Quality of life for my old hen.

[BrownFamFlock]

I have a 5 year old hen. She and her sister were the Queen's of the flock (and my original chickens). Her sister remains top chicken,but she has become frail and the lowest hens started bullying her to the point of bleeding on a regular basis. I opted to bring her in the house and put her in a 3 ft x 2 ft wire dog crate. Initially this was going to be temporary,but I have found,even supervised visits with the flock every day are causing her stress and the bullies still try to attack her. We have one other hen that is young,but isolated,and I bring her in to stay with her in her cage at night and they seem to get along. By all observations,she seems content. She eats,drinks,scratches in her straw and I have a small dirt bath for her.I am looking for suggestions to improve her quality of life since she is living under less than ideal circumstances. They are flock animals and I worry about her being lonely. Let me be clear, I do not put any of my birds in pots. I love her as a pet.

 

[azygous]

Five years old really isn't all that ancient. There may be a health reason why the others have been picking on her. You need to examine her carefully to see if anything is amiss with her health.

Look inside mouth and ears, making sure the throat is clear. Feel her abdomen for swelling. Do a crop check in the morning to determine crop function. Monitor her poop for anything appearing abnormal.

Can you determine if she's lost weight? Feel her keel bone for meat around it. If it protrudes, she's underweight. This could make her weak and not up to defending herself. She might be able to regain weight and self confidence using my bullied hen program. Take a read. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you have room for another set up outside, a smaller one (this is where prefab coops could actually come in handy). She might do better simply living alone (maybe near, but not right up next to, the flock or with the one other bird that seems to get along with her.