Hen troubles

[MegaChickEnergy]

Good morning!

I have a light Brahma hen that I got from TSC the first weekend of chick days the end of February, so I estimate she's around 6/7 months old. She hangs out in the coop, more specially the nesting boxes. Or where ever there is a laying hen she can snuggle up too. She hasn't started laying eggs yet, I have done the research and noticed she's one that can take longer to start laying.

My big issue right now is she's not getting very big, she only comes out to eat a little and drink some water, then she gets bullied by a couple hens and mounted by the roosters and then she's back in the coop. Her tail feathers are not very long and they are always pointed down.

Is she bassically starving herself because she doesn't want to socialize? Is it stress? She is so friendly and very talkative but I have to take her out of the coop or she will hardly come out on her own.

I do have way to many roosters and I am in the process of rehoming 3 of them, but what do I do about the hens? There are three 2 maybe 3 that will chase her off the food and water.

That is how her tail feathers always look, doesn't matter if she's walking, roosting, or laying.
Those two were bought at the same time and already the Sapphire sky is almost twice her size.

 

[igorsMistress]

awe, she looks like a sweetheart. Size would concern me as well. It could be that she lacks confidence and hasn’t had all the nutrition she needs from getting chased off, or it could be something wrong with her.

The fact that she gets bullied is possibly why she isn’t eating much. The flock will often ostracize another bird that has problems, but the fact that the rooster mounts her is interesting. If they are young roosters they may not realize there’s something wrong with her I guess.

I think you’ve got options. Multiple feed and water locations can help in situations like this so that she has multiple options. Clutter in your run or yard can break up line of sight and give her hiding places, but don’t create dead ends where she could be cornered and get beat up.

You might also try putting the bullies in jail together away from the others for at least week, maybe ten days. Then reintroduce the bullies and see how it goes.

You could separate her with some friendlies permanently.

The only other option I see is culling her. She would be the weak link in your flock, but I realize that isn’t always what we want to do.