I really need help

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01alexis

01alexis

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Hi everyone I looking for as much help as possible we are new chicken raisers and have a bit of a problem. We have 12 chickens all hens the same age (almost 1yr) they have been together since last year as we got them as baby chicks. We have one hen who has been getting bullied and abused by the other hens ( all hens) to the point where she is not allowed outside, not allowed to eat or drink. It's really worrying us because this problem just started and we have no clue as to why! It's very frustrating. We know it's not pecking order because once she gets off the perch we have build they all corner her and attact. She is not bleeding but it's getting to the point where she is afraid to do anything. She has not been laying for 3 days. Please please help it would mean the world.
Thank you in advance,
Cayla
 
Try separating her for a couple days then putting her back in at night. The Bullies may think shes a different chicken and not bully her
 
I disagree with the previous poster.

Separate her only if she has injuries. Give her a good once over under all her feathers. Check for blood/woulds.

Segregate the lead bully. How many food/water stations do you have? How much room is their in the coop and their daytime run? How many do you have? Ages?
 
I separated the bully in my group and that did the trick but I only had one bully I thought it would be different if they all were bullying as thats what I read somewhere but then all flocks are different :-)
 
images


Welcome to BYC!

Sometimes even though they have been raised together, they can still turn on each other. First thing, make sure you have enough room in your coop and run. 5 square foot per bird in the coop, 10 square foot per bird in the run. Use more than one feeding and watering station so the lower ranking birds can eat and drink. Always separate out the bullies, not the ones being bullied. If keeping the bully separated for several weeks does not fix the problem with bullying, you can use pinless peepers. I have had to use these on a bully hen that I still have. She has improved as she has aged, but when she was young, she was full of fire....


These pinless peepers will stop the bullying. You will leave them on her for over one month. And of course when ever the bird is having a bad month. They can see up, down and to the sides, but not directly in front of them to aim and fire off the beak. So if all else fails, use pinless peepers. Never allow birds to be bullied.

Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours!
 
Thank you so much for your amazing answer! I'm not very found of how they look on the birds but if it means keeping my baby's safe I will definitely give them a try. In the coop we have 120sq and outside in the run we have 200sq, so we don't exactly see why room would be a problem. I will definitely add more feeding stations, I just find it odd how all the hens are gaining up on one. She doesn't look sick and has a good apatite she just looks afraid of the others in the flock. It's hard to watch and I want them back to their normal selves.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! You've gotten some good advice above. How long ago did it start? One other thing, chickens will often go after sick birds or birds that are not acting right, so X2 give her a really good thorough going over, her not laying in three days would concern me there is something else going on... chickens are often very good at hiding they have problems until they are really sick.
 

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