Hen being bullied

[FrankieR]

Looking for some advice. We have 4 backyard hybrid hens (all different breeds) and one is being picked on by the others. We have had them since July and this wasn’t really an issue at first but since the avian flu outbreak in December they have had to be kept in a run (12ft x 8ft) and I think boredom/stress has been an issue but they also tend to go for her if she tries to get corn or mealworms first . They have not drawn blood as far as I can tell but she is missing a lot of feathers around her back end and typically she is on her own and the other three stick together. Mainly I feel really sorry for her. We have the space to have a second coop run run and so we were thinking about whether or not it might be worth splitting her from the others and getting some new hens as companions for her but I don’t know whether she would also be on the outside of that flock? I don’t think we can separate them into two and two because I think all three are not very keen on her. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Lollychicken]

When I have chickens that want to pick on the others I find something else for them to peck to keep them busy

 

[Araucana Nest]

A couple of suggestions and questions: Is she otherwise doing well? Bright eyes? Brilliant feathers? Is she a different color or very different in size or shape?

One thing to be careful about is sometimes when hens bully one hen in particular, that hen being bullied might have an underlying health condition.

If she is healthy then she is the low one on the totem pole. Find her special talents and work with her. I would try a separate coop beside the main one to keep her protected but also proximate to her flock. You can try one other hen with her. Look for a hen that looks like her.

 

[Callender Girl]

I think this winter is making everyone a little crazy! I have six hens who have lived together since they were days old. I went out a few days ago, and while EVERYONE used to pick on Lottie to the point where she spent her first year with a naked butt, all of a sudden, Cordelia was the target.

It looked like a bloodbath in the coop, although the wound to her backside seems pretty superficial. I now have her in a cat carrier inside the coop (where, I might add, she laid an egg yesterday; what a trooper!) while she recovers.

As suggested by a fellow BYC member, I hung a head of cabbage and have been throwing scratch into the litter on the coop floor to break up the boredom. It is just too darned cold for any of them to want to go outside, and I think they are suffering from the chicken version of cabin fever.

There will always be a pecking order, and it may be your poor girl will always be on the bottom. As long as she isn't bleeding, I wouldn't panic. It MAY work to get some new companions or she may still end up at the bottom. It's hard to say.

In the meantime, just keep a watchful eye to make sure the violence doesn't escalate. Eventually, Lottie regrew her feathers (thank goodness!) but she is still the outsider in the group and likely always will be.

I see this is your first post, so despite the unhappy circumstances of your joining us, welcome to BYC! I hope you get plenty of good answers here.

 

[aart]

had to be kept in a run (12ft x 8ft)

Is that when the bullying started?
Sounds like plenty of space, but what does it look like?
Can you post some pics?
Might want to 'clutter it up' for diversions and 'hiding' places.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

Also spread treats around so they all get a chance to have some.

Oh, and....Welcome to BYC! @FrankieR
Pretty sure your in the UK, but,
good to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[FrankieR]

Thank you I will add some things to my profile and check out that link for sure. When we first got the hens they did a bit of pecking and things to establish the pecking order I guess but then it calmed down. When we got them they were restricted to the run but other than the first few weeks deciding who’s boss, they were fine back then. Then once they were a bit more familiar with their surroundings we let them out into a much bigger area during the day. Because there was an avian flu outbreak declared middle of December we had to put them in a more in close space so they went back in the run and I believe that that is when the problem started but it’s been worse the last couple of weeks. I’ve attached a photo of the run

 

[FrankieR]

A couple of suggestions and questions: Is she otherwise doing well? Bright eyes? Brilliant feathers? Is she a different color or very different in size or shape?

One thing to be careful about is sometimes when hens bully one hen in particular, that hen being bullied might have an underlying health condition.

If she is healthy then she is the low one on the totem pole. Find her special talents and work with her. I would try a separate coop beside the main one to keep her protected but also proximate to her flock. You can try one other hen with her. Look for a hen that looks like her.

All of the hens look a bit different so whilst she does look different, so do all the others. She is a bit smaller than the others but that wasn’t always the case. I think that it’s possible that with the bullying, she is more reluctant now to go for corn and mealworms and things first when I give them treats. She seems healthy and lays most days (I am certain that this is the case because her eggs are blue whilst the others all have brown eggs so very easy to differentiate hers). A few months ago she got quite broody and didn’t lay for a little while but that wasn’t the time period that she was getting bullied- it has been since then. I guess it is possible that her time away from the rest of the pack whilst she kept trying to sit on eggs might have had an impact? Her feathers look fine apart from the fact that obviously she is missing a patch where the others are plucking them out around her rear end.

 

[aart]

I guess it is possible that her time away from the rest of the pack whilst she kept trying to sit on eggs might have had an impact?

Possible.
Did you break her or let her hatch?
Best to break a broody in the coop/run....tho they still act differently and that can attract 'bullying' attention.

This might give some insight:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[FrankieR]

The invoice that I got online was that we should stop her from sitting on the eggs so after her doing it for a couple of days we started to take her out of the coop whenever she would go back in but because they all seem to lay at different times of day we couldn’t really shut the coop off in the day so she would often just go back in. She stopped after maybe a week but didn’t start laying again for about a month or two.