Pecking order - caring for the chicken at the bottom

[jahphotogal]

A little history: I added two pullets to my flock a few weeks ago. The existing flock (3 birds) was about 10 weeks old at the time, the two new ones were a couple of weeks younger - maybe 7 or 8 weeks. A week later, one of the new birds seemed to be half-paralyzed or lame, and many posters here thought it could be Marek's. The breeder took her back and nursed her back to health with vitamins and isolation, and now I have her back again. She seems perfectly healthy now.

So I have a few theories about what could have caused it.

1. - she is pure black and of course it's been hot here - might a black bird suffer in the heat more than the others, and could this have caused her illness?

2. She is at the bottom of the pecking order, and the other birds chase her around. Could that either make her so unhappy she'd go off her food and water, or could they literally have kept her from eating or drinking enough that her health suffered?

If that's the case - if they are bullying her so much she can't eat and drink, what can I do about it? The coop is quite small and I'd have to build a whole new one to keep them separate from each other. I do have a fenced in area that I can keep her in during the day, while confining the others, for a few days at least. The other younger one doesn't bully her - she's even smaller, so I could keep those two together and the three big ones together.

 

[americana-lover]

to me, it sounds like the other hens are picking on her so much, shes just given up. Poor hen, I dont know what you can do about the coop, but you just need to give her some xtra tlc! good luck!

 

[QueenBeeMom]

I'm also having an integration problem. I had 4 hens, hatched last October, and added 3 more, which were hatched this spring. Now, at 20 weeks (they are big- especially the Wyandottes) they are still being bullied my my other ladies so that I worry about their health in the warm weather and their development for laying. They won't even leave the henhouse for the pen in the morning until I let them all out to forage (which I can't always do); and they often hid in the nesting boxes.

My solution so far is to get them out and lure them into a portion of the pen that has a temporary partition. It's a bit labor intensive for the daily chores, but I am hoping they will figure out that they are getting big enough to disturb the pecking order a bit!

I would suggest you do that, keeping those two younger ones together. One saver for me is at least the 3 young ones stick together. If you isolate just the one, the other may find herself a comfortable place in the other group and be a part of ganging up on the weak one.

Good luck!

 

[13chooks]

Its allways a good idea to separatenewbies from the original birds. A pen within the pen. That way the older girls get used to them. In the meantime you could try to give her some seed/scratrch/veg from her own container while sitting in the outdoor part of the pen. Try and keep the other birds from it and just give to the picked on bird. Things will getr better for her, it just takes a few weeks.

 

[GardenerGal]

If she's picked on, she might be getting driven away from food and water. In my barn and coverd run, I place feeders and water bowls in a number of locations so everyone can get what they need. Even the dominent hens/roosters can't lord over all of the food and water at the same time, so the subordinate chickens always can eat and drink when they need to.

 

[clogan98]

A little history: I added two pullets to my flock a few weeks ago. The existing flock (3 birds) was about 10 weeks old at the time, the two new ones were a couple of weeks younger - maybe 7 or 8 weeks. A week later, one of the new birds seemed to be half-paralyzed or lame, and many posters here thought it could be Marek's. The breeder took her back and nursed her back to health with vitamins and isolation, and now I have her back again. She seems perfectly healthy now.

So I have a few theories about what could have caused it.

1. - she is pure black and of course it's been hot here - might a black bird suffer in the heat more than the others, and could this have caused her illness?

2. She is at the bottom of the pecking order, and the other birds chase her around. Could that either make her so unhappy she'd go off her food and water, or could they literally have kept her from eating or drinking enough that her health suffered?

If that's the case - if they are bullying her so much she can't eat and drink, what can I do about it? The coop is quite small and I'd have to build a whole new one to keep them separate from each other. I do have a fenced in area that I can keep her in during the day, while confining the others, for a few days at least. The other younger one doesn't bully her - she's even smaller, so I could keep those two together and the three big ones together.

Sharon, CT? I'm from Cornwall Bridge! Not anymore, but my mom's still there. We lived nextdoor to the Stonewall Dairy Farm. Heard about the home invasion. : ( Hope you guys are safe and well!

 

[7L Farm]

You can rearrange the pecking order by seperating them as mentioned a pen in the pen will do this.I have a brooder room actually its just a shed but has a cage in it. I take one or two put them in the shed at night then the next day I let the others free range & put the other two in the their run so the others can see them for about a month. Then one night I put them with the others on their roost. This will throw the pecking order for a loop.Its worked for me. More feeding station might help as well your call. Good luck!!

 

[Kerry J]

The two dominant ones go in the "shed" and the picked upon one gets the roost ... or is it the other way around? I need to help my frizzle, the two egg layers are bullying her something fierce!