I'm at the end of my rope.

[EmmaDonovan]

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.

One more time:

Our first coop and run were stolen out of our yard while we were still building them.

Our second run was pulverized in a freak storm with 60-70 mph winds. We saved the coop and the chickens.

The third was a temporary replacement for the second. It was cobbled together with the few materials we had left after the storm and was not predator-proof. We kept it until we could save enough money to rebuild again.

The fourth one was built with all new materials in a different part of the yard so it could be much bigger.

We started having trouble with the hens before they even started laying which was long before the storm and the third and fourth runs.

 

[TOMTE]

One more time:

Our first coop and run were stolen out of our yard while we were still building them.

Our second run was pulverized in a freak storm. We saved the coop and the chickens.

The third was a temporary replacement for the second. It was cobbled together with the few materials we had left and was not predator-proof. We kept it until we could save enough money to rebuild again.

The fourth one was built with all new materials in a different part of the yard so it could be much bigger.

We started having trouble with the hens before they even started laying which was long before the storm and the third and fourth runs.

I'm not saying it's your fault, but that it could be just one factor in why they're unable to settle.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

I'm not saying it's your fault, but that it could be just one factor in why they're unable to settle.

They were attacking each other long before that.

 

[TOMTE]

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?

That's something I haven't thought about. Show chickens are usually bred to be more tolerant of show conditions though, including travel, being contained in smaller crates/cages, and being around other, unfamiliar birds and people.

 

[TOMTE]

They were attacking each other long before that.

I'm aware, but it could be contributing to them not being able to get over their issues over time.

 

[TOMTE]

Think of it this way:

Say you and your family have issues. You fight a lot and there's tension in the house.

Then your house gets robbed. Now there's anxiety and tension.

Then your house gets destroyed by a natural disaster. More anxiety, more tension. You have to move. Moving is stressful as it is but you have to do it with your family that you don't get along with.

The house you move into is too small or has structural issues or something so you either need to move again or make changes to your house. More stress, more anxiety, more tension. There's just no break for you and your family to be able to settle down and work through your issues. It's nobody's fault— but that doesn't make it any less hard to go through.

Now look at that through a chicken's point of view. They don't even know what's going on. They have no context for why things keep changing and they aren't able to make decisions or predictions about the future. They are animals that live in and for the present. So they can't reason the way we do, that everything is going to be okay in the end. All they know is that it's not okay now and it's stressing them.

 

[Bawkbok]

Some breed personalities just don't mix together regardless of what you do. Find the worst offender/s and separate them, sell them, rehome, etc. The rest of the flock should settle things out and will probably become more relaxed without the bully.
If the environment and people around them are stressful, they will be also.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

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!

I would like to try again maybe with a flock of just Alohas. I've been in contact with some of the local breeders. They seem like good people intent on improving the breed.

Right now the only change my roommate will agree to is more chickens. The only way I'd agree to that is maybe if we found one other EE who looks like the one who couldn't get enough food. She is the only chicken in our flock who doesn't have someone who looks like her. She is eating fine now but she is so lonely in a pen by herself.

If we found another low-ranking, sweet-tempered EE that looks like her I might be willing to eventually try to introduce them but only to rectify her situation. No chicken should be in a pen all alone. She is so lonely she has rubbed all the feathers off of her poor little head because every evening she paces against the side of her pen that is adjacent to a pen where other chickens are roosting, she is so desperate to get over to them. She roosts on top of her nest box, as close to them as she can get. My heart aches for her. She is such a sweet girl and our only blue layer.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Some breed personalities just don't mix together regardless of what you do. Find the worst offender/s and separate them, sell them, rehome, etc. The rest of the flock should settle things out and will probably become more relaxed without the bully.
If the environment and people around them are stressful, they will be also.

Everyone I know has mixed flocks of a variety of breeds and ages. I've never seen anyone have these problems. I guess we were unfortunate enough to get a particularly bad mix.

It's not a bully. Everyone bullies someone else except for the poor girl at the very bottom. That was the brown EE we removed because they were not letting her eat. That left a golden/wheaten EE at the bottom. She is at least getting food (we have cameras so I know she is eating to a full crop) but when I feed treats I have to remove her and hand-feed her because they won't let her get anything. She has lost more feathers than anyone else and she's such a good-tempered, friendly girl, she doesn't deserve that.

Having said all that, white leghorns are %^#!@ vicious little %^#!@. I will never have chickens of that %^#!@ breed again no matter how many eggs they %^#!@ lay. I have never seen such mean chickens in my life.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Think of it this way:

Say you and your family have issues. You fight a lot and there's tension in the house.

Then your house gets robbed. Now there's anxiety and tension.

Then your house gets destroyed by a natural disaster. More anxiety, more tension. You have to move. Moving is stressful as it is but you have to do it with your family that you don't get along with.

The house you move into is too small or has structural issues or something so you either need to move again or make changes to your house. More stress, more anxiety, more tension. There's just no break for you and your family to be able to settle down and work through your issues. It's nobody's fault— but that doesn't make it any less hard to go through.

Now look at that through a chicken's point of view. They don't even know what's going on. They have no context for why things keep changing and they aren't able to make decisions or predictions about the future. They are animals that live in and for the present. So they can't reason the way we do, that everything is going to be okay in the end. All they know is that it's not okay now and it's stressing them.

Okay. Do you really think I haven't thought all this through, over and over and over, every day and night? Wouldn't you have done the same by now? I'm not an idiot. This isn't my first chicken rodeo. I get it. It tortures me.

There are a lot of things I want to do before I lose my eyesight. Having chickens was supposed to be one of the easier things on that list. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Did you notice the title of the thread?