One of the reasons why chickens are loved and are taken as pets is because chickens are lovely social animals who are fun to be around.
Knowing this, you may be concerned if one of your chickens starts to keep to itself. This article explores why your one chicken is always alone.
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Why is one chicken always alone?
Chickens are used to living in flocks, they love their chicken family and will all hang out together, forage together, and will play with each other throughout the day.
But, one of your birds may seem out of place and keep to itself. Here is why your one chicken is always alone:
Your bird is sick:
Chickens can be quite brutal, if they sense that a bird in the flock is sick, then the flock members will attack the sick bird.
This is not out of hate or spite but out of self-preservation. If a predator were to see a sick bird then the predator may start to hunt the sick bird.
The whole flock would be in danger because of this sick bird and so the flock will try to get rid of the sick bird.
Birds know this so they will keep to themselves and try their best not to show signs of being sick else the flock will peck and kill them. The bird that is always alone may simply be sick.
What to do:
There are a variety of illnesses that can affect chickens. Some of the illnesses that chickens develop can be treated at home but others need urgent medical attention from the vet.
If you think that your bird is sick then it is recommended that you take your bird to the vet as soon as you can.
The vet will quickly diagnose your bird, and treat the bird, keeping the bird’s ailment from becoming more dangerous and life-threatening.
The bird is injured:
The flock will not only attack a bird who is ill, out of fear of it attracting predators, the flock will also attack an injured bird for the same reason.
Injured birds are slower and easy for predators to attack, the flock knows this and if members of the flock realize that a bird is injured then the flock may instinctively kill the bird to keep it from attracting predators who may kill the entire flock.
If your chicken is injured then it likely knows this and is keeping itself isolated as a way of keeping the flock members from attacking it.
The bird may have also isolated itself somewhere so that it can die in peace without being attacked by the flock or by predators.
Other signs that may indicate that your bird is injured include lethargy, reduced egg production, a pale comb or wattle, inactivity, unusual droppings, unusual posture, and a lack of appetite.
What to do:
You can choose to examine the bird for injuries yourself, and possibly treat the bird yourself, or, you can choose to take the bird to the vet to have it examined and treated there.
Minor injuries can be treated at home but more severe injuries need to be treated at a vet.
Taking the bird to the vet is also recommended because the vet can take an x-ray of the bird for a better idea of what is going on.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Chick Keeps Flipping On Back And Shaking, Chick Keeps Flipping On Back, Will A Single Chick Survive?, How To Make A Baby Chick Not Feel Lonely, Why Is My Duck Laying On Its Side?, How To Get A Wild Duck To Trust You, Why Do Ducks Splash In The Water, Why Is My Female Duck Squeaking, Male Duck Making High-Pitched Noise