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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
It could be that she looks different but I also think that you can mitigate the situation by increasing their space and giving them a lot more enrichment in their run.
The coop looks a little small for the number of birds you have. And there doesn't appear to be anything in the run for enrichment. Putting lots of dry organic matter as litter in the run gives them something to scratch through. Adding stumps, branches, old wood chairs, pallets, etc to the run gives them things to jump up on to hang out and preen and to hide behind if they want to get out of the line of sight of other flock members.
Good luck resolving the issue.
 
Debbie292d said:
Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason why chickens pick on a particular one. Usually, it's the smaller one. If it was just one bully, it's usually easiest to take that one out for a few days, but sounds like they all did. Maybe another week or two of separation would help. I hope she's okay. You could also post this in the thread about chicken behaviors for more ideas, here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/chicken-behaviors-and-egglaying.18/

Welcome to BYC!! :frow
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Thank you!
 
TwoCrows said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow

So glad you decided to join us. Did you separate the youngsters a bit to allow the original flock to see but not touch them? A couple weeks separation helps with aggression. You might want to separate out any bullies for a while and give the youngsters a chance to adapt to their environment first before mixing them all together. Put out more food and water stations so they don't need to compete. Make hidy places so the youngsters have places to escape to.
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The youngsters have been in a small starter coop and run that was next to my big coop and run for the last couple months. So they’ve seen each other through hardware cloth. Maybe I need to wait for them to be bigger in size?
 
DobieLover said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
It could be that she looks different but I also think that you can mitigate the situation by increasing their space and giving them a lot more enrichment in their run.
The coop looks a little small for the number of birds you have. And there doesn't appear to be anything in the run for enrichment. Putting lots of dry organic matter as litter in the run gives them something to scratch through. Adding stumps, branches, old wood chairs, pallets, etc to the run gives them things to jump up on to hang out and preen and to hide behind if they want to get out of the line of sight of other flock members.
Good luck resolving the issue.
Click to expand...
The small coop is just for the 6 young ones, I used it just to show the color of the one getting picked on. The picture of the outside of my big coop was from when we were putting the hardware cloth up around the run, so nothing was hung yet for enrichment. They have stumps, and branches to climb on, and a xylophone and mirror. Is there other ideas you have? Do you have examples of the dry organic matter you suggested? I have the horse pellets in the run currently; septic sand in the coop. Would love more examples of enrichment ideas! Thank you!!
 
Solvaymae said:
Hi everyone
I am in my first year of raising chickens and need some help. I started off in March with with 13 day olds from TSC, ended up processing 2 of the three roosters so they’re in my freezer. The 9 hens and one rooster left have been great. Silly me wanted to add some different color egg layers so I ordered 6 chicks from Murray Mcmurray hatchery in July. Once they were feathered and ready to be outside, I put them in a small starter coop right up against my large coop and run. They all knew each other safely through the hardware cloth for a few months. They free ranged together and usually stayed separate from each other. Last night I moved the six 4 month olds into the big coop with the 9 hens and rooster. They were alive and well this morning. However when the younger ones went out of the coop into the run, the older ones ganged up on my blonde splash ameracauna-pecking her and ripping her neck feathers out. She is the only one of this color. Is this why they gang up only on her? What can I do for her? There was no blood drawn but I intervened and picked her up. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give. So happy to have found this site!!
(Pictures of my babies in the starter coop and my older ones in their run)
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Welcome to BYC!!
 
Solvaymae said:
The youngsters have been in a small starter coop and run that was next to my big coop and run for the last couple months. So they’ve seen each other through hardware cloth. Maybe I need to wait for them to be bigger in size?
Click to expand...
I usually don't mix chicks with adult birds until they are at least 3 months of age or more. Babies can easily be injured by a larger bird. There will always be squabbling when mixing birds together but if you give them enough room and places to escape to, usually they can work it out without blood shed. If it gets too violent for my liking, I cage bullies for a while to help the smaller birds adjust.
 
Solvaymae said:
The small coop is just for the 6 young ones, I used it just to show the color of the one getting picked on. The picture of the outside of my big coop was from when we were putting the hardware cloth up around the run, so nothing was hung yet for enrichment. They have stumps, and branches to climb on, and a xylophone and mirror. Is there other ideas you have? Do you have examples of the dry organic matter you suggested? I have the horse pellets in the run currently; septic sand in the coop. Would love more examples of enrichment ideas! Thank you!!
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Wood chips, dry leaves, pine needles.
IMG_20220815_155613254_HDR.jpg
 
Solvaymae said:
The small coop is just for the 6 young ones, I used it just to show the color of the one getting picked on. The picture of the outside of my big coop was from when we were putting the hardware cloth up around the run, so nothing was hung yet for enrichment. They have stumps, and branches to climb on, and a xylophone and mirror. Is there other ideas you have? Do you have examples of the dry organic matter you suggested? I have the horse pellets in the run currently; septic sand in the coop. Would love more examples of enrichment ideas! Thank you!!
Click to expand...
For more maintenance-free, you could move the pellets to the coop and @DobieLover ideas for the run. We've always used pellets in the coop and most recently in the brooder. Love 'em and they're cheap too!
 

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