Is your dog's unusual barking a secret code for something mysterious?

[loumabel]

Hi everyone, I know I have another thread going about the ex batts that I have just got but I have got a bit of a specific problem with one of them so wanted to list it seperately.

We only picked up the 6 newbies on Saturday and I know there will be squabbles but one of the chooks seems to be picked on by all the girls at the same time. She seems to spend most of the day hiding in the cube and when she does come out they all jump on her pecking madly! I have put three seperate food stations out and two water so they shouldnt squabble over them. I have hung up a pecking ring but this is being ignored at the moment and they are not interested in treats yet. I am a bit worried about her she looks actively depressed, no blood seems to have been drawn yet! Any ideas? Should I get some anti pecking spray, although I read a post on here where that seemed to have had the opposite affect, so not sure what to do.

Thanks to you all in advance, I don't know what I would do without this forum

 

Update: Just been down to see the chooks again and I am really worried now. Lily is the chook being bullied and I think she has been in the cube all day. I shooed her out into the run and they literally all just jumped on her at the same time pecking and she was shrieking. I had to step in and stop them and let her back in the cube . I put a small dish of food in with her because I don't think she has eaten at all today. She is clearly terrified! Help What should I do? Should I seperate her?

[majuka]

I really feel for you. I had a similar problem with my last ex batts and little Alisha This is the background to the thread I posted at the time.

 

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=73389

 

I left Alisha food and water in the coop because I don't think she came out unless we were there. I was in two minds whether that encouraged her to hide in there but I think she was too scared to come out, even if she was really hungry so I figured at least she would be able to eat and drink in there.

 

I mixed her with one of my very placid girls, Georgie, and that did give her some confidence.

 

A poster on my thread raised the possibility that Alisha had underlying health problems that the other girls had picked up on. We did actually lose Alisha quite early as she had peritonitis Things did get better for Alisha as she was not as frightened of Georgie after we kept them together one night. Most of the others lost interest in her a little bit. It still really saddens me though as poor Alisha was never really accepted, either by the girls she came out with or my existing ex batts.

 

Can you observe who is least likely to pick on Lily and try and encourage a friendship? As I understand it, you should separate the bully, not the one being bullied (unless she is badly hurt) as it will make it even harder for her when you have to reintroduce her.

 

I found it heart breaking to deal with, what was happening with Alisha wasn't normal pecking order issues, she was terrified poor girl and it made me physically sick to think about it. Good luck, keep us posted.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Guest

[MedusA]

My suggestion would be not to separate her altogether but if you can section off a bit of the run as her personal zone, that might help. The others will still be able to see her but not be able to get to her, and she can settle in to her new surroundings. Or if there is one particular bully, you could reverse the procedure and put her in a "time out" area in sight of, but apart from the others. Squirting the bullies with a water spray sometimes helps, but you can't be there all the time.

 

Good luck. These situations usually calm down quite quickly, once the pecking order is established, but are worrying until they do.

[Tweety]

Poor Lily, it does sound a particularly awful sorting out of the pecking order. It is particularly difficult when all the others are attacking her, not just one or two.

There is always going to be some argy bargy whilst they sort themselves out, but I would be tempted to remove the 2 or 3 worst bullies and see what effect it has on the situation. If it makes no difference, you may have to then try removing Lily plus the least aggressive hen and letting them establish a unit before trying to reintroduce them.

Good luck, it is very upsetting to see them behaving like this, but it almost always resolves itself in time.

[counturchickens]

One of our last intake was being bullied by the 2 other newbies, due to impacted crops with the 2 bullies I had to remove the bullied one as they were nil by mouth. I put her in with the older girls, no problems! It may be worth a try, if you can be on hand to check they are ok. All now well and happy and living in the one cube! I just put her in the cube at bedtime.

[Space Chick]

I would try pairing her with another of your girls that you can trust.

 

I had the same with my ex batts, although the bullied one ended up blossoming into the most beautiful hen, and now is my only survivor out of that intake, and is still going strong (albeit slower and hasn't laid for months and months)

 

So there is hope in these situations ((hugs))

[loumabel]

I have had to pull Lily out of the run and cube tonight. I sat in the run with her for about an hour and the others are just relentless in their bullying even when I squirted them with the water spray one managed to draw blood, I felt i had no alternative but to remove her . We have a section of WIR where the two cubes are on slabs and the chickens don't have access to it but it is in full view of their WIR so I have put her in there with a cat carrier as a bed. I am wondering weather I could slowly introduce her to my Bantams instead and maybe she could live in their cube with them. Do you think this would work? I am going to try her back with the Ex Batts tomorrow but as they all attack her it is hard to pinpoint a bully to remove from the situation. The rest of the new girls seem to be rubbing along together ok, a bit of argy bargy but nothing to worry about.

[Falkor]

I would try pairing her with another of your girls that you can trust.

 

I had the same with my ex batts, although the bullied one ended up blossoming into the most beautiful hen, and now is my only survivor out of that intake, and is still going strong (albeit slower and hasn't laid for months and months)

 

So there is hope in these situations ((hugs))

 

Exactly what I was going to suggest Debs

 

There is quite often some argy bargy but this sounds quite severe. Exbatts IME do not do well when seperated from other hens so if there is one of the others that is quiet when away from the rest of the mob then I would pop her in with Lily. We do not even let hens travel so living alone is not recommended. The drastic changes that they have gone through in the last few days can stress so being with others at least keeps some of the norm.

 

Is Lily noticeably different to the others.... for example she is a baldy and they are all well/reasonably feathered or vice versa?

[loumabel]

Lily has a bald neck and head but the others don't look much better in fact the worst bully is really bald! i will have to leave her on her own tonight now but will try again tomorrow. I think I might remove the two who I think are the worst bullies in the morning and see how she gets on. If that doesnt work I will remove her again and try and select the nicest one to put in with her and see how that goes. If not it will have to be in with the Bantams but I don't want her taking bad habits into their run!! Oh crikey!

[Falkor]

Give them a few days and I am sure they will settle. If you are there to supervise all the better.

[loumabel]

Thanks so much to space chick and Falkor for your fab advice!! and everyone else too. This morning I selected the most placid chicken from the mob (Rose) and put her in with Lily. I have borrowed a duck house from my friend and set that up in the run with them and they seem very happy. Lily is walking around, scratching, eating and drinking and her whole stance is of a much happier chicken, no fighting or pecking and she even layed an egg. I know its early days but I feel much happier about the situation. As you suggested I have put both the Ex Batts and the exiled two's food either side of the weld mesh and they are happily eating on both sides with no problems. Should I leave them like this for a week or so and then try some intro's again? Thanks again to you all, I will keep you posted

[Space Chick]

I'm so pleased things are improving

[Tweety]

That is a relief. Yes, I would leave them like that for a few days and then maybe try free ranging them all together.

[karlotta]

It's often the ones that shriek the loudest when pecked that get the hassle. Those that just run off seem to settle down faster.

 

When I got my ex-batts one of my girls (Eileen) was almost totally bald - much balder than anyone else. There was a bit of pecking the first few days (ex-batts seem to be the most brutal for this as they are used to having to fight for every morsel of food/space). However Eileen always tended to be the most hysterical about a bit of a swift peck. A few days later Eileen had totally come into pin (millions of quills allover her body). I came home from work to find her cowering in the cube - the others had ripped out almost every quill and she was covered in blood.

 

I separated her straight away and popped her in a cat carrier overnight. I fully expected her to pass in the night as she looked so tragic.

 

Next morning I popped the carrier on the grass and she creeped out and started pecking! I was amazed to say the least. I made the decision to not put her back with the other batts and instead bought her a cheap ark and popped it inside my bantams electric fence.

 

She lived alone (but in the sight of the bants) until the new quills (that soon came back) were covered by the ends of the new feathers. I then took the decision to introduce her to a couple of my gentlest pekins. TBH they ignored her but she merrily followed them about. She stayed with the bants until I relocated all the other batts and my original hybrids to a new electric fence area in another part of the garden. At this point they pretty much ignored her (I assumed they each thought she was part of the other flock so everyone stayed clear!)

 

Anyhoo.... after that massive essay, I recommend finding her a nice quiet friend to keep her company and then try re-introducing when she's gained some confidence/feathers etc...