I have 3 buff Orpingtons, big fluffy birds. Last spring I bought 3 Australorps. Only one survived. She is about 2/3 the size of the others. I raised her in a cage and gradually introduced her to the other girls and it has not an easy transition. But she started laying mid summer (in a nest box on the porch). Cute little eggs every single day. I just adore her. She is my favorite, but the other 3 hens are giving her a hard row to hoe. I put her in the chicken coop about 3-4 weeks ago. This was after letting her free range with the others until dusk then she would come to the back porch and roost on the back of my glider. Even though they are about 5% less mean towards her they are still pretty merciless. I am retired and until the weather got cool I was outside with them and kept them from getting too rowdy. The 3 mean girls are English orpingtons and have those short legs so with that and their girth they move more slowly than the Australorp who is as fast as the road runner, except when they are in the coop and run. Then she can't get out of their way as easy. Since I put her in the coop she hasn't laid a single egg! Do you think this is from the stress of moving her to the coop or interference from the other 3. But she does have access to the nest box all day but maybe they have been into her just long enough for her to give up on laying. That and the cooler weather. Do you think the other 3 will ever completely accept her into the flock? I know she will always be at the bottom of the pecking order but surely this won't be a permanent state of affairs. Do you think?