Chicken being picked on

[Alden Chickens]

Things have been going pretty well with our 4 hens until just recently. There is one that is being picked at by mainly only one of the others. She isn't allowed near the food and has been losing weight. They are in an 8x12 pen so have plenty of room and we always spread the scratch around so they can all get some with out the others interferring but boss hen just keeps coming after this one. We blue kote-ed her one small wound and are trying to get her to eat when we can be out there with her by keeping the others away. Any suggestions to get weight back on her and have her able to eat. (we did put in another feeder today to see if she can eat there when the other is eating elsewhere.

 

[willowbranchfarm]

I was just going to say add another feeder. You could also give her treats when she is away from the others.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A little shoe polish (black on a white bird or white polish on a black bird may cause the other two hens to not recognize the dominant hen and encourage them to knock her off the throne. It may also make very hen tie up in a big battle. Sometimes a rooster will knock some sense into a hen like yous, maybe not. If something is not done the hen at the bottom of the pecking order is likely done for

 

[chickenladylaur]

If nothing else works, you can always temporarily put the lowest hen inside of a cage within the chicken coop. That way, she will still be around the others, but she will have access to as much food and water as she wants w=without getting picked on. If you do this, it will give her a chance to heal up and reduce the the chance of the hens pecking the open wound even more. In addition, there is a chance that after she is in the cage for a week or so and then let out, the top hen will get so used to having her in sight without pecking her, that she might not even bother her anymore. In any case, I hope it works out for you. Happy Chickening!

 

[seminolewind]

I say remove the nasty one for a week.