Older hen being bullied

[Hobbshouse14]

My oldest hen is being bullied by a few of our other hens and our rooster. She is now staying inside the coop all the time unless we go out there to be near her for protection. There has not been any blood, but they have pulled out all of her neck feathers and she is being chased away from food and water that we have placed right outside the door to our coop for her. I’m not sure what to do. Any advice from those that have experienced this type of problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Background:
We have ten hens (the one being bullied is our only three year old hen; eight hens are two years old; one hen is one year old) and a two year old rooster.
We have one coop inside a covered run that is 12x32’ with multiple places to roost.
We have three water containers and three food containers spread in different locations around the run.

 

[azygous]

Your bullied hen sounds just like Joycie, the hen in this article I wrote on bullying and how to stop it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

A bullying victim like your hen will continue to be bullied as it causes her to learn that "role". The objective is to protect her from further bullying and to allow her to learn how to stand up for herself. It's simpler than it may sound.

It can take as little as a day or two, but the process usually requires three weeks. You will need to set up a protective pen in full proximity to the flock. The hen gets to roost each night with the flock, but days are spent in the pen. Follow the steps I describe in the article, and your hen will stop being the victim and the bullies will no longer bully her.

Also, it sounds as if your chickens could benefit from enlarging their run and introducing a little complexity to it rather than having a simple empty rectangle.

 

[Hobbshouse14]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.