I have two chicken tractors - one has the chickens I started with last year (4 Isa's and 3 Black Sex Links) and the other is new this spring and houses the other chickens (7 Easter Eggers varying from 2 1/2 mos. old to 4 1/2 mos. old - 2 of which are roosters - and 3 Cuckoo Marans who are 2 1/2 mos old). One of the Isa's has always been low on the totem pole. I noticed a little over a week ago that she would always be on the roost in the coop when I would go out to give treats, check on their food/water, collect eggs, etc. By Monday every time I would open the nesting box lid or the door she would try to dive out. I finally figured out why . . . every time she would go out to forage or get a drink of water (I keep the water outside during the summer months because it takes up so much real estate in the coop) the rest of the girls would attack her!!! She couldn't leave the coop without them going after her. Her poor comb is all peck-ed up. Two of the hens had her pinned down in the corner at one point and were ripping at her comb as she was screaming and trying to escape! I took her right out of the coop and introduced her to the other flock to see how she would get along. The younger flock free ranges for most of the day and is locked down at night. My 5 mo. old rooster threatened her a couple of times the first day. I had several days off work this week so I was able keep a close eye on everyone. By the second day, Cruiser (the rooster) and the Isa were nearly inseparable. Originally Cruiser watched over the 3 EE pullets that are about 4 1/2 mos. old. Now he pretty much ignores them. I have a younger group (2 1/2 mos. old that were all supposed to be pullets) that roosts in the lower level of the new chicken tractor - the 'pullet' in that bunch that started crowing a couple weeks ago keeps his lot of 5 girls away from Cruiser and the older lot.
In the meantime, one of the other Isa's in my first coop ended up being eggbound so I spent a day (Wednesday) giving her epsom salt baths and belly/rump massages. She could barely walk or keep her balance. She just flopped on the ground for most part and had to use her wings to balance her body to move. I thought she had broken something before I figured out she was eggbound. The rest of the chickens actually acted like they were concerned and would go lay next to her in the pen. After they were so mean to the other Isa, I was stumped. This poor girl was so off-kilter I thought for sure they would attack her. I kept her isolated after the baths until she was fully dry so they wouldn't peck at her bum (her vent was nearly protruding from trying to push so much). When I finally figured I had done all I could for her and put her back in the coop, hoping she would go sit in the nest box, the other hens didn't go after her or bother her at all. The biggest, pushiest BSL stood guard over her while she laid out in the grass (she still couldn't walk very well). This same BSL finally settled down just a few inches away and pecked at the ground with her - copying her basically. I saw this and thought maybe I could reintroduce the other Isa back into the flock. As soon as I put her back in, they attacked her (all but the eggbound Isa, who couldn't even if she wanted to). They started chasing her and pecking at her until she fled back into the coop and up to the highest roost. So now she will most likely be a permanent resident of the new flock. And she now bullies them! Except for Cruiser, because he just won't tolerate it. She still wants to go back into the old coop to lay her egg though. She followed me around the yard the first two days and would run over whenever I opened the nest box up (the new coop has a far different nest box design and I don't think she gets it yet). I put her back in via the outside entrance to the box. She laid her egg and wanted right back out. I didn't put her in there today - I was hoping she would use the nesting boxes in the new coop but she didn't. If she laid an egg today, I have yet to find it. I checked most of the areas they range in the most, including the round pen for the horses that seems to be their favorite place to scratch around. In the meantime my eggbound hen finally laid an egg - the smallest egg I've ever gotten from these girls. As bad off as she was I expected a monster-size egg but it was about 1/3 the size of the eggs I normally get from them, darker brown, and speckled quite heavily. I'm not sure if it's edible or not, considering it took her 2 1/2 days or more (she may not have laid Tuesday either as I only got 3 eggs that day and one was from the outcast hen) to lay it and she soaked in warm Epsom Salt baths for so much of Wednesday. She is walking better - she's a bit stiff yet but is looking very lively, eating, and drinking well. The majority of my vacation week that was originally going to be spent painting, organizing, and getting caught up in general was spent dealing with chicken drama, lol. Ah well . . . they are worth it.
