My Speckled Sussex Lucy

[triciayoung]

Good Evening Everyone.

I have 9 hens and 2 roosters. My chickens just turned 17-weeks old and I have had them since they were a day old. One of my hens (my favorite), is my Lucy, a Speckled Sussex. She is the sweetest bird. She is odd; she does not want to roost, stays away from the other chickens and is smaller than the other chickens (with the exception of the Silkies). I watch her getting bullied, especially by the two barred rocks. Is her "runt" size a concern I should have about her health? She is active, eats and drinks well, and interacts well with the silkies and the australorps.

Thank you

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sounds like normal pecking order squabbles. Let them work it out.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's hard to watch pecking order squabbles, but at least Lucy seems to have some chicken "friends" and is apparently healthy.

I raised six chicks together -- three Buckeyes, a Maran, a Speckled Sussex and a Welsummer -- from the time they were just a few days old. Everyone was fine, then one day, everyone decided to pick on the Welsummer. Poor Lottie had no feathers on her butt for the first year of her life.

Them, as suddenly as it started, no one bullied her anymore, and she lived out the rest of her life fully feathered. The social world of chickens is sometimes puzzling.

Best wishes for little Lucy.

 

[triciayoung]

Thank you.