Hen spending entire day inside coop and not eating by herself

[aart]

I'd get that cockerel out of there asap!
Put him in a crate so you can see if he is the main problem.

one of my roosters

How many males and why?
Multiple males can wreak havoc on a flock.

Time to look at your whole setup, flock, and goals instead of concentrating on the one issue that is most visible.

Knowing more about your goals for keeping chickens,
your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
your coop(size in feet by feet and pics),
will offer clues towards solvable problems.

 

[azygous]

I'm with @aart . It appears the roo is the problem. If he's in his first year, he's going to only be getting worse, and come spring, oh boy.

Cockerels are content in a segregated pen, and it doesn't even need to be very big. As long as they can "girl watch", they're perfectly happy. If you wish fertilized eggs, just let him out for a bit every so often.

The alternative is to get rid of him. When a cockerel or rooster is that aggressive toward the hens, it hurts the flock, driving up stress which leaves them open for disease and egg problems.

 

[sourland]

Remove the cockerel yesterday. It really appears as if he is the problem. He has made her his target, and she has given up on fighting him off.

 

[Jemma Rider]

I'd get that cockerel out of there asap!
Put him in a crate so you can see if he is the main problem.

How many males and why?
Multiple males can wreak havoc on a flock.

Time to look at your whole setup, flock, and goals instead of concentrating on the one issue that is most visible.

Knowing more about your goals for keeping chickens,
your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
your coop(size in feet by feet and pics),
will offer clues towards solvable problems.

My hen was actually the bully, i was surprised because i spend most of the day out with them. The one rooster will be leaving as soon as possible, the woman who is taking him is finishing up building his coop and we think he'll be gone this weekend. I'm keeping the other roo because he's much friendlier, though he hasn't matured yet so he might end up leaving too if he's as noisy as the other one. I have six chickens right now (the roo will be gone soon so that makes it five) I'm hoping to end up with around sixteen and i have a coop that is seven feet by seven feet, I will need to upgrade it eventually but at the moment it fits all of my chickens with a lot of room to spare.
I just got my chickens in September as adults, i was told that the two cockrels were hens but that turned out wrong, so I'm still correcting mistakes made by the previous owner.
I think I've delt with the problem, i locked the bully up inside the coop and let the others out to freerange then let her out an hour later, they didn't pick on her but Rosie stood up to the bully after some time alone and Rosies sister Daisy went after her too. Then they all just freeranged together and i haven't seen any problems since noon yesterday.

 

[Jemma Rider]

Remove the cockerel yesterday. It really appears as if he is the problem. He has made her his target, and she has given up on fighting him off.

It was another hen, but he'll be leaving as soon as possible.

 

[sbhkma]

I have six chickens right now (the roo will be gone soon so that makes it five) I'm hoping to end up with around sixteen and i have a coop that is seven feet by seven feet, I will need to upgrade it eventually but at the moment it fits all of my chickens with a lot of room to spare.

Is there a run attached to the coop as well or is this 7 x 7 all the space total that they have? That's actually not a lot of "room to spare" for 6 birds. It is borderline crowded actually. Do you have areas birds can hide or get away from each other-roosts, sections of board leaning up against a wall with both ends open, etc.?

 

[Jemma Rider]

Is there a run attached to the coop as well or is this 7 x 7 all the space total that they have? That's actually not a lot of "room to spare" for 6 birds. It is borderline crowded actually. Do you have areas birds can hide or get away from each other-roosts, sections of board leaning up against a wall with both ends open, etc.?

Oh yes i have a large run that would be neglect. It's not big enough? From what I've read each chicken needs four square feet of space inside of the coop to be comfortable. Is that untrue? Because i have 49 square feet of room. The previous owner had sixteen chickens at one time in this coop and i bought my six with it, they've lived in it forever and have plenty of roosting room, four nesting boxes and more room in the "rafters" of my coop. Me and my father are going to be working on adding more roosts this weekend as well. Do i need to expand?

 

[sbhkma]

That's why I asked if there was a run, as that's not much room if that's all they have. Thank you for clarifying. That's about the space I have for my 6 and it works out well. Plus they get access to the run all day (another 80 sq ft) and free range in the afternoon for a while.

 

[Jemma Rider]

That's why I asked if there was a run, as that's not much room if that's all they have. Thank you for clarifying. That's about the space I have for my 6 and it works out well. Plus they get access to the run all day (another 80 sq ft) and free range in the afternoon for a while.

Ok, thank you. You had me worried for a second there, i got my birds as pets not as livestock so i just want what's best for them.

 

[aart]

It was another hen, but he'll be leaving as soon as possible.

This may be why we thought it was the cockerel.

But Rosies been pretty stressed running him off every time he goes after her. Though recently she's started running away instead of fighting and calling for me because that dumb roo doesn't know how to take a hint. I'm wondering if she's just trying to avoid him but because he never leaves the run she just barricades herself in the coop all day.