Feather plucking out of jealousy?

[Peppercorngal]

I tuck my girls in most nights and have been known to kneel down to talk to & pet them. It's helped some of the skittish in daylight chickens be less so, but I don't force anyone to get a cuddle. Day or night,I they will all eat out of our hands but at night one hen prefers to sleep in the safety of her egg-laying box. Her, I just speak to softly & give her a pass on pets & cuddles. And for those about to tell me about the evils of "letting a chicken sleep in the egg box", skip it. Their house, their rules. If that makes her feel safe, I say "rock on with your bad chicken self!". My rules are 1) don't hurt one another & 2) don't destroy your house. I can work with pretty much everything else. Our girls don't eat their eggs, so I haven't found that sleeping in the egg box makes anyone more (or less) likely to eat eggs. Ours simply don't.

Thank you! I have a young rooster that likes to sit in the nest box at night. I haven't done anything about it. I have to clean his poop out of it frequently, but that's ok. The hens know not to lay in a pile of poop! They have 24 boxes and have changed their "favorites" a couple of times now. My chickens roost up high, 7 feet up, and I can't reach to touch them, but I do call them by each of their names and tell them "goodnight" when I close and lock them in for the night. Thanks for letting your chickens be who they are. We are rare, you know that don't you?

 

[Lizzy733]

Sounds like you have the sort of relationship I do with your hens.
Normally, a rooster would be the one to sort out bullying behavior, but you may need to step in with a poke or two between the wings when you see blatant bullying to remind them that's not ok.
I find my hens sometimes get a bit 'stuck' in their heads when it comes to receiving attention. My head hen loves it and has been seeking it out more and more lately, but gets stuck in her watcher mode and becomes anxious being away from her post for too long. I've found forcing her to take a break by not letting her just hop away was actually really good for her and she thoroughly enjoyed it in the long run.
My bully hen is very anxious as well and I've started enforcing cuddles when she's acting a bit loopy. Last time I did this, she settled down and fell asleep in my lap.
With each hen it's different, but you can generally gauge their temperament according to how they respond. If your new hen can't just settle down within a minute or two or is getting more worked up, maybe try carrying her around with you as you follow the flock instead of lap-time. They tend to settle down a bit easier when they feel they're still with the flock.

 

[BarredRockMom]

Thank you! I have a young rooster that likes to sit in the nest box at night. I haven't done anything about it. I have to clean his poop out of it frequently, but that's ok. The hens know not to lay in a pile of poop! They have 24 boxes and have changed their "favorites" a couple of times now. My chickens roost up high, 7 feet up, and I can't reach to touch them, but I do call them by each of their names and tell them "goodnight" when I close and lock them in for the night. Thanks for letting your chickens be who they are. We are rare, you know that don't you?

Awww, how sweet! I call all of mine by name when I wish them a good night, too. It's always been one of my little customs, just like greeting them when I leave for work & thru the car window when I get home each day. When someone is missing from the line-up, she either high tails it out for roll call or is likely taking care of eggy business in her box. Though if the awol chicken suspects there are treats to be had, she'll pop out of the box, jump down & run out like her tail's on fire so as not to let anyone else claim her share!

I will forever be scooping out the poo from a favorite box here or there, but I'm scooping inside the chicken house daily anyway so eh.

It's one more way to interact with them. I am in their space but not trying to touch them so even the most "touch me not" of the lot will hop onto the perch to look at me closely. It's kinda cute, really, how they study me & chirp when I talk to them.

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times "What DID I ever do before I had chickens?" For the life of me, I can't recall! Sure never went someplace, saw a giant bug or moth & thought, "oh the girls would love that... I have to catch it! Wait, is that fertilized or chemically treated grass?". But I think it all of the time now!

 

[Fairview01]

Really. This behavior goes on all day unobserved. Its called reinforcing the pecking order. The one being manipulated has bern been removed from the flock. When released it rejoins the flock and gets a reminder of its standing.

Happens every day all day long it's just not observed.