low hen in the group, what to do?

[greytmommy]

my Frizzle hen is the bottom gal. she gets beat up and picked on by the rst of the chickens. she is not hurt or bloody, but is missing some feathers. we free range so she has plenty of room to get away. another chicken will jump her, and she drops to the grpund, head tucked down and basically plays dead until they leave.

my worry os that she is always on her own....away from the flock. so she is basically predator bait. i like her, so i dont really want to loose her.

any tips on what i should do? or of there is anything i can do?

 

[galanie]

One of your other birds is the instigator. Identify and separate.

 

[Judy]

I have one like that; she has an old injury and does not walk well. I don't free range but they have a huge yard, like 500 sq ft. or something. I have tried keeping her separate, in a 5'x5' area, even with another chicken for companionship. They do tend to hang together, but obviously both prefer being with the flock despite the abuse. She spends much of her day in hiding -- fortunately at present she can hide in spent garden plants so gets to forage as well.

I suppose you could try penning her -- do you have a shed or garage? -- for a few days with another chicken in the hopes she will at least develop a buddy. I'm subscribing in case someone else has better ideas!

 

[greytmommy]

One of your other birds is the instigator. Identify and separate.

ok, i have a good idea who the instigator is. what signs do i look for specifically since multiple hens beat up on her?
how to seperate? penned off where she can see group? completly isolated? for how long? what does this accomplish?

 

[7L Farm]

It could move her up in pecking order. I've done this before & it definately helped. I did it for about a month. Mine free range so everyday I would let the chickens out & put the isolated girl in the chickens run so they could see her everyday. I did this for a month or so to let her grow her feathers grow back. As a matter of fact I did it two seperate times with two different chickens. It moved the order around thats for sure.

 

[rufus2]

how about isolating the bad hen anybody ever try that

 

[galanie]

You keep the bad one separate from the others. It's ok if she can see them, just don't let them mix together. A couple weeks will do it.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

Personally I'd remove the 'bad' hen which is creating havoc among your flock for awhile. One week at the least. This will create a need to reestablish the pecking order and Ms. low on the totem pole just might move up a notch or two which would be nice. The instigator doesn't need to be totally out of sight but just 'away' where she cannot cause problems for awhile. Doing this might just take her down a notch or two. When it comes to free ranging time I'd leave the 'trouble maker' in the coop while the rest free range. If you have a small cage I'd leave her in there at roost time. I've had to do this in the past a few times in my flocks and it's always worked about 80% of the time. Good luck and keep us all posted on how it turns out whatever you decide to do!

I forgot so editing the post to add:

If 'High pecking order hen' has a buddy you might want to let them both stay together! That way she will have company and lessen the new arrangement which can be stressful for her..