Buff Orpington trouble, HELP!!

[Spicychicken16]

Good morning my fellow chicken community! I have been searching everywhere for answers before I post about this and nothing seems to quite line up with the situation I am in.

A little (a lot) back story for context- I have only two girls (started with four when they were very young but realized that wasn’t going to work out for us so we ended up having to re-home two chicks well before they were ever laying. One of my girls is obviously the Buff, and the other is a Ancona chicken. My Ancona has been the cream of the crop- lays continuously, is quiet, docile, everything I thought I was getting in a Buff Orpington. I had done some research before getting my girls and found that buffs were supposedly to be all the above and then some. I felt like everyone who I knew that had raised chickens had a buff. I did the same. Well, My buff has been the complete opposite! Now I know animals come with their own personalities but I’m to the point where I don’t know what to do.

My buff was a normal hen, got her as a chick and she started laying great for the first few months until summer rolled around. She ended up going broody halfway through the summer and I had tried to break her of it. Alas- my girl broke her box staycation after a little while and starts to come outside again. She stops laying eggs as expected. However, she has never been the same after going broody. I would say I’ve gotten barely 2 dozen eggs from her in the past two years of them laying. She also goes broody at any slight warmer weather change. (ex. Goes from 65 deg F to 78 deg F) Yes I have since found that buffs are one of the number one breeds to go broody.

But I wouldn’t even say that is the worst part about her… every morning like clock work she gets up and screams, yes, screams. They’ll have a full tube of feed and bucket of water (they have access to fresh water and feed at all times) and she still just gets up and continuously yells. I have not been able to find anything on chickens making this gosh awful squawk. This is not to be confused with the egg song either. The closest thing I could describe it to someone is it kind of sounds like rrrRRRRaaaAA-AHHH-AHHH-AHHHH-AHHHHHHHH. Not sure if that helps but kind of like how a crow would go? She’s also very aggressive now and wants to challenge me all the time, jump up and attack me, also trying to bite me and my feet. When at one point was never aggressive and would even gently eat treats from my hand.

There hasn’t been any incidents that I know of where they were attacked or any situation of the sort that I know of as I have them in a completely closed off run/coop and if they do free range it’s supervised but I have had to cut that off due to my buff being extremely aggressive towards me now. I have also checked her many times for any physical problems and she seems to be fine in that aspect….. mentally though that may be another story lol!

The squawk is so loud I can hear her across the street when checking my mail so I’m sure my neighbors just LOVE me. I know people say to give them fresh eggs as a “sorry” but I barely get enough eggs for my household of two!

I guess in conclusion I’m wondering if anyone has experienced this with a buff before? Or any chicken? I’m willing to take any advice at this point because as I’m sure it’s causing problems for my neighbors it’s really taking a toll on me personally. Is my chicken a dud? Are there any possible problems I haven’t thought of? Is she wanting to be a rooster? Is she yelling at the other birds in my yard? Is there a way to encourage laying? Any other tips?!

I love my girls and I want to keep them. But, if one is going to essentially be a noisy, aggressive freeloader for her whole life then I need to rethink my situation…Thank you In advance to all of those who give their inputs! Have a great day everyone.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
The very short answer is 'move her on' some way, because she's making you miserable.
Every bird will not follow the plan, and she's not doing well this year for you. Personally, we don't have Orphingtons here , not being happy with the few hens we had of this breed, long ago. Maybe we also had 'atypical' individuals, who knows.
For her aggression, be firm! Wear shoes or boots and jeans out there. Walk 'through' her, not around. Peck her back firmly, every time she gets to you. Peckpeckpeck, fast as you can, to any body part you can reach, until she runs away. Have a weapon in your hand, as the feeder, a bucket, something, and accidently bump her out of your path. No hand feeding! Toss any treats on the ground instead.
Her pattern of egg laying might be just who she is, or signal some internal health issue. Look at the birds at night, with a flashlight, on skin around their vents, under wings, on neck and back, in case there are mites or lice.
What are you feeding, exactly? How much space do they have?
Mary

 

[Spicychicken16]

Welcome!
The very short answer is 'move her on' some way, because she's making you miserable.
Every bird will not follow the plan, and she's not doing well this year for you. Personally, we don't have Orphingtons here , not being happy with the few hens we had of this breed, long ago. Maybe we also had 'atypical' individuals, who knows.
For her aggression, be firm! Wear shoes or boots and jeans out there. Walk 'through' her, not around. Peck her back firmly, every time she gets to you. Peckpeckpeck, fast as you can, to any body part you can reach, until she runs away. Have a weapon in your hand, as the feeder, a bucket, something, and accidently bump her out of your path. No hand feeding! Toss any treats on the ground instead.
Her pattern of egg laying might be just who she is, or signal some internal health issue. Look at the birds at night, with a flashlight, on skin around their vents, under wings, on neck and back, in case there are mites or lice.
What are you feeding, exactly? How much space do they have?
Mary

Thank you for your input! Very good advice Mary, they strictly get purine layer crumbles and they’ve always had that type of feed with the exception of some table scraps (mostly bits and bobs out of our garden that we don’t eat) but not all the time. If they do get “treats” it’s just a small handful of Mannapro ‘Harvest Delight Poultry Treat’.

 

[Spicychicken16]

Thank you for your input! Very good advice Mary, they strictly get purine layer crumbles and they’ve always had that type of feed with the exception of some table scraps (mostly bits and bobs out of our garden that we don’t eat) but not all the time. If they do get “treats” it’s just a small handful of Mannapro ‘Harvest Delight Poultry Treat’.

Oh and they have a 30 sqft (might be a little more) external run as well as their coop and underneath their coop. Not sure how many sqft the coop is but it is rated for 4-6 chickens and we only have 2 in it.

 

[vicknick]

Do you have more oyster shell for them, or just the layer feed? I have a few that will lay just fine on layer feed, but some won't lay more than once or twice a month if they don't have extra calcium on top of it. I do have a buff orpington - she's a little ditzy (will wander off away from the other chickens and get lost during free range time) but is not aggressive at all. I agree with Folly's Place - don't let her attack you, you have to be the bigger chicken. I have never had a hen attack me, but when a rooster starts feeling froggy, I make sure I'm wearing a loose shirt so I can raise my arms and the shirt looks bigger, and I stomp loud, and sort of hulk over everything. I've never had to peck anyone, I just act like a big lumbering giant, lol, and they get out of my way pretty quick.

 

[vicknick]

Oh and they have a 30 sqft (might be a little more) external run as well as their coop and underneath their coop. Not sure how many sqft the coop is but it is rated for 4-6 chickens and we only have 2 in it.

Do they have anything to do when they're in the run? Maybe they're bored, since there are only 2 chickens? I've never had such a small # of chickens, so I don't know if maybe the social dynamics change - is your buff mean to the other chicken or just you? I do have a few chickens who exercise their vocal cords pretty consistently, lol - but I live way out in the boonies, so no neighbor worries, lol.

 

[sourland]

Sometimes allowing such a hen to set and raise a brood of chicks can modify such behavior. Sounds as if she is just a frustrated 'mama wannabe'.

 

[Folly's place]

Your buff isn't producing enough eggs for a layer feed to be appropriate for her. It's meant for actively laying hens, who are eating nothing else. Better to feed an all flock type feed, 18% to 20% protein, with oyster shell on the side.
And hiding places and things to do are also helpful!
Broodiness is great, when you want it, and a pain otherwise. Get her chicks to raise, maybe? Just be ready to take them over if she rejects them, even when she's in 'broody mode'.
Mary

 

[townchicks]

Oh and they have a 30 sqft (might be a little more) external run as well as their coop and underneath their coop. Not sure how many sqft the coop is but it is rated for 4-6 chickens and we only have 2 in it.

If they are lock in this run all the time, that is likely why she is screaming. She wants out. This is very small, even for 2 hens, IMO. Boredom creates behavior issues. I totally get it that you don't want to be attacked, but you might try creating a temporary fence to give her some more room, and you some protection.

 

[Spicychicken16]

Do they have anything to do when they're in the run? Maybe they're bored, since there are only 2 chickens? I've never had such a small # of chickens, so I don't know if maybe the social dynamics change - is your buff mean to the other chicken or just you? I do have a few chickens who exercise their vocal cords pretty consistently, lol - but I live way out in the boonies, so no neighbor worries, lol.

Thank you for the advice I will try the oyster shell as now that you say that, I remember her eggshells being on the thinner side! As for the run- they could definitely be bored! They have a couple of roosts at different levels but that’s about it. I’ve been thinking of trying to put something for them to do recently just unsure of ideas. I wanted to try a swing but not sure how they’ll take to it.

The buff and the other are inseparable and do everything together. She’s never been directly mean to her except they did have a bout where my buff tried to change the pecking order for a couple of days but she failed to do so. Has yet to do it since. She’s just been mean to me and the only thing I can think of that set her off is I made the mistake of wearing some garden clogs with small birds and flowers on them. She seems to really hate those shoes! LOL