Is my chicken sick or just being bullied?

[NewChixFarm36]

My bird has been being bullied by at first one of the chickens and now I’m noticing some of the other birds are doing it too. She is basically isolated and runs away from them when they come near her now. At first I thought she was being bullied but now I wonder if maybe she’s just sick? They’re a little over a year old and we have a closed flock. Thanks for your advice. This is my first flock of birds.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

My bird has been being bullied by at first one of the chickens and now I’m noticing some of the other birds are doing it too. She is basically isolated and runs away from them when they come near her now. At first I thought she was being bullied but now I wonder if maybe she’s just sick? They’re a little over a year old and we have a closed flock. Thanks for your advice. This is my first flock of birds.View attachment 1732284

They are pecking her, her comb is bruised.

 

[NewChixFarm36]

They are pecking her, her comb is bruised.

I’ve read the best thing to do is isolate the ones doing the bullying but it seems to be 2 of them for sure, but possibly 3. What do people do? I only have one coop.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I’ve read the best thing to do is isolate the ones doing the bullying but it seems to be 2 of them for sure, but possibly 3. What do people do? I only have one coop.

Do you have a run for daytime? Or do you just let them free range? How big is your coop?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Do you have a run for daytime? Or do you just let them free range? How big is your coop?

Also, how much roost space do they have in the coop? How long is the roost?

 

[NewChixFarm36]

Do you have a run for daytime? Or do you just let them free range? How big is your coop?

They have a run for the daytime and we sometimes let them out to range if we’re outside

 

[bald Rooster]

I have a small wire cage 3 x3x4 I made, it won't take much to build one.the top has a lid.
If I made one again it would be 3 x 3 by 2 feet tall. 3x2x2 would be good but I use mine for turkeys, so it needs to be 3 foot tall.
I use this for sick chickens, and anything else i need to isolate.protection.intragrating, what ever.
In your case I would call it chicken jail!
you can rig it up with food and water easy. I found setting food and water in the bottom was just a big mess. I had a small plastic paint cup with a handle on it and put it about 6 inc. up in a corner for food, this helped.
If you put your dominate chicken in jail for about a week (still in the coop with everyone, just in jail) She should calm down a bit.

Good luck

 

[NewChixFarm36]

Also, how much roost space do they have in the coop? How long is the roost?

They tend to roost in the nesting boxes and around the boxes as they aware on a shelf. Thankfully they have done fine with roosting at night. Although today I watched as the hen pictured was in the nesting box and one hen came up and started to peck at her. She pecked back and they were fighting and then another hen came in and the hen pictured ended up running out into the run. I didn’t know what to do.

 

[NewChixFarm36]

I have a small wire cage 3 x3x4 I made, it won't take much to build one.the top has a lid.
If I made one again it would be 3 x 3 by 2 feet tall.
I use this for sick chickens, and anything else i need to isolate.protection.intragrating, what ever.
In your case I would call it chicken jail!
you can rig it up with food and water easy. I found setting food and water in the bottom was just a big mess. I had a small plastic paint cup with a handle on it and put it about 6 inc. up in a corner for food, this helped.
If you put your dominate chicken in jail for about a week (still in the coop with everyone, just in jail) She should calm down a bit.

Good luck

Thank you! I was considering using our dog kennel or something similar. Maybe that would work but I think it’s too big.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

They have a run for the daytime and we sometimes let them out to range if we’re outside

Looks like they have enough space, maybe they are just trying to figure out their pecking order again. It looks like just bruises and not bleeding. I have eight hens and they are always trying to up themselves and change the pecking order. Mine do it when I let them out to free range or when they are getting up on the roosting poles in the evening. I just keep an eye on them and only intervene if I think someone is going to get really hurt. If they are doing it inside an area, sometimes you can just put up obstacles where they have to run around or a little corner wall where it can run behind. The main thing would be that the bullied one can get away, but if the space is too enclosed, it won’t be able to. You can also just put up temporary enclosures by buying those metal posts from Home Depot or any hardware store and a roll of chicken wire. It won’t be much good for keeping out predators, but it can keep the chickens apart so you don’t have to deal with that all the time. That way they can still be around each other but they just can’t get to each other.