Pullets/cockerel afraid of hens, not eating

[babybop11]

I added 5 pullets and a cockerel to my flock of 5 hens over a month ago, and recently had to tube feed one of the pullets because she became lethargic and I realized she wasn’t eating. Upon watching them, none of them eat nearly enough, and it appears to be that they’re afraid of the hens. There are multiple feeders in multiple locations in the run, I’m not sure what else to do. I even had a blood test done on the one chicken, and it showed some sort of elevated muscle enzyme consistent with an unknown trauma. So, I know that they are fighting when i’m not around. They were introduced gradually. I’m not sure what to do. Should I separate them again? Or will they get past this?

Also, my 15 week old cockerel is the most terrified. He’s afraid of everything. Will he grow out of this and be a good roo?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

How big is your coop and run? How far apart are your feeders? Do you have clutter for them to hide behind or under? Cockerels are almost always like that around older hens. The older hens put them in their place and show them manners. Eventually he will grow out of being afraid once he knows what they expect from him and should be a nice roo.

 

[Mrs. K]

Send a picture of your run. A lot of people have runs that are just an open space, a flat rectangle where every bird can see every other bird 100% of the time.

Add in pallets, small pieces of plywood to make a mini wall, old chairs, roosts, ladders, platforms, boxes, places where birds can get out of sight of each other.

THEN place the feed bowls behind these, so that a bird eating at one place, cannot see a bird eating at another.

Mrs K