Hen singled out?

[graymm]

poops are fine and shes normal during the day.. last couple of nights she is going to the coop by herself but will still stay away from the others. So there is some progress. Will keep updated. Thank you all for your input!

 

[Katcynth]

Glad yours is going in the coop.. tonight all 6 of mine were on the same roost and the one that had been singled out was actually right in the middle of them so here's hoping they worked out their pecking order...

I just feel for her because she doesn't seem to even care about being top hen! Maybe they realized that and will leave her alone now!!! I hope yours works out, it's really heart wrenching to watch one be abused! Tore me up! darn chickens!

On a good note, my dog seems to have finally calmed down and isn't trying to eat them all the time!

 

[chooks4life]

Quite often you'll never know what went wrong or what went right... Chickens, I agree. Some of the most multifaceted livestock there are, very unpredictable too... But that's part of the fun.

Hope your hens continue to show improvement.

 

[evergold]

I just adopted part of an established flock. There are 4 big girls and one Mille Fleur bantam. My Mille Fleur is displaying similar behavior as mentioned above. She stays ontop of the roost (instead of inside or on the ground) almost all the time. She doesn't appear to be injured, but the only time she will get down is when I let them free range. I noticed the hens didn't allow her to eat or drink when she tried to the other day. She drinks and eats when I offer it to her on top of the roost. Should I keep feeding her up there or am I enabling her? They were just moved on Wednesday...could this be stress related from that?

 

[dwalters]

Get her a bantam friend and seperate from the large birds.

 

[evergold]

The 5 I adopted were raised together, but there were 4 others (including 3 bantams) who my neighbors took. Do you recommend putting my Mille Fleur with them?

 

[dwalters]

She may be more comfy with chicks her size. Im afraid she may be getting picked on because of her small size compared to the rest. Give it a try. See if she does better.

 

[dwalters]

She also cant fight to eat or drink with larger birds. If they wont let her eat or drink, i would think other bantams would be best. Mill fleurs are very docile birds.

 

[evergold]

The neighbor's coop is much smaller than mine. Do you think it would be okay to switch out the Mille Fleur for their one regular hen? Until Wednesday they all lived together...

 

[dwalters]

Thats what i would do. They all lived together but in numbers. Now she is all alone with large birds. I have successfully turned bantams out with, my layers, but always in numbers.. At least 3.