Weird Behavior

[liz_s]

Hi y'all! It's been a long time since I've posted! I apologize for the length, but I'm hoping that all the info will help with suggestions.

Some background: we have 3 chickens. Myrtle is from our original flock of 3 (the other 2 passed away, we lost Toki a few months ago). BBG was adopted from a coworker a year or so ago, and came in as the ALPHA. Like, she wasn't messing around. She beat the Toki and Myrtle up and established herself. BBG never really got along with Myrtle, who has always been a zeta. When Toki passed away, we only had the 2 chickens for a few months. Myrtle and BBG became friends.

A few months ago we adopted Pidgey. She is about half the size of the other girls. Myrtle and BBG immediately started picking on her, and since she's so small, it was worrisome. At one point BBG hurt her to the point of bleeding. So she lived up with us on our back porch for the most part. About a month ago, when the weather warmed up finally, we started putting Pidge into the coop after the other girls were in there and it was dark. In the mornings Pidge would haul tail out of there to get away. Slowly, though, things seem to be getting better. Pidge hangs out with the other girls during the day, and there's only a bit of trouble with Myrtle, and usually when treats are involve. Pidge now even goes in the coop by herself at night!

So here's the weirdness: Pidge still sleeps in the nest box, instead of on the roost. I kind of think the other girls wouldn't let her up there, but I'm not sure. Lately BBG is doing something odd. Since Pidgey only sleeps in the nestbox, lately if we peek in there at night, BBG is standing in the nestbox right next to Pidgey. I can't tell if BBG is protecting Pidgey, if she's being aggressive, or if she wants to roost with Pidgey, and since Pidgey can't go up on the roost she comes down to her. When I just looked, it doesn't seem like BBG's being aggressive. It just looks like that's where she's sleeping. I keep hearing sounds like someone jumping down from the roost, but not quite as loud of a landing thump, so I don't know what the heck that is. Also, we can't find any of BBG's eggs (she's the only one laying).

Any thoughts? Sorry for the huge amount of text- thanks for reading if you got this far!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hard to know without observing the flock, but my guess is that BBG is standing guard to make sure Pidgey is not going to get back up onto the roost. I think it is likely a dominance thing. I doubt she is protecting Pidgey. I've had boss hens do that to a subordinate.

The other thought is signs of broodiness, but Pidgey would be flattening like a pancake, and BBG would also be wanting to nest. They also would be reluctant to go out of the nest in the day, and it doesn't sound like that.

Continue to watch for stress signs in Pidgey. While she is not being attacked, she is likely still being hazed quite a bit. Make sure she is getting enough food and water and is not showing signs of stress.

My thoughts.
LofMc

 

[liz_s]

Thank you LofMc!

You know, that makes sense. That's a super-intense show of dominance, though! To make yourself miserable just to keep the other one from getting on the roost. Sheesh!

Yeah, Pidgey definitely isn't broody. I don't think she's even laid her first egg yet. She's very young. BBG has never been broody yet either. She couldn't care less about her eggs, but my husband is a romantic and likes to think that BBG thinks Pidgey is her baby lol. Gonna pop that bubble!

We'll definitely continue to keep an eye on her. The porch is still her safe place, and my husband works from home, so he's usually on the porch too. We're lucky in that.

Do you think it'll ever stop? I don't think little Pidge "minds," but it would be nice if they just chilled out. When BBG first came in it only took a few months to get a tentative peace, but now that I think of it, it's been about 6 months since Pidgey joined the flock. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long!

Thanks again!

Liz

 

[Stacyoung13]

Thank you LofMc!

You know, that makes sense. That's a super-intense show of dominance, though! To make yourself miserable just to keep the other one from getting on the roost. Sheesh!

Yeah, Pidgey definitely isn't broody. I don't think she's even laid her first egg yet. She's very young. BBG has never been broody yet either. She couldn't care less about her eggs, but my husband is a romantic and likes to think that BBG thinks Pidgey is her baby lol. Gonna pop that bubble!

We'll definitely continue to keep an eye on her. The porch is still her safe place, and my husband works from home, so he's usually on the porch too. We're lucky in that.

Do you think it'll ever stop? I don't think little Pidge "minds," but it would be nice if they just chilled out. When BBG first came in it only took a few months to get a tentative peace, but now that I think of it, it's been about 6 months since Pidgey joined the flock. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long!

Thanks again!

Liz

Try putting a camera in there so you can watch what’s going on. I have Chicken TV myself!!

 

[aart]

How big is your coop, and length of roost, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics might help here.
Personally I'd block the nests an hour before roost time and see what happens.

 

[liz_s]

Hi! Sorry for the time in between replies. The morning after I wrote this, BBG was very sick looking. We took her to the vet and the Dr. said she had what felt like an unshelled egg in the tubes, but most horrifying was that she was incredibly anemic because she had a huge load of lice! We have wild turkeys in the area, which is probably where they came from, and since we can't go anywhere near her, we hadn't noticed. He said that the lice probably got so bad because she was egg-bound.

So we treated her, the other girls, the coop, run, and bathing hole for lice. I give her a liquid calcium supplement twice daily and an anti-inflammatory once a day. She's still looking bad, but she's alive, and we just checked and she's clear of adult lice. So we'll be treating everyone every few weeks until they're gone, and hopefully she'll recover from the anemia.

Anyway, it looks like she was down by Pidgey because she felt too crappy to be on the roost. Definitely a surprise twist to the story .

Thanks everyone for the help!

Liz

 

[aart]

and since we can't go anywhere near her, we hadn't noticed.

I always do exams and treatments by grabbing them off the roosts at night,
so much easier to 'catch' them then!
I.don't.chase.chickens.