Artchickenlover21
Songster
- Oct 14, 2021
- 53
- 75
- 106
It seems every day with my flock there's a new problem. This one is a really weird case.
So recently we had bad snowy weather and I was unable to let the chickens out for a couple days. I didn't realize they were low on food and so a couple mornings in a row they were starving and I had to give them mainly scratch and warm mash to help satisfy them while we were getting their regular food (I'm mentioning this because I believe this might have started the whole fiasco).
After that, I went in the coop one morning and found a huge pile of feathers on the floor under one part of the roosts. The white leghorn, the smallest of the group, looked like she had about a third of her feathers plucked out (not just plucked but like taken COMPLETELY out of her, including the shaft). Poor thing is now shivering from the cold because she never had that many feathers to begin with. Everyone else is full of feathers and warm. I couldn't figure out whether she had lost them in stress or plucked them out herself because before then she had always gotten along beautifully with the flock. All of them were almost equals and sisters and never bullied each other at all.
After that incident, I noticed that the entire flock, not just one hen, are trying to starve her and won't even let her drink. They chase her away from the food and water every time they notice her going to it. They don't seem to relentlessly chase or peck her, but she seems absolutely terrified and is starting to lose weight. I started keeping them away from her in the mornings to let her eat and drink a bit. She just sits on the lowest roost all day every day other than when she tries to sneak food and water. Her feathers don't seem to be growing back yet either.
I have no idea why they started doing this to her. I think it might be a number of factors. They have been suffering from leg mites and that's probably irritating them (I'm working on treating them at the moment), have been shut up in the coop the vast majority of the year so far (even when I open it most of the time they refuse to come out), and then there were those couple days of being hungry.
The question is, what on earth do I do? I'm afraid that separating my leghorn won't solve the problem. Maybe I should to help her grow back her feathers and have food and water to herself? It's hard when it's the whole flock equally treating her the same way. And it's a bit heartbreaking because before this they all treated each other equally. I never saw this coming.
NOTE: I should add that their coop is huge for seven hens, plenty of room to roam around in while staying indoors during winter. I have been giving them some entertainment and making sure they have plenty of feed available at all times.
Any advice would be appreciated (NOT culling).
So recently we had bad snowy weather and I was unable to let the chickens out for a couple days. I didn't realize they were low on food and so a couple mornings in a row they were starving and I had to give them mainly scratch and warm mash to help satisfy them while we were getting their regular food (I'm mentioning this because I believe this might have started the whole fiasco).
After that, I went in the coop one morning and found a huge pile of feathers on the floor under one part of the roosts. The white leghorn, the smallest of the group, looked like she had about a third of her feathers plucked out (not just plucked but like taken COMPLETELY out of her, including the shaft). Poor thing is now shivering from the cold because she never had that many feathers to begin with. Everyone else is full of feathers and warm. I couldn't figure out whether she had lost them in stress or plucked them out herself because before then she had always gotten along beautifully with the flock. All of them were almost equals and sisters and never bullied each other at all.
After that incident, I noticed that the entire flock, not just one hen, are trying to starve her and won't even let her drink. They chase her away from the food and water every time they notice her going to it. They don't seem to relentlessly chase or peck her, but she seems absolutely terrified and is starting to lose weight. I started keeping them away from her in the mornings to let her eat and drink a bit. She just sits on the lowest roost all day every day other than when she tries to sneak food and water. Her feathers don't seem to be growing back yet either.
I have no idea why they started doing this to her. I think it might be a number of factors. They have been suffering from leg mites and that's probably irritating them (I'm working on treating them at the moment), have been shut up in the coop the vast majority of the year so far (even when I open it most of the time they refuse to come out), and then there were those couple days of being hungry.
The question is, what on earth do I do? I'm afraid that separating my leghorn won't solve the problem. Maybe I should to help her grow back her feathers and have food and water to herself? It's hard when it's the whole flock equally treating her the same way. And it's a bit heartbreaking because before this they all treated each other equally. I never saw this coming.
NOTE: I should add that their coop is huge for seven hens, plenty of room to roam around in while staying indoors during winter. I have been giving them some entertainment and making sure they have plenty of feed available at all times.
Any advice would be appreciated (NOT culling).
