CapeCodHens
Hatching
- Nov 12, 2021
- 2
- 0
- 7
Hi all I was looking for some advice. I have just four chickens who were raised together and have gotten along just great until this Fall. About a week after they completed molting I noticed one hen picking on another. The victim is losing feathers and terrified to go near her. I quarantined the bully in another part of the coup where she could be seen but not touched for about 9 days. When I released her this morning she automatically started bullying again to two hens this time. I have also upped their protein intake, given them enrichment toys and snacks , they have free range of a large yard most of the day. None of the hens are sick showing any symptoms or broody but another important piece of info is no one has laid an egg since molting and that has been about a solid months ago now. Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated!!
I'm trying to think of anything you could do...
Most of the time you can break them but once in awhile one bully comes around which is extremely hard to break. I had two hens that were bullies. I caught one hen really wailing away on the pullets. I was afraid that she might kill one of the pullets she was so intent on beating them up. Originally I did take the bullies out of the flock for about a week. When I did put them back with the flock one was ok but the other was still being a real bully so I took her back out and put her back in jail for another week then let her back in with the flock and she started in again. She was so intent on a pullet that she didn't know I was there. I had a hose in my hand and gave her a good squirt with the hose. She wasn't expecting it as she was really into beating up the pullet. Boy did she ever jump off when she got hit with the water. She ran into the coop and didn't come back out for a long time. I caught her a few more times and always had the hose handy and squirted her when she was being aggressive. She eventually quit bullying, that is when I used the hose and caught her off guard. I guess she eventually knew if she kept it up she would get squirted. She would block the pop door and keep the pullets out so they couldn't get to the feed. I put a second pop door in the coop and another feeder out in their run. She couldn't guard both pop doors and feeders. She didn't actually quit. I thought things were good for awhile but then caught her again even after I put in a second pop door. I had some males that needed to go and took them to an auction. I took her too. I thought maybe with a new environment she would be lower in the pecking order or she would be someones dinner. She was a fat hen. Good luck...
