I'm at the end of my rope.

[Down Under]

What breeds are you trying to keep together?

 

[SkyAJK]

How is your flock doing now? I hope some improvement.

 

[Bsmac]

We got everyone at the same time. They grew up together.

That is a tough one. As you know they can be brutal! Have you tried giving the worst offenders a time out within view of the rest of the flock? I had the same issue a while back. I had a bully that went lame so in the garage she went as she healed. Then another hen had a bad prolapse. So two hens in the garage. When they both got well. I reintroduced them to the flock. The bully hen had been in the garage for at least a month the hen with prolapse only two weeks. She had a couple days of pecking order scuffles but that was quickly resolved. The bully took longer but eventually it worked out just fine. Now all is well! Might be worth a try if you know who the troublemakers are.

 

[SkyAJK]

That is a tough one. As you know they can be brutal! Have you tried giving the worst offenders a time out within view of the rest of the flock? I had the same issue a while back. I had a bully that went lame so in the garage she went as she healed. Then another hen had a bad prolapse. So two hens in the garage. When they both got well. I reintroduced them to the flock. The bully hen had been in the garage for at least a month the hen with prolapse only two weeks. She had a couple days of pecking order scuffles but that was quickly resolved. The bully took longer but eventually it worked out just fine. Now all is well! Might be worth a try if you know who the troublemakers are.

That is a great outcome.

I have a bully in my flock and I was having her outside for the rest of this May, but then the rain comes so it stuff up the process. She is back with the flock, but so far no bad behaviour..finger cross she stays that way

 

[Bsmac]

That is a great outcome.

I have a bully in my flock and I was having her outside for the rest of this May, but then the rain comes so it stuff up the process. She is back with the flock, but so far no bad behaviour..finger cross she stays that way

It was a great outcome! I hope she behaves! It makes life much easier! Good luck!

 

[BDutch]

Different.

@EmmaDonovan
Please tell us what breeds you have. What are the sizes of the coops and runs?
If you can give more information and post some photos , you might get real good tips to take the right action and solve your problem.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

@EmmaDonovan
Please tell us what breeds you have. What are the sizes of the coops and runs?
If you can give more information and post some photos , you might get real good tips to take the right action and solve your problem.

I appreciate your optimism but I've been through all of this already. You can read back through the discussions if you like. After building four different coops and runs and multiple other pens in seventeen months we are out of money and materials.

No photos, my roommate won't allow them for safety reasons. I don't blame her. We live in a bad area. Thieves cut our fence and steal whatever they want from our yard. They haven't taken any chickens yet but that is something I don't like to think about.

After years of caring for other peoples' chickens I wanted to have a flock of my own. I am losing my eyesight and this is something I wanted to do while I could still see. It's ironic that instead of having beautiful chickens to look at we only have scraggly ones because of all the feather pulling.

I have never seen chickens behave like these do with each other. I think we should move them on to someone who has a rooster who could manage their personality differences. Maybe some time later we could try again with a completely new flock. My roommate wants to keep them for the eggs, so here we are.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I appreciate your optimism but I've been through all of this already. You can read back through the discussions if you like. After building four different coops and runs and multiple other pens in seventeen months we are out of money and materials.

No photos, my roommate won't allow them for safety reasons. I don't blame her. We live in a bad area. Thieves cut our fence and take whatever they want from our yard. They haven't taken any chickens yet but that is something I don't like to think about.

After years of caring for other peoples' chickens I wanted to have a flock of my own. I am losing my eyesight and this is something I wanted to do while I could still see. It's ironic that instead of having beautiful chickens to look at we only have scraggly ones because of all the feather pulling.

I have never seen chickens behave like these do with each other. I think we should move them on to someone who has a rooster who could manage their personality differences. Maybe some time later we could try again with a completely new flock. My roommate wants to keep them for the eggs, so here we are.

I know you said you've been over it, but as a fellow keeper of feathered jerks, I can't help myself from picking at it. Sorry, you can give me a mad emoji.

Is your flock too small to remove birds? I'm taking mine down to the nubbies with the best four. There's still a visible pecking order amongst them, but it's played out in a mostly normal way. For now. I'm sure that will collapse any moment.

If every single one is picking feathers, which I wouldn't be surprised because monkey-see-monkey-do with chickens, I'd scrap them. Your roommate can get eggs at the store. The chickens are miserable, you're miserable. It's not worth it. Four chickens run later, you must have something pretty serviceable. Get a small uni-flock. Everyone's the same boring chicken, so at least they can't be racist.

I am so, so close to just giving up. But like you, I've invested in all this infrastructure. No, we don't free range, but my pen is not some haunted asylum of horrors. Keep it going with me!

 

[TOMTE]

I wonder if the moving around/new coops/setups is preventing them from settling down..? Chickens do not like change. It stresses them. Stress leads to behavioral issues.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I wonder if the moving around/new coops/setups is preventing them from settling down..? Chickens do not like change. It stresses them. Stress leads to behavioral issues.

I know this is a contributing factor to our issues. We're still newish to chicken keeping, and unfortunately, someone has to be the practice chickens while we work out the kinks.

Something I'm curious about though. People do 4H and chicken shows, things like that. Those chickens obviously go through a good amount of stress being transported, handled, etc. How do they act when they're put back with the flock? Do they have behavioral issues? Or can chickens be made adaptable, much like socialized dogs and cats?