the scraps out.Dh can't feel anything amiss & we are a bit unsure of what to do next.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi there, wow, its nice to think about something other than the kids for a change. I have chickens too so just had to say HI!! One of our chickens has a terribly disfigured beak, She's vertually bald and has a terrible temper. we noticed recently that something was really troubling her and eventually realised that even though the chickens are regularly treated for red mites, we'd overlooked the tiny tiny wood mites infesting their hutch. We've since pretty much fumigated the hutch with insect spray, used a blow torch all round the inside and outside of the hutch and used loads of mite powder on the hutch. Also we've drilled a few holes in the floor of the hutch (its a raised one) to allow the air to circulate and change the bedding more often, we use shedded paper which works a treat. And the combination seems to have worked as the angry chicken is happier and they are all using their hutch again. Its worth having a good look at their environment as well as a close look at the chicken herself because it'll hopefully be something quite simple. Good luck, let me know how you get on.

Is she laying eggs yet? If so, is she still going into the nest box? If not, perhaps she's just coming into lay and doesn't know what to do. Or maybe she's feeling a bit broody for the first time?

Is she being bullied? If she's not joining the crowd for food then it's possible. Are there any feathers/marks on comb etc?

Have they been wormed recently?

Sorry not to be more use, it's hard to know what's going on with chickens!