1 of 4 isn’t laying and being mistreated

[brittanyschickens2021]

So as a new chicken mom I know there are pecking orders and lots of reasons why one of the girls can be bullied, but out of our four girls, one of our Easter eggers isn’t laying and it’s been weeks since the others started.
The two Goldens we have constantly peck at her and run her away from the food.
Idk if she isn’t laying bc of the stress of the bullying or if she is being bullied bc there is something wrong with her which isn’t why she isn’t laying.
I have checked her over and do not see anything wrong with her or her vent.
Im at a loss.
my next move is to try to feed her separately and up her protein to see if that is it but other than that I don’t know what to do.
Any advise would be appreciated!

 

[azygous]

Your instincts on this issue are a good start. Bullying is a complex issue, and it can get serious to the point of ruining the health of the victim of the bullying. Understanding what bullying is made of will help you deal with it. I wrote an article and explain how it can be resolved. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[brittanyschickens2021]

Your instincts on this issue are a good start. Bullying is a complex issue, and it can get serious to the point of ruining the health of the victim of the bullying. Understanding what bullying is made of will help you deal with it. I wrote an article and explain how it can be resolved. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

Read. I will have to figure something out. They’re dust bath and water is in the run and they often go there to cool down and access the coop to lay. They are backyard chickens so the coop and run is not a large set up and I don’t have a bird “jail” area.
they are not pecking her and balding her just charging her and chasing her away from the food. If I go to pick her up they come and will peck at her while I am grabbing her. Very aggressive. It’s just the goldens. The other Easter egger doesn’t do it.

mad you can see in the photo, she is always off to the side by herself.

 

[Iluveggers]

How often do they have access to the whole yard? Your coop is very small and would be cramped even with only 2 birds. Space could definitely be making the problem worse.

 

[brittanyschickens2021]

They have access to the yard all day. They are in at night. This coop is for 4-6 birds.

 

[Iluveggers]

Sometimes prefab coops advertise more birds than should be put in a coop. The recommended size for coop is 4 square feet floor space per bird. So your coop should be at least 16 square feet, not including nesting boxes. It says 3 ft across on TSC, and guessing about 2 ft long inside which would be 6 sq ft. Not saying that is definitely the problem, but sometime issues on this site can come from too small of a space.
Might be a good idea to set up multiple feeding stations around your yard so she has options if they are “guarding” one of them. If you can fit one behind a visual barrier, they won’t see her when she goes to eat which can also help.

 

[brittanyschickens2021]

Sometimes prefab coops advertise more birds than should be put in a coop. The recommended size for coop is 4 square feet floor space per bird. So your coop should be at least 16 square feet, not including nesting boxes. It says 3 ft across on TSC, and guessing about 2 ft long inside which would be 6 sq ft. Not saying that is definitely the problem, but sometime issues on this site can come from too small of a space.
Might be a good idea to set up multiple feeding stations around your yard so she has options if they are “guarding” one of them. If you can fit one behind a visual barrier, they won’t see her when she goes to eat which can also help.

Thank you. Once the market pops, we are buying land so this is definitely a temporary set up, but I will try the multiple feeding stations.
We’ve experimented over the last few months with different feeders to see which is better on waste and protection from elements. We just started working on one like this. Hopefully that will also spread them out and keep them from paying attention to what the others are doing when eating.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Iluveggers]

That’s a cute idea for a feeder! Good luck!