Abusive chicken attacks poor polish hen

[CrazyChickMom]

Okay..so just this morning one of my favorite chicks (hen or roo don't know) is out and out attacking my polish hen Rita and her polish roo Fresca. The mean chicken chases after Rita and attacks her neck...corners her for attack and others join in. Fresca is missing several feathers from the top of his head. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation?

 

[popcornpuppy]

I have a White Crested Polish and she is so docile. I guess the Polish breed is known for getting picked on because of this trait. Our Polish hen takes most of the garbage our Rhode Island red roo dishes out. Her head and the center of her back are all thined out from where he tries to mount her. Our solution was to get more Rhode Island red chicks. This way our Polish is the older and established bird, so she can put the chicks in place. And all of the new red girls will keep the roo busy so that he will hopefully leave the Polish alone. In your case, it sounds like the younger chickens are picking on the older Polish ones. Try seperating the mean one from all the rest for about a week. Then when he or she gets to join the group again, the mean one will be at the bottom of the pecking order because the rest of the group will view him/her as a newcommer. (just think of it as a time out for bad behavior.)

 

[CrazyChickMom]

Great idea! Will the feathers grow back on my Polish roo's head? They have been broken off by the "mean one".

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

If they are broken before the base of the feather, you'll have to wait until they molt out and grow back. But if they are pulled out, they may grow back in a few weeks.

I do agree with that suggestion, though. Take away your meanie and anyone else who may be attacking your Polish. You can wait a week but there is a speculation by scientist that chickens forget something if they don't see it after two weeks, for example, much like how the broody hen is veiwed by her flock if she is away from her flock, brooding on her eggs, for that 3 week period. Same deal.

But now that your Polish are veiwed as the enemy, you'll have to work your way from there. Make sure they have places to escape to if they are being chased down by the other birds. If there is bloodshed, remove the injured fowl. Immediately. One second it can be a minor bleeding scratch, the next it can turn into a wound that is slashed open and life-threatening.

 

[france]

We are in the middle of the same thing. A couple of the EE's are picking on one of the polish. We finaly decided to spring for a dog house and move the 2 meanie's out of the run. The meanie's can free range.

 

[CrazyChickMom]

I need to construct a chicken jail. It seems now that some of the others are picking on the meanie. And everything was going so well!