Hi, I have 7 hens--3 are 3 y.o. Barred Rocks and 4 are black sex links that were new in March.
Short story: Can a bullied-to-near-death hen live a happy life alone, separated from the rest of the flock?
Long story: One of my Barred Rocks was attacked by a predator last year and injured badly--I've posted about it a lot before. She managed to survive with a lot of intervention and care, but is a bit weird now. She used to be Top Hen. We reintroduced her to the flock and it was hard but she reclaimed that status as Top Hen once all her feathers grew back because she is huge while feathered. But she has molted 3 times since the attack last year, each of which long and rough. Each time, the other hens bully the daylights out of her to the point where she hides in the coop all day and then wants to sleep outside in the run just to get away from the others. (The other hens have molted once and nobody is that mean to anybody else. Just her. While they do act goofy and fearful this is 10x worse than the others.) This last molt, they never stopped beating up on her even after her feathers came back, and I caught them taking turns jumping on her and pecking her head until it was bloody. So we separated her. We let her free range all day and put her to bed at night back in the coop. After a few weeks of that, she started coming out of the coop bloody and trembling in the morning, so they were attacking her at night too! My husband is at the moment building her a mini coop with our chick brooder heater in it to keep her warm at night. Can she live her life like this, away from the others? She trembles with fear when she thinks she's going to be put with them. Even our lowest nicest hen tries to kill her now. I thought it was just pecking order stuff until they kept going for blood every time they see her. Can she just be a loner forever?
Short story: Can a bullied-to-near-death hen live a happy life alone, separated from the rest of the flock?
Long story: One of my Barred Rocks was attacked by a predator last year and injured badly--I've posted about it a lot before. She managed to survive with a lot of intervention and care, but is a bit weird now. She used to be Top Hen. We reintroduced her to the flock and it was hard but she reclaimed that status as Top Hen once all her feathers grew back because she is huge while feathered. But she has molted 3 times since the attack last year, each of which long and rough. Each time, the other hens bully the daylights out of her to the point where she hides in the coop all day and then wants to sleep outside in the run just to get away from the others. (The other hens have molted once and nobody is that mean to anybody else. Just her. While they do act goofy and fearful this is 10x worse than the others.) This last molt, they never stopped beating up on her even after her feathers came back, and I caught them taking turns jumping on her and pecking her head until it was bloody. So we separated her. We let her free range all day and put her to bed at night back in the coop. After a few weeks of that, she started coming out of the coop bloody and trembling in the morning, so they were attacking her at night too! My husband is at the moment building her a mini coop with our chick brooder heater in it to keep her warm at night. Can she live her life like this, away from the others? She trembles with fear when she thinks she's going to be put with them. Even our lowest nicest hen tries to kill her now. I thought it was just pecking order stuff until they kept going for blood every time they see her. Can she just be a loner forever?
