Bullying

[tbecker826]

I have 4 rhode island red chickens that are 23 weeks old. I noticed a few weeks ago that they seem to be bullying one chicken in particular. So three are blocking her from eating and drinking. She is much thinner than the rest obviously. How do I deal with this? I have read to remove her and reintroduce her but I feel that could make it worse. I am stressed and not sure what to do. I am new to chicken raising. BTW she is healthy otherwise. The other 3 are laying too and she is not. I believe it is from the stress of the bullying. Please advise. All help is greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

[sourland]

Provide feed and water in multiple places so that she manages to eat. How large is their coop and pen ?

 

[tbecker826]

Provide feed and water in multiple places so that she manages to eat. How large is their coop and pen ?

I have more feed and water stations than possible. 3 waterers and 3 feeders. 1 calcium station. The coop is a raised coop with a run underneath. The coop is 3ft x 3ft which they only sleep and lay their eggs. The run underneath is 3ft x 6ft the attached run is 2ft x 8ft. I just ordered a 6ft x 10ft chicken coop run to tie into this one. Im just concern with the add on run cause I had weed and feed applied earlier in the year before I got the chickens. Attached is a photo of the current set up. I also added a roof since this was built. Hope this helps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Lack of space is the problem. It's not as simple as the overall square footage either. Your current runs are not only small but narrow, and what happens is low ranked chickens cannot safely pass by higher ranked birds if they can't maintain a certain distance between them, or break line of sight.

With the new run you're adding, where/how are you planning to attach it? I'd almost want to scrap the 2x8 attachment entirely, because if the birds are forced to funnel through there to get to the new one, your lower ranked bird will potentially get marooned in one half or the other.

No matter how many feeders you add, if they're all sitting in the wide open with no clutter to help the picked on bird get some relief from bullying, she will continue to struggle. But it's very difficult to add clutter in tight spaces, exacerbating the problem.

More info on clutter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I have 4 rhode island red chickens that are 23 weeks old. I noticed a few weeks ago that they seem to be bullying one chicken in particular. So three are blocking her from eating and drinking. She is much thinner than the rest obviously. How do I deal with this? I have read to remove her and reintroduce her but I feel that could make it worse. I am stressed and not sure what to do. I am new to chicken raising. BTW she is healthy otherwise. The other 3 are laying too and she is not. I believe it is from the stress of the bullying. Please advise. All help is greatly appreciated. thanks.

Is one hen in particular guarding the feeder from all of them and her especially more than the rest that you can pinpoint? If so,, it might help to cull her from the flock and put her in a pen with her own food and water setup for a few days where she can’t be seen and they can’t see her. Then reintroduce her. Her status will be lower when she returns. Then monitor the other hens of course during this time and see what takes place. After about three days do the reintro and see what transpires. If they start back picking on the same hen again go to plan B. Plan B will be another idea that someone else recommended! Lol! Good luck!