puffed up and constant head shaking

I have a 5 week old buff orpington pullet that just went into the outside coop 2 days ago. She has been sitting puffed up with her eyes half closed and is shaking her head constantly. She is also standing by a white wall alot and pecking at it and not eating. I picked her up and felt her crop it seems to be empty. Any clues?

i had a buff silkie rooster that would shake his head and close his eyes. He had a ear infetion so we cleared his ears but it had already spread . He then started to walk backward and run into walls. But he always had a big crop. I walked in the coop and he was dead.

walter

Eyes closed or half closed means pain. If your bird looks like it's sleeping, when you know it isn't, it's in pain.

FIrst thing I would suspect from your description is something bothering the ears. Either something is stuck in an ear or an infection as Sultan suggested.

The other thing is a head injury. Who knows how but every now and then a bird whacks itself a good one on the head. A head injury can cause this sort of activity. But my first thought would be a problem with the ears.

Today she's eating drinking and acting totally normal. Yeah! Yesterday I was really bummed out because another one was acting sick as well puffed up standing with its head under its wings lethargic. Could it have been they are not used to the temperature change. They were inside in quite a warm room for 4 weeks. I have a heat lamp out there but it has been an unusually cold and rainy spring here. We are still firing up the wood stove some nights.

Well, that is nice to hear, I am suspecting the poor thing was just feeling kind of cold have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Keep an eye on them, sounds like an ear infection I would guess. So glad they're looking better!

Cheers!

Pluckylady