Chicken Lady

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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Sorry about your bird. Chickens will attack another bird if this bird is sick. It is there way of protecting the flock from illness. So in their minds, it is time to run this one off.

Have you wormed your flock recently? Worms will destroy your birds and and kill them. It usually starts with one bird and then eventually all the birds one by by succumb to worms. So get her wormed if she has not been wormed in a while.

Check for egg binding. Stop by this article on egg binding in if she is egg bound, there are helpful hints here on getting the egg to move... https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/egg-binding-symptoms-treatment-and-prevention

Feel her belly, between her legs on the outside. Is it soft and squishy or firm and small like the others? Soft and squishy could be from internal laying or fluids leaking into the abdomen.

Check her crop first thing in the morning. It should be completely empty and check it at roosting time to make sure she is eating. It should be completely full.

For now, separate her out and cage her if you have to, to make sure she is eating and drinking.

Any other symptoms she is exhibiting? If you think she is becoming sick and have an Avian vet you can take her too, you might try that. But you should also post this in our emergency section if you feel she is ill. Lots of knowledgeable members there as well that can help you...https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

Good luck and I hope you can get her back to her old self soon.
 
If you know a vet that will see chickens, you might as well take her to be checked out if you can, even if there is nothing else wrong with her, just to be reassured that there is nothing wrong with her besides molting and being bullied.
With combining the younger chicks with the older birds. It is best to wait until they are about the same size and then a long period of seeing but no touching through wire seem to work best, ie dividing the coop into two sections or keeping the new guys in a cage inside the coup for a couple of weeks at least. The chickens will get to know each other again and sort of work out a pecking order before actually coming in contact with each other. Letting them free range together is a good idea and should help if you can do that before putting them together... It will take a couple of weeks to get the pecking order sorted out. There is a nice article in the Learning Center on integrating flocks you might like to check out, the part about actually combining them is after the quarantine section https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock also a nice one on Bullys that may help with your older birds https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens Pinless Peepers do work really well for that sort of thing and if you have one or two hens that are most of the problem you might want to consider putting them on them. Separating the bullies themselves out for a few weeks to knock them down in the pecking order may also work if it is just one or two bird mainly. If the same hen is always being picked on by the whole flock and they just keep doing it, the easiest solution is probably to place the bird that is being bullied in another home.
 
I have 4 brown sex links, they are about year half old. I would for about 8 mos now one of they stop laying an egg. She was beening picked on be there in 10 mins the others. Her comb was down, her her tail was down. I took and put her in a cage right next to the others, they would still see each other. After about a month her comb and tail came back up. Still no egg. When I let they all out together she runs from the other three, wants no part of them. I have checked her vent, don't seem to bind up. I just don't know what to do with her. Can somebody please help me
 
I have tried everything to get her to lay eggs after being bully. No luck. My husband said if she don't start laying, she will be supper. I have done and looked up every thing. Nobody seems to know. I don't know if I should take her to a vet. All the reply on here have no help. So does ANYBODY have any other ideas? Thank you. Nanadogmom
 
Nanadogmom said:
I have tried everything to get her to lay eggs after being bully. No luck. My husband said if she don't start laying, she will be supper. I have done and looked up every thing. Nobody seems to know. I don't know if I should take her to a vet. All the reply on here have no help. So does ANYBODY have any other ideas? Thank you. Nanadogmom
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It has been suggested that you consider finding an avian vet in more than one reply above.

ETA: I understand being frustrated by the situation, but there has been some very helpful advice given which, even if it did not correct the issue for your bird gave you possible causes that you could eliminate and move on to other possible causes.
 
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Nanadogmom said:
I have tried everything to get her to lay eggs after being bully. No luck. My husband said if she don't start laying, she will be supper. I have done and looked up every thing. Nobody seems to know. I don't know if I should take her to a vet. All the reply on here have no help. So does ANYBODY have any other ideas? Thank you. Nanadogmom
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I have a young pullet that felt so bullied she stopped laying eggs. I figured out who was the culprit bully and have separated them from the flock temporarily. You know, she started laying eggs again!

You might remove who ever is bullying her and see if she too doesn't go back to laying.
 
Three of them were bully her. So I removed her. She has her own pen next to them. I have tried to put her with one at a time. But she runs from them. Even if I left all four out to run in yard, they will run after her, then she will run up me. Still don't know what to do about it?????
 
I am trying an experiment with my bird. She is a very nervous stressed out basket case. LOL (she is only 9 months old) She also gets chased away from food and nest boxes. I have ordered some Rescue Remedy, the non alcoholic stuff. It is usually used on animals such as dogs when they are terrified to go to the vet, have had some sort of huge trauma or have other mental issues. It is supposed to help calm them down and give them some courage.

It is due in tomorrow and I am going to try it on this pullet to see if I can't get her to relax a bit. It won't stop the others from chasing her, but it might calm her down enough not to be so freaked out so she can eat and lay. I will let you know if it works.

Something else you might try...Pinless Peepers. I have used these with great success on aggressive birds. I only use these as last resort and haven't had to use them in a great while. But here is a hen wearing them...


These will stop aggression right in it's tracks. They can't see straight forward to bite, attack or pluck feathers. You can get these on line here in various places. You could put them on all of your bullies. Leave them on for about a month. It takes a couple days for the birds to get used to them. Sometimes these will complete change their attitudes, sometimes not. But it is worth a try. Your bird that is being bullied would slowly relax over the coming days and weeks and hopefully get back to laying.

If it comes down to it, your bird may not be fit to stay in your flock and you might make a house pet out of her. You could always separate your flock down and find a couple birds that do get along with her and keep them in a separate area.
 
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