ShanaMcS
Chirping
My favorite chicken Penny is a hybrid hen, a golden comet. She has been getting bullied lately. I have seen a few chickens peck at her, but I know it's happening more often than I have seen because she has lots of feathers plucked out on the top of her head, and her wings and back. The last couple of days she won't even come down for food. She is just sitting up in her coop on a perch, not being broody, just sitting there all alone and sad. I have also noticed some runny poop and one of them was green and runny. I don't know if this came from her or another one of the birds. I have 5 chickens.
Recently, we created a run for the chickens in order to bring back some of the greenery to our backyard because they ate it all the way down to sand. So now, instead of having free run of the entire back yard, they just have thisthis area. I think it's about 118 sq ft for the five of them to share. I bought Penny a hen apron to cover her back and wings three days ago. She hated it and tried to outrun it. She mildly pecks at it from time to time now but seems to be okay with it, unless that is why she is hiding... Yesterday I took her out of the coop and placed her with the girls and gave them romaine "treats". She tried to eat some but was pecked by two other girls and went running back to the coop. Then, like I said, this morning she didn't come down to eat at all. I made her some scrambled eggs and fresh water and placed them in the coop and she ate them quickly. The hens are on layer pellets and have grit. This is a new brand of layer pellets that we started about a week ago. Could this be stress from restricting their forage area, sickness, bullying? What do you think? I'll attach pictures of Penny and the poop ( but I'm not sure if it's her poop or someone elses.) I use Sweet PDZ in the coop area.
Thank you so much for your help! I love penny so much and I am so worried about her because she has the sweetest and it is just heartbreaking to see her sit all alone by herself.
Recently, we created a run for the chickens in order to bring back some of the greenery to our backyard because they ate it all the way down to sand. So now, instead of having free run of the entire back yard, they just have thisthis area. I think it's about 118 sq ft for the five of them to share. I bought Penny a hen apron to cover her back and wings three days ago. She hated it and tried to outrun it. She mildly pecks at it from time to time now but seems to be okay with it, unless that is why she is hiding... Yesterday I took her out of the coop and placed her with the girls and gave them romaine "treats". She tried to eat some but was pecked by two other girls and went running back to the coop. Then, like I said, this morning she didn't come down to eat at all. I made her some scrambled eggs and fresh water and placed them in the coop and she ate them quickly. The hens are on layer pellets and have grit. This is a new brand of layer pellets that we started about a week ago. Could this be stress from restricting their forage area, sickness, bullying? What do you think? I'll attach pictures of Penny and the poop ( but I'm not sure if it's her poop or someone elses.) I use Sweet PDZ in the coop area.
Thank you so much for your help! I love penny so much and I am so worried about her because she has the sweetest and it is just heartbreaking to see her sit all alone by herself.