chickens pecked out other's neck feathers....

[FernbergFarms]

the picture didn't get the back half of the coop and my chickens don't even go in the back, its strange... you think she could just be molting? shes pretty young though. does that matter? and we let our chickens free range a lot so there not always in the coop if they don't want to be.

 

[50-45-1]

my chickens don't even go in the back,

just wondering if there are any windows in the back. is it to dark? there must be a reason they are not utilizing all the space they have available.
agree that with a long winter ahead you might have an overcrowding situation in our tiny coop.

 

[aart]

At 8 months old she could be having partial molt.
What are the dimension so of the coop?
More pics inside and out, please.
Lose all 'compost' and stick with the layer feed only...or add animal protein treats.

 

[FernbergFarms]

They have 3 windows and the back is partially lit up.

 

[FernbergFarms]

I 'll post more inside picture s tomorrow and the dimensions tomorrow as wwell

 

[CindyinSD]

A coop that’s fine as a bedroom and a hangout/nap time shelter isn’t necessarily going to work for a long winter. I would say 10 sq ft per bird when confined (even if the door is open and they refuse to go out) over long periods such as a week or two on a regular basis. Even then you need hiding places (like a board leaned against a wall... nothing fancy) and ideally pastimes to keep the girls occupied such as (for example) a halved cabbage stuck to a spike (a long nail pounded into the wall from outside) for them to peck at, a rack fastened to a wall that can hold greens, fruits, etc., treats hung by a string from the ceiling... not necessarily all of these things, but pick what appeals to you.

You do need to keep in mind a balanced diet, especially in winter when free range foods are limited, so be reserved in giving them sweets, such as cracked corn or fruits. The general rule I’ve heard is no more than 10% of the diet should be treats.

 

[CindyinSD]

BTW, that’s a really cute coop! It looks to me like you could add on a lean-to “carport” roof to one of the long sides, to give them some fairly cheap, somewhat protected outdoor space. You could add a pop door on the side you added the roof to. If you need the predator protection or just want to keep the girls close. It would be fairly easy to staple on some fencing.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I agree. We hadn’t finished the nest boxes when I put my four into their coop. I could immediately see it wasn’t going to be big enough. So we put an “addition” on that added extra space in addition to the nest box area. I also created a very low profile feeder and waterer to keep as much room in the coop as possible.

I have roofed my entire run for the winter, and only one wall is completely open. It’s a short wall, so they are quite protected in there, and they spend a lot of time in there. A lean to might accomplish some of this for you, as @CindyinSD suggested.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Today I heard her screening and opened the coop and they were all hanging up on her

I'm sure you meant to type "ganging up". Chickens ganging up on another is not good. If you can I'd either keep her isolated to protect her, especially if she has an open sore that needs to heal.

Or you can try isolating the ring leader. This technique is probably more effective if you can totally remove her from sight but I've had some success when I locked them in a pen inside the coop where they could see each other. With mine the others spent all day outside when they were not laying eggs. With that snow yours can't do that. Still it might work. The theory is that it knocks them out of their position in the pecking order, sometimes permanently, sometimes temporarily. So it would need to be for a few days. It doesn't always work but sometimes it changes their behaviors. Sometimes with the leader gone the others don't misbehave.

I'll wait until I see your dimensions and photos to comment further.

 

[FernbergFarms]

Thanks @CindyinSD we have a lean - to in the back of our garage that is very close to our coop rn , and we were gonna build a bigger one with that. Which we will be building soon so I'm not too worried about the space rn.

And @Ridgerunner yes I did mean that..
And last night I put Vanilla (the chicken) and Mimsy (one of the nicer chickens ) and I separated those two just last night. Now I'm worried that since those two have been separated from the rest that the rest will pick on them more cuz they haven't been by eachother...?