One of our Buff Orpington Chickens has been losing a lot of her back feathers, any idea as to what's happening?

[Fluffy Chicken Birds]

Maybe something like this, that you put up against your existing coop so the hens can see eachother without bullying because they're separated by the screening.
View attachment 3832650

The thing is, we really don't have the room for that. It's a nice idea, but I don't think we'll be able to use that. Any recommendations for keeping our girls happy?

 

[SilverBirds]

The thing is, we really don't have the room for that. It's a nice idea, but I don't think we'll be able to use that. Any recommendations for keeping our girls happy?

Pinless Peepers and aprons may help with the bullying, but it isn't a great solution long-term. The truth is your chickens are bored and need more space. If you can't add on to the current run consider rehoming 2-3 of the girls so the remaining hens have more room. Can you let them free range, at least for a couple hours a day? If not, try throwing weeds or grass clippings in the run to give them a chance to forage. You can give them a bucket of dirt so they can dust bathe. Possibly add some perches to the run if you can. They just need something enriching to do instead of sitting in the run all day.

 

[Fluffy Chicken Birds]

Pinless Peepers and aprons may help with the bullying, but it isn't a great solution long-term. The truth is your chickens are bored and need more space. If you can't add on to the current run consider rehoming 2-3 of the girls so the remaining hens have more room. Can you let them free range, at least for a couple hours a day? If not, try throwing weeds or grass clippings in the run to give them a chance to forage. You can give them a bucket of dirt so they can dust bathe. Possibly add some perches to the run if you can. They just need something enriching to do instead of sitting in the run all day.

Right, there isn't really any way we're giving any of our chickens away, though, as they are therapy chickens. We live in a small area that doesn't permit them to be free range, so that won't do, either. We give them grass whenever we mow the lawn, but that's like once a week/two weeks. It may be a good idea to give them aprons, so we'll probably consider that. They are given scratch grains and mealworms and soldier flies every day, so they do get some form of entertainment once a day. I'll try burying the worms and scratch grains, but is there any other form of entertainment we could try? Should we try putting some objects for them to hide under/climb on in the run?

 

[SilverBirds]

Should we try putting some objects for them to hide under/climb on in the run?

If you could that would be great. It would give the bullied girl a way to escape. Did you ever check her for mites?

 

[Fluffy Chicken Birds]

Did you ever check her for mites?

Yeah, we did. It's also only her, so that's why we don't think it's mites.

 

[Lelilamom]

Instead of building on, can you build up? Chickens will roost at the highest level so perhaps raise the coop up 2 ft and add a level underneath with ramps going from one level to the next. Maybe sand in the middle level?
Something like this?