RIR shunned by flock

[beach babies]

we have a flock of 6 hens (no roo), 2 RIR, 2 ameraucauna, 2 barred rocks. they were all raised together from day 1 of their lives, and are now about 14 months old. when they were chicks, the ameracaunas seemed to be "in charge," but by the time they got out into the coop (from the brooding cage), we couldn;t really see which hen was dominant, there just didn;t seem to be a pecking order.

but...in the past few days i have noticed one RIR (my favorite, her name is ruby) losing feathers on top of her head. i thought she might be molting, but then i saw the others pecking at her, and then i noticed them stepping on her, and today she is avoiding them (staying inside the coop while they are in the run, when she does go outside, she sits up on the perch). i even put out some melon rinds and she wouldn;t leave the coop. i brought her a bowl of water b/c it's warm and i'm afraid they aren;t letting her get to the waterer. the other RIR is sort of hanging with her, not pecking or shunning her and she has a few feather s missing from her head (but not nearly as bad as poor ruby).

what could all of a sudden cause this kind of shunning? she is such a sweet girl and i hate to see her bullied.

any suggestions or insights are much appreciated!

 

[beach babies]

arggghhh! i was just watching them from the window and she has been on the perch for at least 2 hours, and when she got down to try to get to the water, they all attacked her! what could be causing this??? and what can i do?

 

[Den in Penn]

It could well be molt. The others may just see her as having something wrong. If she is eating and drinking. just watch things for awhile.

 

[beach babies]

would they shun her for molting? the ameracaunas look like they are starting to molt. i can't see anything physically wrong with her (except the now bald spot on her head where they peck her) so i can't imagine what would make them all of a sudden act this way. tonight, the other 5 went inside the coop to go to sleep and she was still outside, finally getting a chance to drink some water. she drank and drank. poor thing.

will they eventually work this out and be nice to each other again or is this some chicken thing that is permanent?

 

[Rob Sivulka]

Sorry about this. Last month I added 2 RIRs to my 3 RIRs I've had since about a week old. They sleep in the same small coop each night, but during the day, the 2 avoid the 3 for the most part. Occasionally 1 of the 2 will get pecked and jumped... especially before I can let them out of the coop in the morning. I just hope it will get better by winter when they will be spending more time in the coop altogether. I just noticed tonight that 1 of the 3 was pecking on the other too, but they still keep to themselves all the time. However your problem seems very strange since they've always been together, and now they're ostracizing one.

 

[Den in Penn]

It may just be one of those times when the flock dynamics is out of kilter, because one member has a peeve and won't let it go. There is usually a ring leader. If you can separate her for a week and reset the pecking order, that may stop the problem.

 

[beach babies]

thanks for the replies.

it is definitely not molt. i can see that now.

and now her poor little head is nearly bald. at night when the others go inside the coop to sleep, she stays out in the run drinking water, because they don't let her drink during the day.

question: am i making it worse when i go out and give her extra love? take her out of the coop/run and let her range inthe backyard while the rest of them ar ein the run/coop? will it work itself out in a chicken way if i let it? its just really terrible to watch them bully her.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

Its probably because she is the gentalist. You said she is your favorite. Is that because she is the sweet and more casual around people?
Watch them, and if it continues and she is absolting getting no food or water you can either leave her with them and bring her water multipule times a day and the issue will probably be resolved fast then seperating her and making she gets her food and water. If the make her bleed, pull her out until she heels.

Just saying this is totaly ironic cause I have RIR and she is at the top of the pecking order and picks on my Buff Orpington.

 

[TriangleMaster9]

thanks for the replies.

it is definitely not molt. i can see that now.

and now her poor little head is nearly bald. at night when the others go inside the coop to sleep, she stays out in the run drinking water, because they don't let her drink during the day.

question: am i making it worse when i go out and give her extra love? take her out of the coop/run and let her range inthe backyard while the rest of them ar ein the run/coop? will it work itself out in a chicken way if i let it? its just really terrible to watch them bully her.

Oh and by the way I know exactly how it feels. It should cause any serious problems if you take her out in your backyard by her self. But they still should have some sort of contact otherwise they might not ever work it out. Sometimes if they're being really mean i would step in and protecter her. Thats what i did and after about less that a week it was worked out. It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks