My hens don’t get along

[spies04]

My hens have been living together for two plus years and all of the sudden, some of the more dominant have become so aggressive with my other what I would say easy going hens. While they have been nasty in general, they are really aggressive towards one chicken who is not sick - just older. She is so nervous and running for her life.

My egg production across the whole house is down. I have segregated the one they are being really nasty to. But how do I bring harmony back to the house? I will not have someone just be tormented.

HELP!

 

[Tonyroo]

You did the right thing separating her. They might need more room but even that doesn't resolve the bickering.

 

[Mrs. K]

Actually, I think you separated the wrong one. I think you need to pull the bully. I would see if that calms things down. It sounds like you have a lot of tension in your flock. You might need to cull a couple of birds.

Chickens really don't make forever friends, and being raised together is just not a predictor of life long behavior.

What are the measurements of the coop and number of birds. But I would at first cull the bully, then if it does not improve, cull the victim. By cull I mean remove from your flock, often times it is easy to sell hens.

Solve for peace in the flock, it improves their lives and your enjoyment of the hobby. You really often times can't keep them all.

Mrs K

 

[LizGio]

Take bully out for few days then reintroduce. Knock her down the pecking order

 

[aart]

This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[spies04]

This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

This was a great article - thank you for sharing! My chickens are more than a provider of great eggs but also my pets so this has been hard to watch. I am going to work through options to develop my quarantine area to help control some of this. Thank you!