Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[Looney]

We have 7 chickens, the eldest (my original Omlet lady) is 6 years old, the youngest are a year old. We have never had problems with bullying so this has come as a bit of a shock.

 

Poor Zena (age 3ish) has started being badly bullied by all 6 other chickens, to the point where she will not leave the Cube, not even to come down for food and water. We started lifting her down thinking that eventually she would be accepted again but it is too brutal to watch six versus one and she just runs back into the Cube at the first opportunity. Out of desperation to get her to eat and drink I have let her free range in the garden for the last couple of days (the other chickens are in a 10ft x 10ft run) and have put her back in with the others at night. I realise this won't help the integration issues

 

My first question is why would they all suddenly turn on her? She is an 'old' three years old and looks fairly frail but would this make them single her out considering they have never had issues with her before?

 

My second question is what can I do about this! Should I just let them get on with it?

 

Any advice appreciated!

[Hayleybug]

i dont have any personal knowledge or experience of this but from reading on here i think they can suddenly turn on a normally accepted member of the flock when they are ill as they see this as a threat to the rest. maybe you could isolate her until you know whether she is poorly? then introduce her to the 'nicer' member of the rest of the flock and perhaps keep them separate? can you separate your run at all?

[Looney]

Thank you for your reply. I think you're right and they've turned on her because she's frail and not looking in peak condition It's sad as she is lonely, although she can still see them through the fence. OH decided to put her back in but got just inside the door (holding Zena) and all the chickens were battling to try and get to her and pecking OH in the process!

 

Ho hum

 

Edited to add: We can't really section off the run unfortunately. And at the moment there isn't a chicken that I would class as 'nice' to Zena! I think she is unwell, but think it is old age so not a great deal we can do about it

[scubababe]

Have you thought about putting bumpa bits on your chickens to limit the damage they do. Have you tried putting distractions in the run i.e cabbages/apples/broccoli/pecking blocks suspended from the ceiling.

 

I also give mine some black sunflower seeds which are recommended to counteract feather pecking.

 

Just a few ideas.

 

I'm sure those with more experience can come up with a few more

[Looney]

Thanks I was discussing bumpa bits with OH earlier as a potential option, so maybe we'll try those.

 

We've tried keeping the others distracted. Corn, apples, cabbages etc... I think the problem is that at the first sign of bullying Zena now hides in the Cube and refuses to come out. She doesn't have any fight or oomph left in her. I wormed them all a month ago but may try worm her again - just in case, and in desperation for a simple solution! - as if she has worms that could be making her feel rubbish. The other thing we wondered was, as she is black, she tends to hide away in the shade and be less active when it's sunny so she's sort of separated herself from the others in the recent sunny weather. This could have added to their feeling that she's not 'one of them'?