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Lesils

Lesils

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6 Years
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Nov 28, 2013
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Hi,

We are new to keeping chickens and recently bought 2 lovely healthy Lohman chickens. These birds were used to being totally 'free range' however, since we got them we have had to keep them in a coup that is supposedly big enough for 4 or 5 hens. (they are the only 2 in it) We have bought a small run for them and put them in it every day, however, one seems to be bullying the other one. It has pecked out loads of feathers and now tonight we cannot get the bullied one to go into the nesting area...we feel really badly for her but don't know what to do! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!
LL
 
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A few things come to mind here: They are in molt without enough protein, stressed because of the move, parasites, or bored. They used to be free range and now you have caged them, look into a flock block or something of that sort to relieve boredom. Caging is not bad so please take no offense. Have you seen the one "pluck" the other? Have you checked the vent for signs of parasites? (They will pluck feathers of another to eat those bugs.) If there are any bald or sore spots from missing feathers get some blue kote (for horses) and put it on there to prevent further injury. If things get worse you may need to separate them by something like a wire cage, but one step at a time. Get back to us with the answers so that we can narrow down the possibilities and we will go from there.
 
Hiya, Thanks for the various suggestions.

I actually caught the dominant hen plucking at the other one and forcing her out of her nesting box. I immediately split them up and left them like that for a few hours. Things seem to have quietened down for now, however, we are in the process of building a large run for them which will incorporate their coup, so hopefully this will resolve the problem.
 

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