Bullying, Bathing, Runts, and Handling Hens

[Farmer Viola]

Hello all,
I am brand new to chicken farming and have several noob questions, I hope you don't mind! First, here are the girls:


Left to right:
Rosé, dark beaked Barred Rock. friendly girl
(the late) Beyonce, my beautiful Black Australorp who sadly passed away
Rick Ross (Barred Rock), the first girl to challenge Cersi
Squinter, second-smallest Red, squints her eyes when she looks up at me
Lightning, fastest Red in town (note poopy butt)
Cersi, the lead hen
Runty, the smallest Red. Runty and Squinter were given to us for free by the farmer, when we bought the original 6
Penny, largest Red, has matted poop feathers



Runty size comparison. Look at her tiny legs! (Runty is to Cersi/Goldie's right)



This is Cersi (I also call her Goldie) and she's the dominant hen. This picture is about a week old and her comb is much more red now. She is the largest hen, though they are all the same age.



Their very first excursion outside the coop to munch on grass! I kept them inside their coop for the first two weeks.

They were all 12 weeks old (despite their size difference) when we got them, now 15 weeks (almost 4mos). They were hatched with 1,000 other chicks and were down to 100 hens when we picked them up at 12wks. Their conditions were good there, able to go in and out of a huge barn and free range on a huge field. Two of the reds had poopy butt when we got them (larger two).


* * * * *

Here are my questions:

1. Bully: Cersi is the dominant hen, she will charge the other hens running with her head down at them, and flap her wings. I have seen the reds do a flap-kick and kick each other's chest but I have never seen Cersi do this. She is downright mean to the other hens, especially Runty and Squinter. As far as I can tell, no one is injured or missing any feathers, she's just a huge bully. I hate seeing them get pushed around by her, but I think it's supposed to happen. The larger girls (everyone but Runty and Squinter) have stood up to her when provoked, particularly Rick Ross. The difference is that Cersi is actively aggressive and mean; the others behavior seems more defensive.
-Is this normal?

2. Socializing hens.. is this something people do? I gave them their space for the initial two weeks so they could feel secure in their new homes. Most recently I have been spending more time inside the coop with them, letting them eat dried mealworms out of my hand. I want them to get to know me and not fear me - is that possible? They all run from me when I enter and I just set down and wait for them to come up to me. They're still skittish and fear that I'm going to grab them. Can I socialize them to like my company or should I stay out and leave them alone? Some like interacting with me more than others. My inclination is to just spend time with the ones who tolerate me and ignore the ones who want nothing to do with me (Cersi).
-If I do that, will the never-handled hen grow to hate me/humans?
-Should I try to interact with Cersi the most? Or the least?

3. Bathing: Lightning and Penny have had some problems with poopy butt since we got them. We gave those two an outside bath (80 degree day) when we first brought them home. After their 2 week introduction to the coop, they're still poopy. I brought them inside the house and gave them a proper bath (including blow dry) and manually cleaned all the poop off their feathers. Lightning is worse off, she's missing a lot of feathers around her butt; Penny just has matted feathers. Everyone else has fluffy butts. I'm not sure why these 2 hens have such a problem with it. They sleep on their roost inside the hen house, so they shouldn't be sleeping in their poop? I just bathed those two hens 2 days ago and they're poopy again today.
-Should I keep bathing them?
-How often?

4. Handling: after bathing those two, I saw how they calmed down and wanted to be held and stand on my arm like a perch so I also picked up and held Runty, Squinter and Rosé. They were freaked out to be caught (feels bad man), but they really calmed down and let me pet them while they perched on me after I brought them inside individually.
-Is this ok? Is it too stressful for them?
-Rick Ross and Cersi don't want to be caught. Leave them alone or force them?

5. Runty is, well, the runt. She's REALLY small! Her legs almost look deformed, like she doesn't have anything above the knees (it's a feather illusion). She's the same age. I've read that runts tend to live shorter lives. Squinter is also pretty small, Runty is just tiny. These 2 small hens stick together I think, they both get pushed around by the larger hens and tend to eat the other chicken's scraps when I feed them worms for example. The farmer gave us the 2 small Reds for free (we only wanted 6).
-Do Runty and Squinter need any special treatment or just allow them to be at the bottom of the totem pole?

6. Breeds: I have 4 Reds, 2 Barred Rocks, and 1 Buff Orpington. I also had a Black Australorp, Beyonce, who passed away I have noticed that the breeds tend to stick together, and my Orpington Cersi is the only breed without a "breed buddy."
-Could she feel singled out and might that cause her aggressive behavior?
-Should I go back to the farmer and get her a Buff Orp buddy? That might be worse, introducing a chicken that late?
-Is her dominance because she's the largest chicken physically?

7. Death: Beyonce passed away after she was acting lethargic and sleepy. I should have noticed the signs early, but I didn't, and I feel very guilty that she died. She was still eating and drinking water the day before we found her, so I thought she was fine. None of the other chickens are acting sick or sleepy, so I hope it was an isolated incident. We cleaned out their coop and hen house immediately after we removed her body. No question here, just hated to lose that girl

8. Cats: Anyone else have cats with chickens? I have an indoor/outdoor cat who is quite curious about the hens and looks at them through their coop. I put the cat inside when I let the girls come out to free range though. I think once the hens are larger than the cat, hopefully there won't be a problem, but until then I don't want to introduce them outside the cage.
-Anyone else combine cats with chickens?

 

[AmberRex]

DISCLAIMER: These answers are a brief answer to your questions. If you require more information (yes there is more) post it here or private message me by clicking on my username. Everyone on this site I have found are really helpful and will answer you questions in detail... I try to do the same but I have to go soon but I thought that you just might like some response if you are really worrying. Your chickens are beautiful by the way and welcome to a whole new world!!! If you browse the site then you will most definitely find an answer to all of your questions in other posts but I don't mind if you would like to keep them in one place and will gladly answer any questions you have as I am sure will most other people on here! Well I hope this helps a little and if you need more info on any of these points then please do let us know.

1. Pecking order. One hen or generally the rooster will pick top spot, the weaker ones will be at the bottom. As long as there is no really bad attacking going on then they should be o.k.
2. If you want to become close to your hens then spend some time with all of them, giving them treats, letting them get used to you but let them come to you - try not to chase them around too much cause they don't like it. If you don't socialise with them then they will be afraid to be close to you and run away when you come near but just spending 5 minutes a day while feeding them will let them know that you are the food lord!
3. Hens kind of poop on their own bums anyway, if it builds up then cut it or bathe it off but once they are settled in then they should clean themselves. Ensure to provide some soil/sand/dust for them to bathe in. This will also help to stave off lice, mites and some other topical parasites.
4. See 2.
5.Um if they aren't in pain I would leave them but if you could upload a better photo of her and her legs just to ensure that there is no problem.
6.It wouldn't be a problem to introduce another hen if you do it right ( let us know if you need more info for that) but she may not be automatically be brought up to the top of the pecking order.
You don't have to have two of every breed though and Cersi could easily just be the biggest therefore the toughest...
7.Sometimes chickens just die by themselves or sometimes they are bullied to death( not wanting to scare you it's probably just fine) or it could have been a mystery illness.

 

[AmberRex]

We all learn from each other here!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Thank you so much for your reply! I went out to try and get more photos but it started raining. I will get better photos of the two poop butts and post here in the next day or so.


Here is another shot of Runty's legs, taken just now. I don't think she's in pain, just short! I swear she hasn't grown at all in the 3 weeks I've had her. She does eat grain, cabbage, and grass with the rest of them. She's too timid to snatch mealworms out of my hands because of the other chickens (unless isolated, then she loves worms!)




bonus shot of the two Barred Rocks. They are very bold, not too afraid of me at all

 

[Farmer Viola]

Okay, better photos of 'ol poopbutt: you've been warned!

--- poop butt ---









I tried to get her to perch on my arm for a photo, which worked until I brought out the camera and then she was outa there!

This is 2 days after bathing her (she left with a completely clean butt!). This is Lightning, her butt is the worst - lots of feathers missing and matted poop. Lightning barely even has any tail feathers at all

Penny also has a poop butt, but hers is more matted and she isn't missing as many feathers. Hers is less severe.

Should I keep bathing one or both chickens every 2 days or so until the feathers fill in?

 

[NosiphoChooks]

I would give them some greens, boil up some cabbage or some brocolli or something and plenty of grit, looks like a digestive upset my BO keeps getting something similar where she is broody and she wont eat or drink unless I make her!

 

[AmberRex]

I think if you are gonna bathe then you will be stuck in a sort of endless cycle. I would try Nosipho's suggestion or let them dust bathe. you could try worming them because it could be worms... if I think of anything else then I'll let you know...

 

[nbenevento]

Is there a very strong, nasty odor coming from the birds with the poopy butt? Are they less active than the others? Are their tail feathers down or up? I think it's a good thing that you are bathing them but you need to figure out what is causing it to happen because that is a sign of illness. Could be vent gleet (yeast infection) or one of a couple other things. In my opinion, you need to figure that out sooner rather than later. Did the Australorp have poopy butt?

 

[AmberRex]

 

[Farmer Viola]

Part of their coop is a dirt floor, so unless it rains that day they can take dust baths whenever they like. I notice that they eat some dirt, too! We live in Oregon and it's been 50/50 rain/sun in the last 3 weeks.

nbenevento, they smell like chickens, but I would not say there is a strong nasty odor coming from them. They are very active, in fact the one with the worst poopy butt is named Lightning because she's so dang fast and high energy! Penny is about on average with everyone else's activity. Their tail feathers are up, but Lightning is missing a lot of her tail feathers. Her underbelly is pink skin, and her tail feathers are damaged or missing. I think that the matted poop was keeping her feathers from growing? I swear there is new feather growth on her butt since her bath, but I can't see for sure without catching her. I can see new quils sticking out, but there's poop on them again.

The Australorp who died did not have poopy butt, she had a fluffy butt. She was very lethargic before she died, so I am watching everyone's behavior closely to see if anyone else is potentially infected with what she had. Everyone else seems to act normal, not slow/sleepy/lethargic.

I did notice a one of the Barred sneeze, and upon googling it, I read that it's fairly normal/common as long as they don't have snot or sneeze in excess.

I could treat everyone for vent gleet (they share a water supply). What are the other possibilities they might have?

The two chickens may each have something different. Penny may have gleet, her butt feathers appear wet/drippy with poop. Aside from gleet symptoms, during her last bath she also had a huge hardened turd (probably 4 poops worth) stuck in her butt feathers. She actually has butt feathers.

Lightning may have just had matting/feather growing problems - not gleet(?). Lightning's butt was literally caked/white with poop pre-bath both times. I cannot deduce whether she had feathers plucked out there, or if perhaps they never even grew in. Since she doesn't have feathers there, they don't look wet/drippy like gleet.

Edit: In my last photo above, you see Lightning's butt. Her feathers back there are damaged, there are no barbs on some of the tail feathers, all that remains is the shaft of a feather. It might look wet/gleet, so I wanted to point this out. She is missing a lot of feathers in this area.

Edit2:
In this picture you can see how few tail feathers Lightning has. She has 2 main black feathers on the left and right of her tail, and the "center" of her tail is bare. Her undercarriage/belly is also completely bare (pink skin).


with fluffy butt comparison