Help with hen fighting!

Hello, I have two Rhode Island reds/two white Silkies and two Blk Austrops.they are about 16wks old,no eggs yet. But the problem is one of the silkies is being picked on, this morning there was a little blood on the side of her face. Not sure who is doing this. this only happens when they are in the coop at night.(that I Know of). They are free range during the day and go to there coop at night. Should I seperate the Silkie so she dont get hurt anymore? I cant stand the thought that she is getting beat up while Im sleeping?

Google pinless peepers, they are for sale on the Internet.

They prevent hens from looking straight forward and zeroing in on their victim. They can still look down well enough to see to eat, drink and walk. They may take a few minutes to get used to them, but your victim hens will thank you!

I have found sex link chickens to be aggressive, don't like them don't keep them, you didn't say how much room your hens are in, it might be too tight and the dominant bird is trying to chase the bottom bird away, also I think sex link hens need higher protein because they lay so much, so maybe up the protein content, and is there places where the bottom hen can get away, and do they have things to do, chickens really aren't made for confinement, they are a busy creature. Sometimes they get an idea in their heads and it can be hard to remove it.

The cruelest hens I have ever raised were Silver Laced Wyandottes, next were Cuckoo Marans.

6peepers said:

Hello, I have two Rhode Island reds/two white Silkies and two Blk Austrops.they are about 16wks old,no eggs yet. But the problem is one of the silkies is being picked on, this morning there was a little blood on the side of her face. Not sure who is doing this. this only happens when they are in the coop at night.(that I Know of). They are free range during the day and go to there coop at night. Should I seperate the Silkie so she dont get hurt anymore? I cant stand the thought that she is getting beat up while Im sleeping?

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Silkies can be pushed around by larger birds. However if the injuries are happening at night the culprit isn't one of the other pullets. Chickens can't see in the dark.

Hi Enola,
thanks for the explanation on pinless peepers, I will have a look for them out of interest.
Regards, plucky Pete.

Please help.

I have two hens. One an Isa Brown who I've had for about one year. She recently lost her mate (another Isa Brown) so I bought a Sussex from someone who was getting rid of her. I was concerned that my Isa Brown may pine for her friend and wanted to keep her company - but sadly she hates the Sussex.

I kept them separated for a two days and two nights because the Isa was attacking the other. This was in a pen along side each other so they could eyeball each other but not interact. I then let them free range together and the Isa seemed fine then.

I let them sleep in the same coup last night and whilst there was some scuffle they settled down. When I went to see them this morning though the Sussex has blood on her head, I think where she has been pecked on the comb. I will pick her up later and give her a good inspection but I don't want to stress her out anymore than I have to. They are not fighting at the moment so I also don't want to disrupt that.

I'm worried about the Sussex. Any advice would be welcome.

At this point your best to leave them alone and see if they get it worked out, separating now probably will slow things down, but keep an eye on them, some pecking and fighting is normal, since you only have the two you don't have the same worries as in a larger flock.