chicken stressing others out?

[ALAsamu]

HI there,
I currently have 4 chickens. Three are at egg laying age, but one is just finishing raising her chicks so we don't get any eggs from her. My question is, my broody hen seems to bully two specific chickens but primarily one and that chicken is well into her egg laying age, could she be inhibiting her from laying? We have maybe gotten 5 eggs from the bullied chicken in the past 6 months and that was when I separated my broody hen to hatch.

 

[sourland]

Yes, if the broody hen is keeping the others from eating and drinking she may be inhibiting egg production.

 

[ALAsamu]

Yes, if the broody hen is keeping the others from eating and drinking she may be inhibiting egg production.

do you have any suggestion as to how to fix it? I prefer keeping them all together. Right now they have a large coop and run so I don't feel like space is an issue.

 

[Mrs. K]

Sometimes you will have birds in your flock that do not work in that flock. Always solve for the peace of the flock.

You can add hideouts, roosts in the run, platforms that birds can get under or on top, all which allow birds to get away from each other. Make sure you have two feed stations, but set it up so that while eating at one station, the other station is out of sight. A box, a piece of plywood, a mini wall will do this.

But if this does not help, either the victim or the bully should be removed from this flock. Might fit better in a different flock, or might be culled. Always solve for the peace of the flock, you might try a temporary separation of one bird to see if the flock mellows out. If that does not work, add that one back in, and pull a different one or pull an additional one as space might not be enough, even though you think it is. Generally, one can pick up on the loss of tension in the flock almost immediately, when you get it right.

Mrs K