yodelinginca
Chirping
Our RIR seems to be in trouble. Do we need to cull the GSL? Do you have tips for helping with this flock dynamic?
We have a flock of 5 hens. A RIR, Golden sexlink, Black sexlink, brown leghorn, and silver laced wyandotte. All the same age (born 2019). 4x6 coop, 6x10 fully enclosed run. We do not free-range due to predators and being in town. We do not have extra coop/runs.
Our RIR is the gentlest of the flock. Our Golden sexlink is the most aggressive, but only the RIR will let her bully. The others all peck back.
A couple of years ago we found blood in the coop a few times. The first 2 times we didn't notice any wounds. The third time we noticed the SLW's ankle bleeding and the black sexlink was nibbling ul the bloody dirt, while the golden sexlink followed the SLW and kept pecking at the wound. We bandaged the SLW and put her back in with the flock. Changed the bandage regularly until healed, and there were no more immediate problems.
A few months later, our brown leghorn had the same thing happen. Same process, same outcome.
Our RIR has had wounds happen twice before, but not too bad. Just enough to need some bandaging. And our brown leghorn has also had small wounds on her ankles, but not significant enough to need bandaging.
The black sexlink and gold sexlink have never had wounds. The golden sexlink is by far the most aggressive, but the black sexlink seems to be the top hen anyway.
So...last weekend we left to run errands and everybody was fine. We returned to find RIR hiding in the egg box. She's sterile, so doesn't lay and doesn't brood- weird, she's never in the box. Picked her up and her foot was badly wounded. Scales peeled off, lots of blood. She wouldn't even stand on it if she could help it. We cleaned and bandaged it, isolated her for a day or two and even made the others sleep outside since it was warm. Then it got way too cold and windy to leave the others outside at night so we rebandaged and tried letting them roost together that night. Next morning the bandage had held, but there were fresh wounds on the toes at the edge of the bandage, and another pretty good one on her other foot. We reisolated, rebandaged, and put up a solid wood divider in the coop to keep her separate at night (removed it and blocked the others out of the coop during the day, and let the RIR into the yard with supervision for a bit each day so she's not cooped up 24/7).
So we got blu kote. It's been a week. Her scabs are now solid and she's no longer limping or sitting down frequently. We put her in with the others just to see, and within 5 seconds the golden sexlink was pecking hard at her ankles (thankfully not where the scab is).
We've isolated the GSL to see how the RIR does without her, but she was bottom rung to start with and is still running away from the black sexlink (who sometimes pecks her neck and sometimes doesn't give her the time of day). The RIR is pretty stressed.
We're pretty sure the GSL is the main bully, but the BSL also seems to be a likely sidekick. Do we need to cull the GSL? What else can we do?
Edit to add: nope. Black sexlink pecked her foot open. Caught it before it got bad, but that means we have 2 hens pecking on her. We do not have the means to isolate 2-3 chickens.
We have a flock of 5 hens. A RIR, Golden sexlink, Black sexlink, brown leghorn, and silver laced wyandotte. All the same age (born 2019). 4x6 coop, 6x10 fully enclosed run. We do not free-range due to predators and being in town. We do not have extra coop/runs.
Our RIR is the gentlest of the flock. Our Golden sexlink is the most aggressive, but only the RIR will let her bully. The others all peck back.
A couple of years ago we found blood in the coop a few times. The first 2 times we didn't notice any wounds. The third time we noticed the SLW's ankle bleeding and the black sexlink was nibbling ul the bloody dirt, while the golden sexlink followed the SLW and kept pecking at the wound. We bandaged the SLW and put her back in with the flock. Changed the bandage regularly until healed, and there were no more immediate problems.
A few months later, our brown leghorn had the same thing happen. Same process, same outcome.
Our RIR has had wounds happen twice before, but not too bad. Just enough to need some bandaging. And our brown leghorn has also had small wounds on her ankles, but not significant enough to need bandaging.
The black sexlink and gold sexlink have never had wounds. The golden sexlink is by far the most aggressive, but the black sexlink seems to be the top hen anyway.
So...last weekend we left to run errands and everybody was fine. We returned to find RIR hiding in the egg box. She's sterile, so doesn't lay and doesn't brood- weird, she's never in the box. Picked her up and her foot was badly wounded. Scales peeled off, lots of blood. She wouldn't even stand on it if she could help it. We cleaned and bandaged it, isolated her for a day or two and even made the others sleep outside since it was warm. Then it got way too cold and windy to leave the others outside at night so we rebandaged and tried letting them roost together that night. Next morning the bandage had held, but there were fresh wounds on the toes at the edge of the bandage, and another pretty good one on her other foot. We reisolated, rebandaged, and put up a solid wood divider in the coop to keep her separate at night (removed it and blocked the others out of the coop during the day, and let the RIR into the yard with supervision for a bit each day so she's not cooped up 24/7).
So we got blu kote. It's been a week. Her scabs are now solid and she's no longer limping or sitting down frequently. We put her in with the others just to see, and within 5 seconds the golden sexlink was pecking hard at her ankles (thankfully not where the scab is).
We've isolated the GSL to see how the RIR does without her, but she was bottom rung to start with and is still running away from the black sexlink (who sometimes pecks her neck and sometimes doesn't give her the time of day). The RIR is pretty stressed.
We're pretty sure the GSL is the main bully, but the BSL also seems to be a likely sidekick. Do we need to cull the GSL? What else can we do?
Edit to add: nope. Black sexlink pecked her foot open. Caught it before it got bad, but that means we have 2 hens pecking on her. We do not have the means to isolate 2-3 chickens.
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