WHY IS MY CHICKEN ISOLATING HERSELF

Sometimes, you might see a chicken being all alone on her own, inorder words, isolating herself from others, and you begin to wonder, ‘what could actually be the problem’. This is very worrisome for farmers. Based on my experience on handling chickens for years, here are the possible causes of the isolation.

When chicken start isolating herself from others, she is either sick or is being embarrassed or bullied by others.

This is seen in many farms where there are lots and lots of chicken of many sizes, from time to time, few chickens will tend to go away from others and stay on their own for some while.

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Sometimes, it is very worrisome and need urgent attention and many times, it is okey and no attention or action is required on them, but you need to check to be sure it’s okay.

One of the reasons a chicken might stay away from others is because she is sick!.

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What do I mean by this?, once a chicken is sick, there is every possibility that she might not be lively again, i mean, walking about with others, jumping etc, she might only have to stay at a single location, away from others. This is a very huge sign that everything is not okay and it calls for an immediate attention.

Although I won’t give you medical advise, as am not a doctor, but am with many years of experience on livestock farming, so if you find this sign, just isolate her from others totally and consult your vet for medical advise.

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She might be isolating herself because she is sick, and in order to self preserve, others might start embarrassing her and chasing her away from the rest of them.

Ya!, chicken normally behave like this, knowing that one of them is sick, because they want to be on the safer side, so the diseased chicken is forced to isolate herself from others or face constant attacks and humiliations until she succumb and isolate herself.

Also read: Why is my chicken Dizzy

If you happen to come across a particular chicken being attacked by others, especially if she is weak and unable to defend herself, just check on her because she might be sick.

Another reason a chicken may isolate herself from others is because she is being bullied by others.

In this case, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she is sick or has been infected with any disease, it’s just that, she might be the smallest and the weakest, so others overpower and bully her.

This is very common when chickens of different sizes are put together in a cage, the smallest among them may be bullied, like chasing her away from food and water, thereby making her to isolate herself from others out of fear of being attacked.

In a congregation of chickens, you will discover that the small chicks without their mother are normally bullied.

This is why it is advisable to always put chicks of the same size and maybe age in the same cage, as it will reduce the level of bullying and also level of isolations among them.

CONCLUSION

I hope this article is helpful, if it’s, help by sharing.

Note – this article is purely for educational purpose and not in anyway a medical advise, please consult a veterinarian for medical advise.