Am I enabling?

[Northof26]

I have a new flick of pullets, if 4 -6 months old . The youngest , smallest and looks the most different has always been singled out. I started with 3 feeders , so everyone could get use to each other, then went down to two , one in the coop one in the run. They have always chased the white one away , I used to close the coop two times a day so she could eat and drink. Then I just left the cop door open as it was easier for her to jump off the roost and out without waiting for the other chickens not to be in front of the pop door. It has gotten pretty cold here so I’ve shut the coop door now . So she has to wait to go through the pop door and hope she counted the chickens right or she gets chased back to the perch . When I get home an hour before sunset I give the flock corn , clean the coop and she sits under me and waits for me to give her a dish, fending off the other chickens as she eats or drinks . If I do nothing she will get chased back to the roost. It has been 4.5 . Tell me I am enabling her shy behaviour and she won’t be starved to death by the others and that she will have enough body fat not to freeze to death … she does hold her own on the roost though and has other pullets keeping her warm at night… I’m a crazy new chicken lady right?!

 

[Northof26]

I have a new flick of pullets, if 4 -6 months old . The youngest , smallest and looks the most different has always been singled out. I started with 3 feeders , so everyone could get use to each other, then went down to two , one in the coop one in the run. They have always chased the white one away , I used to close the coop two times a day so she could eat and drink. Then I just left the cop door open as it was easier for her to jump off the roost and out without waiting for the other chickens not to be in front of the pop door. It has gotten pretty cold here so I’ve shut the coop door now . So she has to wait to go through the pop door and hope she counted the chickens right or she gets chased back to the perch . When I get home an hour before sunset I give the flock corn , clean the coop and she sits under me and waits for me to give her a dish, fending off the other chickens as she eats or drinks . If I do nothing she will get chased back to the roost. It has been 4.5 . Tell me I am enabling her shy behaviour and she won’t be starved to death by the others and that she will have enough body fat not to freeze to death … she does hold her own on the roost though and has other pullets keeping her warm at night… I’m a crazy new chicken lady right?!

Ps they are down to one feeder as I found the one inside wasn’t being used much and she was pecking the coop floor more than using it or the other birds would split and be on either side so not as much time for her to find a gap in their eating for her to jump in

 

[mydaisy]

Well, chickens are creatures of habit, so she is habitually going to you for her food/treats. It's not necessarily a bad thing if that is what you want to do. But I would definitely put back one of the feeders so they aren't all using the same one. The shy one will have a chance to eat in peace if the other feeders are being used. If you keep them primarily in the run, be sure to have areas she can jump onto or use to get away from the others if they are being aggressive. Otherwise, if there is no major aggression going on, I would just leave them be - it's the pecking order and unfortunately she is on the bottom (at least for now, sometimes the tide changes). You are a crazy chicken lady but we all are here! lol Good luck.

 

[Northof26]

Thank you ! I put the other feeder out again