[Colernehens]

My 4 new Orpingtons seem to be settling in very well, but I have a slight concern over Dusty (she is our splash Orpington).

She is very very shy, the first night we had her, I was upstairs when my husband put the new girls in the coop, I heard what I thought at the time was two teenage girls outside screaming, it turned out to be Dusty's response to being picked up by my husband.
Although I have not heard her make that noise since, and although she is getting better, she is still very timid with the other hens, and if we go out into the pen, you don't see her for dust.
Although this has not bothered us too much, as we think she is much younger than the other 3, so needs more time to settle in, yesterday we saw a very watery poo (can't say it was her), and then I saw another one today. Having looked at the pictures on here, I think it might be Dusty due to lack of food.

She isn't off her food, its just that when I take out treats she hides until I've gone, by which point the others have eaten it all and in the mornings when we let them out, instead of eating and drinking first like the others do, she runs and hides.
She is reluctant to feed at the feeder if any of the others are there, but whilst they were all sitting under the tree earlier she did come to the feeder and have some food.

Is there any thing we can do to help her, or are we going to have to be patient?

We are pretty sure there is nothing wrong with her, as she does forage and drink and eat, but I would hate to think we had missed something obvious.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

[joyfull]

have several feeders and drinkers out so that there is always one available to her, some hens are naturally shy and stand apart from the other hens my welsummer used to be like that (sadly no longer with me) but she was happy in her own little way 

[Colernehens]

I had wondered about doing this, but we didn't want to make her even less intergrated if that makes sense 
But if it will help then I am willing to give it a try, we already have a big bucket drinker in the corner of their garden where she likes to hide, so I can use the plastic feeder I had for the original hens and put a small amount of food there for her each day.

I don't want to put too much there as it is grass not a hard surface, so it is harder to clean up anything they spill and I don't want to attract rats 

I also just saw Bumble (my gold lace) pull out and eat two of Dusty's feather, so maybe its time for some anti pecking spray - although this is the first evidence of any feather pecking / eating I have seen - What a shame    thought we had seen the back of that when they left the breeder 

[joyfull]

feather eating is usually a sign of a deficiency, stop any treats and give them just their layers pellets and plenty of room and stuff to occupy them.

[ManicMum]

It might be worth scattering some of the pellets around the run, so they all have to do some foraging as well as having the feeders available.

With a shy girl, it might be that you have to keep sitting in the run (book, cuppa, glass of wine) for ages so you become part of the furniture - a trickle of corn or whatever should encourage all the chickens to cluster round you.

PS does your husband often have problems with screaming when he picks girls up?  The way you put it created a lovely mental picture.....

[Colernehens]

Yes I will do that, I had only started reintroducing treats the last few days as they had come from the breeder minus such a lot of feathers, we had wanted them to eat mainly layers, they were doing so well  

They have plenty of space as far as I know, they have an area that is about 12ft wide by about 20ft long, and there is only 7 of them. They have a good area of ground they can scratch in and make a dust bath, is there any thing else that I can provide?
I have tied up some Dandelions to peck at which they love, but I must admit I don't know what else they need?

Being such a feather heavy breed do they need a feed higher in protein or should the normal layer pellets be enough.

Sorry if these are idiot questions, but we are still very new to this.

ManicMum, I think the fact that all the others come running to us when ever we come out to the garden is part of what puts her off, I think she might be at least 6 weeks younger than the other, despite the breeder saying she was the same age, but I could be wrong - would this make a difference if she was a lot younger?

Scattering some first thing in the morning, might not be a bad idea, might stop the amusing site of 6 chickens all trying to squeeze through one door at once, we get most mornings.

As to your PS, badly worded on my part (hope he doesn't read it  , The only Girl any of us have problems with is our 6 month old niece, she screams exactly like Dusty with all of us except her Mum

[8doubles]

Live mealworms ! 

[ManicMum]

Our girls love their scattered pellets - they get thoroughly hoovered up each day & only then do they hang around the feeder.

Can you create an area around where your shy girl is hiding so she can have some special treat time with you?

[Lindeggs]

I feel for you - it can be very sad when you're doing your best to be friendly and caring with your chickens, and they seem to think you're a big bad monster!  One of my girls (Pearl) seems similar to your Dusty and is the only shy one in my flock of six.

Apart from the emotional stuff, on a practical level it is important to be able to check your chickens over, so good on you for persevering with your shy girl.

I think there are two things here: one is that she needs to be integrated into the flock and feel comfortable with the others, and two she needs to feel comfortable with her human carers.

Integration into the flock will take its own course.  Once the pecking order has settled down, she will find her own place in it and begin to feel more comfortable.  Then that will help with the human interaction, as she will start to see that the other chickens are confident around you and this will help her gain confidence herself.

Here's my advice based on what's working with my girls:

• Move slowly(ish) and calmly whenever you're around the chickens so you don't startle anyone. 
• Continue with any hand-feeding or other close interaction with the confident girls so Dusty can see that you're safe. 
• Bring a chair (or upturned bucket) so you can sit quietly amongst them with a cup of tea
• Scatter food around your feet so the chickens will gain cofidence with you
• While everyone is calm and they are pecking around your feet try to imitate some of their calm clucky noises. (Very amusing for the neighbours.)

[Helenaj]

I had a young pullet with exactly the same problem. Like you, I was told by the breeder that they were all the same age and being a new keeper at the time, knew no better. It was only as the others got older I could see the difference in their ages. She would always run and hide at anything - me, the other hens and even if there was a sudden gust of wind. A real scaredy cat. All you can do is follow the really good advice already given - sit in the pen for as long as you can, no sudden movements around her and provide her with a "panic room", somewhere she feels safe and with access to food and water.
It is a confidence issue which she will grow out of, give her a couple of weeks. In the meantime, just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get out of condition.

[evie2]

When we got our 5 big hens last year, I came on and asked if there was such a thing as agoraphobic hens, I was so worried about them as they just wouldn't come out.

Well, I needn't have worried, 10 months later and they're out from 6.30am until they put themselves away at night

[Colernehens]

Well I have put out an additional feeder, but she is still not eating as much as I think she should be. We now know it is her who did the watery poo, as we saw her do one yesterday, but later in the day my husband saw her do a more solid poo. Good news I hope

She is foraging around and preening herself, but when she isn't doing that she just stands there asleep, I am still concerned that we might be missing something I am aware that lack of food, will make her less active than the others, but I don't know how to make her eat more 

She is drinking plenty, so no worries there. I need to go and get more layers pellets today and I was wondering if there was an millage in picking up some layers mash, and a trough feeder for her? I wondered if she might eat more if it was easier to eat?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but being so new to this, I would hate to think we missed something major.

Thanks so much for the advice

[Beano]

Sorry if I'm going to upset you but I dont like the sound of her just standing and sleeping for a lot of the time. Perhaps the breeder was right and she is the same age as the others but has not developed/grown as well. It sounds to me as if she's a weakling and maybe it's worth a visit to the vet, even if it's just to confirm that she's ok. I hope I'm wrong.

[Colernehens]

Thanks, I am keeping a very close eye on her (not getting much else done )

My husband will finish work early tonight, so he has already said that he going to dust the girls with mite powder tonight, so I'll get him to give her a through check.

She is spending far more time out and about then I've seen in all the previous 10 days, so she is gaining her confidence which is great. Part of me feels if we can just get her to eat a bit more, she would no-doubt feel the benefit. We'll keep trying and if she is no better or has got worse int he next 24hrs, I think the vet it will be.

This is worse than having a new born baby. 

[Helenaj]

Try some Poultry Tonic in her water, at least she will be getting some valuable vitamins and minerals that she may be missing through lack of food. Have you also considered feeding her some cheap catfood? I've never known a hen not to be tempted by the smelly stuff, mine will just kill for it. A spoonful to start with, because if she hasn't eaten much you don't want to give her a tummy upset
When you check her over later, smell her nostrils if she'll let you. If it smells bad (almost like rotten meat), she may have Mycoplasma and it may have been activated through stress. She need not have picked it up at your site, but could have brought it with her from your breeder or it can even be passed through the egg if the breeder uses a previously infected bird in his breed stock. Unfortunately, birds infected with it don't thrive as well as healthy birds and can pass it to the rest of the flock. So if she does smell bad, a visit to the vets for antibiotics is essential.