Chickens bullying sister, after 3 years of living in complete harmony

[SFChickens]

We have 4 chickens (1 buff orpington and 3 amerucanas), they are all similarly sized. We found our buff orpington cowering in the corner the other day, with the other 3 girls attacking her.

We have 2 food sources on the floor of the coop, and any time the Buff comes down from the roosting box, the girls attack her.

Everything has been fine for 3 years of living together - so we are concerned about the other chickens doing actual damage here. She has some dried blood in her comb - she usually sleeps on a roosting bar, about 3' off the coop floor, but lately she's been having trouble getting up there, and just stays in the coop all day.

Any ideas how we can stop the attacks/return to a peaceful coexistence? We would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Possibly she could be ill or something happened at some point to upset the others, so they're turning on her - pecking order isn't a fixed thing. Do you have photos of your set up both inside coop and run so we can see if there's improvements that could be made to help her out?

 

[chicken_fun]

She also

We have 4 chickens (1 buff orpington and 3 amerucanas), they are all similarly sized. We found our buff orpington cowering in the corner the other day, with the other 3 girls attacking her.

We have 2 food sources on the floor of the coop, and any time the Buff comes down from the roosting box, the girls attack her.

Everything has been fine for 3 years of living together - so we are concerned about the other chickens doing actual damage here. She has some dried blood in her comb - she usually sleeps on a roosting bar, about 3' off the coop floor, but lately she's been having trouble getting up there, and just stays in the coop all day.

Any ideas how we can stop the attacks/return to a peaceful coexistence? We would greatly appreciate your help.

She also could possibly be sick maybe? I know that we have had some issues like that where the chicken was sick and the other ones tried to kill her so that COULD POSSIBLY be a reason. But I'm not an expert *only from personal experience*

 

[SFChickens]

Thanks everyone. sickness definitely occurred to me, but she is eating and drinking when she can get access to the food, which made me think that it wasn't illness. In my experience once they're sick, they tend to shut down and it's a quick decline. But totally an option.

@rosemarythyme here are some photos of the coop and roosting bar where she used to sit, before the girls started picking on her. It's hard to see the back because it's dark today, but there's a good amount of floor space underneath and above, the coop is about 6' by 3' and the run is about 6' x 6'.

 

[SFChickens]

So, another data point: We threw some watermelon rinds on the floor of the run, one of our chickens favorites, and the one who stuck upstairs tried to make her way down the ramp, but looks like she got stuck there. After looking for a second, We tossed some rinds inside that roosting box, and she scampered back inside and started eating there.

So I'm wondering if there's something wrong with her feet or legs, that's preventing her from getting up on the roosting bar, or maybe even making her way up and down the ladder. I don't see anything physically to be concerned about, although there was a red spot at the "knuckle" on the middle of one to about 10 days ago.

is it okay to put a food source upstairs, in the area where they normally sleep?

Thanks in advance for your feedback and guidance!

 

[rosemarythyme]

So I know the chickens have been fine living in this set up for 3 years, but it's really tight on space, especially the run. Which also means it's impossible to add hiding spaces the low ranked bird could use to get relief from bullying (she can't even get far enough away to show submission to higher ranked birds, to appease them), so she's simply staying as far away as she can, which is the coop. So even a minor skirmish over a treat or some hormonal changes as they come in and out of lay could've started the ball rolling on behavioral problems. Do they get to come out with any regularity?

As far as the feet, pick her up and do a thorough foot check for any swelling, damage to toes or scales.

 

[SFChickens]

So I know the chickens have been fine living in this set up for 3 years, but it's really tight on space, especially the run. Which also means it's impossible to add hiding spaces the low ranked bird could use to get relief from bullying (she can't even get far enough away to show submission to higher ranked birds, to appease them), so she's simply staying as far away as she can, which is the coop. So even a minor skirmish over a treat or some hormonal changes as they come in and out of lay could've started the ball rolling on behavioral problems. Do they get to come out with any regularity?

As far as the feet, pick her up and do a thorough foot check for any swelling, damage to toes or scales.

Unfortunately, we don't have options to give them much more space. The rest of the yard doesn't offer a safe environment for them, to stay put. Do you think it would be helpful to create some more pockets of space, with cardboard boxes, or wood dividers on the lower level?

We took out the affected bird today, under close supervision, and she ate and drank as normal, looking for bugs and grubs in the ground.

There is a SMALL wound where the toe meets the foot. I can't tell if the foot is functioning properly, but certainly seems like that might be the problem. Any advice on how to help heal this up and get her back on her feet so to speak? Attaching the best photos I could get.

I've never dealt with chicken wounds to the scaled area of the feet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just looks like a cut. Hard to wrap toes so probably the best thing to do is spray it with something like vetericyn spray a couple times a day. Not sure if the injury is a contributing issue or an after effect (like maybe she fled from the others and caught her foot on something).

You can try adding dividers in the run section but not sure how well that'll work, as the chickens still have to pass by each other pretty close to get from one area to the next (just as a reference, if birds are trying to give another one wide berth, they need somewhere around 5' to get by without offending the other.) But maybe you can try it and see if it makes any difference?