Pecking Order..

[KikiDeAnime]

I know the pecking order is normal but I think our hens are taking it too far with one.
Our 3(almost 4) year old Bantam Cochin/Silkie mix hen has always been near the top of the pecking order ever since we got her as a pullet. Recently she's been demoted and now this week, she's been completely pushed out of the flock. None of the birds are letting her eat, drink, or even be near the rest of the flock. She won't even go back into the coop at night now because of this. Since I free range the flock during the day, she will hang out by herself.
I've been sneaking her a bowl of feed while the others are free ranging so that she can eat the feed without worrying about them chasing her off.
I don't plan on rehoming her as she's our only hen trustworthy enough to raise chicks each spring so I don't want to get rid of a good hen. I don't plan on getting rid of our layers either as they just recently started laying again.

Is there anything I can do to help her?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Buy her a Silkie friend. In the spring you can get her some TSC Silkie chicks for her. Sometimes a friend is all she needs. Also, check her health all around. There could be something else going on that you don't know about but the other hens are seeing it.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Buy her a Silkie friend. In the spring you can get her some TSC Silkie chicks for her. Sometimes a friend is all she needs. Also, check her health all around. There could be something else going on that you don't know about but the other hens are seeing it.

Already did. That was the first thing I did.
Also, I only get chicks from Wilco here since I'm able to walk to it. They haven't gotten the breeds I want so I'm waiting.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Already did. That was the first thing I did.
Also, I only get chicks from Wilco here since I'm able to walk to it. They haven't gotten the breeds I want so I'm waiting.

Yeah, I dealt with a hen (Sparkles) in a similar situation. I tried putting her in a new flock that actually healed a hen who had dealt with a horrible pecking order. Sparkles response to that: she flew the fence and refused to stay with her new flock. So, she went flockless. I can't really free-range my hens full time, so they were always in their yard. I let Sparkles free-range full time as she healed from her injuries she had received. She slept and layed her eggs in a shavings bag in my shed. Sparkles wasn't the best hen, and she had brought the trouble onto herself, so sadly she was left unprotected during the day. She was around to help with a bully hen, and she had served her purpose. Thankfully nothing got her, and she was eventually re-homed with my other retired hens at her retirement.
As far as a good broody, my Buff Orpington Joy started suffering from this same thing. Every year it got worse. It was mainly because of a harsh pecking order. I'd keep doing what you are doing until you can get her some chicks for company or get her more of her same breed. Tractor Supply should sell her kind. Start a separate flock for her. Being a Silkie, she's not aggressive enough by nature to maintain her spot and her age isn't helping. With Joy, she was going onto six years old by herself with bullies in the flock. Something that you might be able to do for your girl is get some retired hens for her company. Again, start a new flock. You might want to keep them all penned in for awhile so the coop and pecking order is established. I'm suggesting at least a month due to old age. From my own personal study, the older the chicken gets, the more their memory improves.
Question: Has she dealt with any loss? Say- you re-homed some of her chicks or even her cockerels, and she's sad about that? Some hens can get emotional about that and sometimes those cockerels need to be crowing and the pullets laying before the hen is ready to let go. I made the mistake of rehoming some three month old cockerels that my bantam had hatched and she never really got over it. Four years later she was still heart broken over that. And those cockerels were standards- they were all bigger than her and I was re-homing them cause I was concerned that they were going to accidentally kill her. So, has she dealt with any loss recently?

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Yeah, I dealt with a hen (Sparkles) in a similar situation. I tried putting her in a new flock that actually healed a hen who had dealt with a horrible pecking order. Sparkles response to that: she flew the fence and refused to stay with her new flock. So, she went flockless. I can't really free-range my hens full time, so they were always in their yard. I let Sparkles free-range full time as she healed from her injuries she had received. She slept and layed her eggs in a shavings bag in my shed. Sparkles wasn't the best hen, and she had brought the trouble onto herself, so sadly she was left unprotected during the day. She was around to help with a bully hen, and she had served her purpose. Thankfully nothing got her, and she was eventually re-homed with my other retired hens at her retirement.
As far as a good broody, my Buff Orpington Joy started suffering from this same thing. Every year it got worse. It was mainly because of a harsh pecking order. I'd keep doing what you are doing until you can get her some chicks for company or get her more of her same breed. Tractor Supply should sell her kind. Start a separate flock for her. Being a Silkie, she's not aggressive enough by nature to maintain her spot and her age isn't helping. With Joy, she was going onto six years old by herself with bullies in the flock. Something that you might be able to do for your girl is get some retired hens for her company. Again, start a new flock. You might want to keep them all penned in for awhile so the coop and pecking order is established. I'm suggesting at least a month due to old age. From my own personal study, the older the chicken gets, the more their memory improves.
Question: Has she dealt with any loss? Say- you re-homed some of her chicks or even her cockerels, and she's sad about that? Some hens can get emotional about that and sometimes those cockerels need to be crowing and the pullets laying before the hen is ready to let go. I made the mistake of rehoming some three month old cockerels that my bantam had hatched and she never really got over it. Four years later she was still heart broken over that. And those cockerels were standards- they were all bigger than her and I was re-homing them cause I was concerned that they were going to accidentally kill her. So, has she dealt with any loss recently?

We recently lost our cockerel who almost made it to 1 year. He never crowed so we were able to keep him in the city.
Tractor Supply is hours away and my parents aren't willing to drive up there. I don't drive so it's not an option.
Wilco is the only farm store to get chicks here for me. I'm also waiting for her to go broody again so I can give her chicks. She always goes broody 3-4 times a year.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

We recently lost our cockerel who almost made it to 1 year. He never crowed so we were able to keep him in the city.
Tractor Supply is hours away and my parents aren't willing to drive up there. I don't drive so it's not an option.
Wilco is the only farm store to get chicks here for me. I'm also waiting for her to go broody again so I can give her chicks. She always goes broody 3-4 times a year.

That's really sad about your loss of your rooster. That can be it. Some hens is really close to their roos. My Loucille lost a lot of weight and I was concerned that I was going to loose her just over her rooster being separated because of a fight. I re-homed her with him when I re-homed him and she came back to life and regained her weight.
Ask Wilco were they're getting their chicks and ask if you can do a special order. Get known docile laid back breeds. Hopefully that will help her. She might come around if she's mourning too. Has she gone broody since the loss of the rooster?
Hmmm, imagine if we all could drive to chickens all around the state... I can't drive either, but sadly for me there's nobody I can walk to get chicks. I breed my birds, and now I have no rooster and don't know if any of my new hens will go broody yet.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

That's really sad about your loss of your rooster. That can be it. Some hens is really close to their roos. My Loucille lost a lot of weight and I was concerned that I was going to loose her just over her rooster being separated because of a fight. I re-homed her with him when I re-homed him and she came back to life and regained her weight.
Ask Wilco were they're getting their chicks and ask if you can do a special order. Get known docile laid back breeds. Hopefully that will help her. She might come around if she's mourning too. Has she gone broody since the loss of the rooster?
Hmmm, imagine if we all could drive to chickens all around the state... I can't drive either, but sadly for me there's nobody I can walk to get chicks. I breed my birds, and now I have no rooster and don't know if any of my new hens will go broody yet.

She normally goes broody starting around March and her last time was during the last few days of summer last year.
Because of recent events, they aren't doing special orders right now.
I'm also waiting to hear if I got hired at Wilco because then I'll be handling and selling the baby poultry/waterfowl.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

She normally goes broody starting around March and her last time was during the last few days of summer last year.
Because of recent events, they aren't doing special orders right now.
I'm also waiting to hear if I got hired at Wilco because then I'll be handling and selling the baby poultry/waterfowl.

Oh I hope you do! That'd be an excellent job for you!! How exciting!!!

Ok. Hopefully your hen will be doing better then.

 

[aart]

I wonder if she's starting her broody vibes, may be why she's being picked on?

 

[Sally PB]

Dang, Kiki, I wish I lived close enough to help. So sorry abut your situation. I hope you get that job! Let us know, ok?