Sorry this goes on a bit, but I wanted to give as much info as possible and we're desperate!
We've four Pekin bantams, about three motnhs old now, which we keep in a combined house/run and they've been fine until last Friday, when we came home and found them huddled in the front of their house/run.
We let them out (as we do two or three times a day usually), and they free-ranged around the garden for a while. We would normally then entice them back into their run without much of a problem.
Except this time, it was as if there was a force field around it! They just wouldn't go near the house. We eventually (after about half an hour!) managed to get them in but they seemed very distressed at the prospect and wouldn't go to the back of it.
They went up to bed OK, but ever since they will not go near the back of the house, simply huddling as far away from it as possible and each day have become more and more skittish.
Today, they're even worse - huddling at the far end of the run, not taking any food or water, and going what can best be described as "mental" if we try to do anything like give them some water or moving something up against the run to give them shade.
We daren't let them out, as we know we simply won't get them in again, but I can't help feeling this is adding to their distress. It's a decent sized run but we've let them free rage from time to time ever since they were babies.
What could have caused such a sudden change in them? I'm assuming they've been frightened , although there's no sign of any physicall attack (to either the chucks or the house!). We do get problems with crows which have frightened them in the past, but they've never reacted like this. It's as if there's some invisible monster lurking in the house and they're permanently petrified.
We really don't know what to do and if this goes on any longer I think we'll lose them. Any help would be very gratefully received!
Chris