What do I do?

[Rosypetals]

If it's been 3 days I would retry integration again asap before she stresses herself into an illness. With some supervision of course as far as the feather picking there is another underlying cause. Could be stress due to overcrowding or it could be a lack of protein in which case I would go with something like a feather fixer or a game feed until the picking stops and make sure if you offer these feeds to offer oyster shell calcium free choice for them but if it is overcrowding you need to expand or thin your flock a bit sorry your having this problem hun some pictures of your set up would really be helpful

I would ask for a nutrient assessment...something like pic below.

What did you switch to?


Vertical or Horizontal nipples?
I use HN's and they are easily put in a small bottle for wire cage use:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...nipple-waterer-for-wire-crates-by-aart.72704/


View attachment 1520522

i have vertical nipples in the coop and sorry I meant to say feeder, I swapped it to the parrot feeder. I asked my seller to give me an assessment so the next time I get a bag of feed he will give the paper to me.

 

[Rosypetals]

This this this is my layout for the coop. It was almost dark so they were going to sleep.

 

[Flockandfowl46]

Others may disagree with me but for 8 chickens that to me is a space issue although the coop is beautiful

 

[funnyfoshay]

I lke the way the pen curves around the back of the coop. I am super new to this but here is my understanding... the square footage needs to be 3-4' per chicken on the ground. The height of the space doesn't matter because they only sleep up high. chickens are ground birds they need alot of space to roam and forage on the ground or they get stressed out and compete for survival. So the coop for 8 chickens should be 24...4x6, 3x8 ...the pen at least 5' or more per hen is better so 40' or 5x8 pen would be enough for 8 birds (but the bigger the better) to give everyone plenty of room and freedom...is what I have read to avoid stress, pecking etc. and keep everyone happy. Some places you read and even see about 2' per bird in the coop but they free range in a very large space.

 

[aart]

That space is rather tight.
You say 75sqft, so 8x10? ...looks more like 6x8 if that red door is 24".
Maybe double check this?

There are no hard numbers that really work, too many variables, but the 4/10 rule is a good place to start...but IMO it's a minimum, especially in harsh winter climates where they may not venture out much due to snow piling up.

Small foot prints(floor space) can be problematic in relation to height too,
the birds can't fly down from roost without crashing into something,
I see that might be an issue with this coop.

So @Rosypetals, too small a space might be the problem here.
Are all 8 of your birds the same age and raised together?
They are getting close to full sized so space is getting relatively smaller,
and onset of lay changes the dynamics of the pecking order
plus hormones flowing can up the drama and aggression.
Some birds are just more assertive, my wyandottes have always been that way.

More space or fewer birds could really help going into winter.
Climate is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, then it's always there!