Stressed out buff Orpington pulling out feathers and not laying

[Ac7941]

I have a Buff Orpington who seems stressed out. She used to be the leader of our small flock, seemed happy and healthy, and laid an egg almost every day for me.

About a year ago, one of our broodys hatched a rooster who we decided to keep (he is our only rooster). Since he has readjusted the flock’s dynamics, he seems to have kicked her out. She is terrified of him and he chases her away (sometimes pretty intensely) often. He’s great to the rest of the flock, though, and the other hens love him. So for about 6 months now she has been wandering around solo, rarely with the rest of the hens and definitely not with the rooster. Recently I’ve noticed almost all of her front chest/neck feathers seem to have been plucked out (looks like she did it) and she’s also not laying. She just seems stressed out/lonely/maybe depressed overall. Granted, when she was the leader of the flock, I did call her the big bully because she could be really mean to the other hens sometimes.

Does anyone have any idea if I should somehow intervene/what I can do for her? Has anyone experienced anything like this with their flock’s dynamics?

 

[Blue Raptor]

I have a Buff Orpington who seems stressed out. She used to be the leader of our small flock, seemed happy and healthy, and laid an egg almost every day for me.

About a year ago, one of our broodys hatched a rooster who we decided to keep (he is our only rooster). Since he has readjusted the flock’s dynamics, he seems to have kicked her out. She is terrified of him and he chases her away (sometimes pretty intensely) often. He’s great to the rest of the flock, though, and the other hens love him. So for about 6 months now she has been wandering around solo, rarely with the rest of the hens and definitely not with the rooster. Recently I’ve noticed almost all of her front chest/neck feathers seem to have been plucked out (looks like she did it) and she’s also not laying. She just seems stressed out/lonely/maybe depressed overall. Granted, when she was the leader of the flock, I did call her the big bully because she could be really mean to the other hens sometimes.

Does anyone have any idea if I should somehow intervene/what I can do for her? Has anyone experienced anything like this with their flock’s dynamics?

SAME. We have a rooster that is acting exactly the same. His name is Rocky and he is an EE. He is mistreating one of our SLW so much that the others are ganging up on her as well ! It make me mad to see her mistreated. Finally we decided to do something about him. We tried to give him to my grandma, but she couldn't take him . So we are going to put him down. It's a shame really, because he's one of those really nice roosters who let me pick him up and such . We haven't done it yet, but we're going to put him down soon.
I suggest you take either of these measures, rehome or cull. As sad as either are, he will continue to mistreat whoever he thinks is on the bottom of the pecking order .
Good luck !

 

[JacinLarkwell]

When a male takes over an all female flock, they often cause the high hen to be low on the new pecking order because she's the nearest threat. Just like how usually extra males are near the bottom of the order

 

[JCinNM]

Does she have a friend? Or maybe the second lowest chicken… put them together somewhere else temporarily, where the rest of the flock can see them. At least until you can figure out a resolution.

Someone else should come by and help you pretty soon.