Do we have a bully problem? Leghorns stopped laying

[rosemarythyme]

Oh, so maybe time will tell but I did notice the bully leghorn's comb has lost color - may indicate sickness. They're all 3 in a 3x4 meter cage with bird netting as the cover so they have good exposure to sunlight (they love chilling in the sun) they've got two henhouses one on each corner but since the breakup I've devided it. They've never really used the second henhous they all just go into the bigger one. They had raised platforms but literally since yesterday the landlord destroyed it so it's gone. Overall they're very happy, the amber star runs to me when I great them and when I'm not feeding them she wants to jump on me to get a ride, she's very good. The big leghorn is behaving like an antisocial menace and the small leghorn is behaving like an insecure victim but she's getting better. The two leghorns tend to follow what and where the amber star is doing

So that's a good amount of space for 3 but you mentioned the landlord destroyed some platforms... so what's currently in the run space? Since you have a bullying issue, is there clutter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/page-6#post-25037140 to break up the space and maybe an extra feeder or waterer placed apart from the first to make it hard to guard food?

Other significance in asking where you sourced the 3 birds from is if they were all brand new to each other (never met) that could definitely worsen any pecking order issues, as chickens have a social structure and naturally want to chase away unfamiliar birds.

 

[DEDbird]

So that's a good amount of space for 3 but you mentioned the landlord destroyed some platforms... so what's currently in the run space? Since you have a bullying issue, is there clutter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/page-6#post-25037140 to break up the space and maybe an extra feeder or waterer placed apart from the first to make it hard to guard food?

Other significance in asking where you sourced the 3 birds from is if they were all brand new to each other (never met) that could definitely worsen any pecking order issues, as chickens have a social structure and naturally want to chase away unfamiliar birds.

Well they seem to get on well enough at this point but when it comes to feeding the bully actually keeps an eye out for what the other chickens are doing. When we free range she only eats when she's successfully taken over what the other hens are eating. Then she'll eat for 1min max before have a look at what the others are doing.
Usually they go on away from her so if she spots them eating instead of searching shell watch the other hens. Sometimes she'll run over if it looks like the other hens found something good.
Furthermore the amber star is always following us so it always looks like Amber's getting something and on queue the leghorn will head over. It works really well to heard them since the leghorns follow amber around.

Ultimately I'm just at a loss - I might have to take her to the vet and check her blood to look for deficiency or disease. I don't even know where to find a vet that would do that best start looking.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Well they seem to get on well enough at this point but when it comes to feeding the bully actually keeps an eye out for what the other chickens are doing. When we free range she only eats when she's successfully taken over what the other hens are eating. Then she'll eat for 1min max before have a look at what the others are doing.
Usually they go on away from her so if she spots them eating instead of searching shell watch the other hens. Sometimes she'll run over if it looks like the other hens found something good.
Furthermore the amber star is always following us so it always looks like Amber's getting something and on queue the leghorn will head over. It works really well to heard them since the leghorns follow amber around.

Ultimately I'm just at a loss - I might have to take her to the vet and check her blood to look for deficiency or disease. I don't even know where to find a vet that would do that best start looking.

Nothing you described above is unusual so I doubt it's any sort of deficiency, she's just a bully/resource guard-er. I have a couple hens that will patrol for lower ranked birds to pick on first thing in the morning when the food bowls come out, even with 5 feed stations, but my set up includes a split run so I just keep certain birds separated for the first 15-20 minutes of the day so everyone can get a bit to eat, and then they're mostly okay with one another the rest of the day.

 

[DEDbird]

Nothing you described above is unusual so I doubt it's any sort of deficiency, she's just a bully/resource guard-er. I have a couple hens that will patrol for lower ranked birds to pick on first thing in the morning when the food bowls come out, even with 5 feed stations, but my set up includes a split run so I just keep certain birds separated for the first 15-20 minutes of the day so everyone can get a bit to eat, and then they're mostly okay with one another the rest of the day.

 

[DEDbird]

Nothing you described above is unusual so I doubt it's any sort of deficiency, she's just a bully/resource guard-er. I have a couple hens that will patrol for lower ranked birds to pick on first thing in the morning when the food bowls come out, even with 5 feed stations, but my set up includes a split run so I just keep certain birds separated for the first 15-20 minutes of the day so everyone can get a bit to eat, and then they're mostly okay with one another the rest of the day.

This is the type of obsessive intimidation I'm dealing with the leghorn started bullying the amber start so I isolated her with the bully and immediately the bully sized her up!

 

[DEDbird]

Did you buy used coops or brand new ones?

Used coops may house parasites such as poultry mites which hide in the crevices and come out at night to feed on the chickens' blood, leaving them aneamic (pale comb).

Coops are completely new.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Post some photos of your set up. I'm curious as to what you all have in there since you've mentioned platforms before. Bored birds cause problems, busy birds less so.