Bullying Inside The Coop

[DaimlerDee]

Good afternoon

I truly need some advice please.

I live in North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and the weather has been below freezing (- 5 degrees C) for the past 5 days. I have 4 Pekin bantam hens who will literally only come to eat and drink and then only briefly because they don't like the snow and ice on the ground and the temperate. As such, they are in their coop for virtually all the time. One of them has lost feathers under her neck and on the back of her neck which seem to have been plucked out and I suspect, because they are all in such close proximity to each other all the time, that there is at least one 'bullying' her - obviously I am extremely concerned that they might start drawing blood and we all know where that ends up! Her wattle is a good colour and she is eating and drinking fine - there doesn't seem to be a problem when they all come out albeit it briefly.

I can put her in a shed on her own in what we know as the 'Broody Jail' which might protect her at the moment but not sure if this is good idea. I have read many posts about bullying which suggest isolate the bully but I do not know which one is doing this.

Any advice anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated - they are silly girls because, in the grand scheme of things, it is not actually that cold but they all simply refuse to come out other than to eat and drink.

Many thanks - Dee

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Can you clear an area outside of their coop, of the snow and ice? Then throw down a layer of straw, hay or wood chips over the bare ground. Put up some windbreaks - straw bales, plastic sheeting, anything - to protect the area from wind. See if that makes a difference for them.

Most of my birds often hide in the coop as well during cold weather. Today, in Missouri USA, it's not all that cold but it's rainy and muddy and drizzly and windy YUCK. My chickens don't like it, either. They'll huddle under the coop (little wind protection) or inside and I won't see much of them throughout the day. I acquiesced to their demands today and put food and water inside. I have a large coop though, so it's manageable. There are days during winter when I'll keep the doors closed and all of them locked inside. Might as well, since they don't want to come out anyway. LOL