A stressed chicken is harder to spot
than you would expect! Believe it or not, chickens hide their stress pretty well, so you
really have to know what you’re looking for. I am Dr. Mikayla, and today’s video is about
what a stressed chicken looks and sounds like. One way researchers test stress or
fearfulness in chickens is through something called the tonic immobility test.
This is when the researcher places a chicken on their back and time how long it
takes them to get up. In general, the longer it takes the bird to get up,
the more fearful or stressed they are. If you’re not quite up for the tonic
immobility test, here are some other ways to tell if your chickens are stressed:
Visual inspection is the first and easiest way to see if our chickens are stressed. Ruffled
or missing feathers, pale and swollen comb and wattle, and labored breathing are all
signs our chickens are sick and/or stressed. Pay attention where your chickens are in the
coop! If your chickens have isolated themselves, it may indicate they are sick and/or stressed.
If they are avoiding certain areas of the coop, check to see if something specific
is stressing them out in that area. Monitor your eggs! A stressed chicken
may lay fewer eggs, and may also lay misshapen eggs. She may even lay her eggs
outside the nest box or in strange places. Look for negative behaviors in your flock.
Examples of this could be continuously pacing up and down an area of the coop, feather pecking, or
acting more flighty. If you notice your chickens spending a lot of their time preening, and you
start to see missing feather without evidence of mites or parasites, they may be stressed.
Listen to your chickens! They make different sounds when they are stressed. The sounds can
vary from a loud squawking to an alarm call if they feel threatened. You may also hear a gakel
call, which sounds like several clucks and then a squawk. Chickens do this to express frustration!
Think of it as the chicken version of whining. If you pay attention to these small cues and
notice that your chickens are experiencing stress, you can intervene to help! Giving a daily
probiotic like Thrive can help alleviate the daily stressors our chickens experience. The ability to
express natural behaviors can also help alleviate some of the negative behaviors associated
with stress, so try tossing your flock one of our functional treats to get them to forage.
Check out our video called Chicken Behavior Explained: What Does a Happy Chicken Look
and Sound Like? to learn the flip side—how to recognize a happy chicken.
For more information, visit backyardchicken.com. If you enjoyed this video,
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