Hen doesn't seem sick but is being attacked

Hi everyone!

I bought some adult Isa Browns a couple of months ago and the last two weeks one of the hens has been
hiding outside and not going in the coop at night. I've taken her in every night and put her on the roost. Yesterday I heard a commotion in the coop and found her laying on her side. I took her inside
and she seemed just fine - I kept her in the house last night and put her out with the others and one
of the roosters attacked her immediately. I've got her in the house and she seems quite happy and not - at least to my eyes - showing any symptoms of illness. She's a bit quiet but she always has been. Any suggestions? The man I bought them from told me that they were 7 month old pullets but I have a feeling they are older than that - I don't know for sure but I suspect the hen that is being picked on is quite old - possibly the reason for being picked on? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

This business of chicken bullying is very upsetting. Often a reason why cannot be found.

At the risk of starting an avalanche of posts saying the opposite, I will tell you that I will NEVER own ISA Browns again. Great layers. But I dislike their personalities. As they got older they became VERY intense birds, aggressive and mean. The worst feather picking I have ever had was by my ISA Browns and it was not until every last one of them was gone that the feather picking stopped.

If these birds are older than you suspect, some of them may be developing an aggressive personality.

You can try and shake things up a bit, pecking order wise. If you have room to REMOVE a few of the 'top dogs' from the pen for a while, boot them into solitary confinement for a week or so, sometimes this allowes the lesser hen to get a better foothold in the social order. Sometimes this doesn't work. If all the other hens are picking on her, you have a battle ahead. If it's the roo and two or three boss hens, then get them out of there to rethink their attitudes.

I will NOT keep bullies in my flock. Knowing the different personalities of different birds, some will never be allowed in my hen house again. ISA Browns are on that list. GOod luck...I feel bad for your poor hen.

It's just occurred to me it might be the roo - I neglected to mention that I have 2 Ameraucana (I thought they were 2 roos but now I'm thinking I have one of each) and one Orpington roo in with the Isa Browns - they were the survivors of Mareks and I was afraid to put the Ameraucanas in with my Easter Eggers - thought they might get picked on big time and the Orpington roo was ill and was rejected by his original clan so I put them all together and it seemed to work but I just saw the Orpington roo running for his life from the Ameraucana - maybe I should stick the Ameraucanas in with the EEs and let them duke it out?

I was wondering if the roos were the problem - maybe take them out and see if things settle down? Like Uno I hate bully birds!

Do you mean the birds had Merek's and survived or just didn't get it while others did?

I would suspect it is the rooster/s. Ameracuana males are very active/aggressive breeders and need lots of hens to spread out the love.

Thanks everyone - I've watched them carefully today - the hens are not picking on each other but the one Americauna roo certainly is - there are 22 Isa Brown hens so you'd think there'd be enough to go around for the roo but maybe he's just too aggressive for the Isa Browns- I may have to re-home the Ameraucanas as I have 3 roos in the EE coop. Heda - what I meant by the Mareks is that last year I lost nearly all my flock to Mareks. Two Americaunas did not contract Mareks - the ones who did all died - so I had those two plus an exiled Orpington roo rattling around in my brand new coop I'd built - that's when I decided to purchase some laying hens to fill the coop as I don't want babies this year - hope that makes sense!

Terre, sorry to hear that, I wonder how old the Isa browns are? Perhaps she is just getting old, worn out, if she is old, that would make appearance of not being sick, but worn...learn how to measure the width of the pelvis (vent) and see how much room she has left there, if not much room (to lay eggs through), you bet your bottom dollar she is an old gal and just "done". I still wonder why you lost so much to mareks last year, that was such a travesty. I have thought about this when people say they lost so much to this dreaded disease. Wonder why only one bird may get it and an entire coop full of birds in the same farm don't, as the other hand, heard of farms where almost all birds get it, such a sad thing. Hope the gal gets unpicked on. have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

well I've temporarily solved my problem. Bully roo sleeps in the laundry room at night and has a private run with one hen in with him during the day and he seems happy as a clam. The picked on hen has a private little run as well and she is really picking up so I might try putting her with the other hens again and see how it goes. I can see it now - I'm going to have to build a coop for the purebred Ameraucanas and try and get him some more ladies. Sigh... chicken addictions.......!

Cynthia - I wonder the same thing - I do know that Mareks has the potential to be 100% fatal so I'm grateful 20% of my flock survived. The ones that survived are healthy and doing really well and if I breed them - the immunity will pass down to their offspring - so that's a good thing.