Hello,
I'm at my wits end with a really bad chicken bullying and anxiety problem!
I have 4 hens, A Sulfock x, an Ancona, an Isa and a very small Andalusian. They were rescue chickens, and when their former owner gave them to us, he said that the Andalusian was "a bit special" - read, bottom of the pecking order and very neuritic / traumatised (she honestly thinks I'm trying to kill her every time I feed the girls). She was always bottom of the pecking order but she is now getting bullied more severely by the other hens, I've noted some feathers missing and she keeps on escaping their run (probably in an attempt of getting away from her bullies). What's more worrying is a really dramatic change of behaviour that has become VERY strange, she often gets "stuck" in the nesting box, obsessively running up and down the ramp and unable to see the open door behind her - if any of the other hens even look at her she screams and runs away, even if I let her free range in the garden she just runs up and down the fence to the coop desperately wanting to get back in, but when she does she just wants to get out! I know she is getting bullied but her stress seems disproportionate to what is happening in the coop!
The only change I can think of in the flock is a molt and a new "top hen" as well as a new nesting hutch, but this was months ago! Do you have any advice for stopping this bullying? Is it time to just give Baby to a new home, because"NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER", do we need to get another smaller chook her size so she isn't the only small one?
Their run is about 10mx, lockable nesting / roosting coop at night, veggies and kitchen scraps plus gardening excess every day as well as pellets / seeds.
I'm at my wits end with a really bad chicken bullying and anxiety problem!
I have 4 hens, A Sulfock x, an Ancona, an Isa and a very small Andalusian. They were rescue chickens, and when their former owner gave them to us, he said that the Andalusian was "a bit special" - read, bottom of the pecking order and very neuritic / traumatised (she honestly thinks I'm trying to kill her every time I feed the girls). She was always bottom of the pecking order but she is now getting bullied more severely by the other hens, I've noted some feathers missing and she keeps on escaping their run (probably in an attempt of getting away from her bullies). What's more worrying is a really dramatic change of behaviour that has become VERY strange, she often gets "stuck" in the nesting box, obsessively running up and down the ramp and unable to see the open door behind her - if any of the other hens even look at her she screams and runs away, even if I let her free range in the garden she just runs up and down the fence to the coop desperately wanting to get back in, but when she does she just wants to get out! I know she is getting bullied but her stress seems disproportionate to what is happening in the coop!
The only change I can think of in the flock is a molt and a new "top hen" as well as a new nesting hutch, but this was months ago! Do you have any advice for stopping this bullying? Is it time to just give Baby to a new home, because"NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER", do we need to get another smaller chook her size so she isn't the only small one?
Their run is about 10mx, lockable nesting / roosting coop at night, veggies and kitchen scraps plus gardening excess every day as well as pellets / seeds.
