Need some advice- Don't know what to do???

[Hudson]

I have 10 Rhode Island Red hens which I have had going on 2 years. Up to now they have all gotten along well. The past 2-3 months i have noticed that the smallest hen is being picked on by at least a couple of the others. They started pecking and pulling off her feathers around her wings and now she has no wing feathers, and recently I see that they have pecked off her feathers all the way down the back of her neck. During the day she is always off by herself, and at dusk she is one of the last to go into the coup. At night all the hens roost up i the rafters but she stays down either in one of the nesting boxes or in one of the corners of the coup. In the past I have put an apron on her back but it still doesn't help with the problem of her wings or her back of her neck. I have stopped by the house of a woman that lives by me to see if she would be willing to take her in, she has another breed of chickens that are smaller and don't seem to have any problems like this. Unfortunately she has not been home the couple of times that I have stopped by. Another option that am thinking of is to divide their outdoor area which is roughly 25' x 40' and just build a smaller individual coop for the one hen. The main coop is 8' x8' by 7' so they do have a good size coop at night. i don't think that the one hen would mind being seperated by a fence from the other, I think she would prefer it rather than being bullied and picked on by a few of the others. Out of the other 9 hens it seems like only a few of them are picking on her. Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated, i am just having a tough time seeing her like this.
Thanks,
Jon from Atlanta, GA

 

[Chickengal505]

Try leaving your phone numder taped on the woman's door.

or find somone on here who lives near you. Go to for sale topic thingy and post that se needs to be placed with sweet doctile small birds

good luck with your bald birdy

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can pull your nicest hen out to be her buddy, is one suggestion, if you separate her. Being alone is very upsetting to hens. Maybe the one hen wouldn't pick on her if she were her only friend.

Just a thought!

 

[b.hromada]

Awww, poor baby. I know what you're saying, as I have had this going on here as well.

I think that separating her from the rest of the flock will help for sure. Especially, if you can't rehome her right now. It does hurt to see that happen. I know everyone mentions the "pecking order". But, like you say, you've had them, like 2 years. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted.