Need some advice on "pecking order"

[SDDiver5]

Hi Everyone! I have always lurked this forum for advice and other great knowledge so I appreciate all the info! I live in Pacific Beach, CA and have 4 awesome hens that give me more than enough eggs. I am not 100% sure as to the breeds because to someone new like me, a lot of the chickens look the same. I have an Eglu Omlet coop with an attached 25 feet long by 5 feet wide run. Here are some pics. The first two are when I first got them and the third one is a recent one I happened to have.






So there are a few pics for you.

Now here is my problem. I have one hen ( black one) that constantly gets picked on by the others. When I bought all the hens they were from the same person and they told me she was a silkie. After a little bit of research she looks more like an Australorp. I'm probably wrong so please correct me if so. She is at the bottom of the pecking order. Whenever she in in the coop laying, the other hens go crazy and start making all sorts of noise. When I feed them they all chase her and sometimes jump on her back and attack her. She is very cute and kinds dumb and I'd hate it if this is actually causing her pain or hurting her.

Some people have told me to get rid of her and get a new one but that will be difficult because she is my girlfriends favorite hen. Some people have told me to get rid of the other 3 and then get 3 more that are the same breed. Is there something I am doing wrong like mixing breeds that shouldn't be together? I have noticed that it has gotten worse over time and now it happens constantly. I'm hoping that this is normal and not causing any harm but I have a feeling that is not the case.

If anyone has any solutions please let me know! I was up at about 5am and heard her running around the run trying to avoid the others so I have since let her hang out outside of the coop in the backyard. Please help!

* My white chicken and the multi colored brown one are the two going after her. The orphington does not.

Thank you!!

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

how long have you had these birds all together? was she a new addition? It is true, sometimes mixing calm friendly gentle breeds with rough boisterous breeds can be a little rough. But that being said i have over 25 different breeds all living together so its not impossible. Being at the bottom of the pecking order, she will be picked on, this i sad but normal. orpingtons are a gentle breed so it is no surprise the other 2 are doing it. Has there been any physical harm done to her such as blood, feather loss or weight loss? Is she getting enough food? I have had flocks that were really bad together for the first 4-5 months (usually things start getting better after a few weeks of being together, but they took a long time. Did you raise them together or introduce them as adults?

by the way, she is most likely a black cochin, australorps don't have feathered legs Cochins are incredibly sweet and adorable. They tend to be picked on to, cause they just don't wanna fight back! They are probably my favorite breed.

 

[SDDiver5]

Thank you for your response! We got all 4 of them about a year ago and they were picked from the same coop of about 30 hens. At first they were all fine and everybody was happy. Then it started to get a little aggressive with just my white hen. Then after maybe 1 month the multi colored brown one started to do it occasionally. Now they're both doing it all the time. They will both chase her and usually jump on her back and attack her neck.

They all get plenty of food and water. At first I thought they were hungry so I started feeding them in the morning and mid afternoon and that didn't help. She doesn't have any scabs, blood or missing feathers.

She was outside of the coop all day and as soon as I put her back in they chased her, tackled her and then stood over her for 10 seconds then walked away so I pulled her back out and made a makeshift coop for her for the night.

 

[SkyWorld]

If I were you, I would kick the three stooges out of the coop and let the nice bird have the big coop for a while. I have six hens and one is one at the bottom of the pecking order, so I make sure that when she is being peck on for no good reason that mean bird gets a little spank with the fly swatter. Other times I will give the trouble bird time-out by locking her up in the run and watch her freak out as every one is out having fun. Sometime you need to be the rooster among your hens to keep proper order.

 

[mrchicks]

Hi. You're not doing anything wrong, it's just chickens being chickens.

I'd start by leaving the little victim in the run/coop with the nicest of the others, the orphington. Put the other two in a time out area. If possible leave it this way for a week or so. Then add one of the naughty hens back in and watch them. If it's getting along, leave it in there. If not, back out it goes for a while longer. What you are trying to accomplish this way is to establish that the black hen and orphington are the flock, and that the "new" hen (the one that you are adding back in) is lower than them on the pecking order. Once that works, then add the last hen back in and watch.

We've done this with a trio of bossy Marans and it worked. They were separated from the flock for about a week before I started putting them back, one by one.

 

[SDDiver5]

Thank you guys for the advice! I'm glad to know I am not doing anything wrong.

Ill definitely try the time out technique! I couldn't help but laugh when I was reading it.

Thanks you!

 

[mrchicks]

Keep us posted please. It's so darn frustrating when they act like little fluffy brats. Using the time out thing, we now have 24 layers in our mixed flock, all getting along. The polish get their own condo.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

This is a prime example of why its funny when people call you chicken like its week and scared, chickens can be violent and aggressive animals lol. Sometimes sadly the only way to deal with it is to replace the bird. I see you dont want to do that but that pecking order is pretty set most of the time. Chickens do pick on each other alot so even though you dont like seeing it she might be just fine if its not causing any injuries or serious feather loss or stuff like that.

 

[SDDiver5]

Thanks for the reply. Getting rid of the one that gets picked on will definitely be a tough challenge haha.

So for now I separated the 2 mean ones and the 2 nice ones. Like said above, I basically put them in "time out". I'm gonna give them a few days like this and see how it goes. I'm kinda worried that they are going to make a bunch of noise and upset the neighbors but oh well.

If worse comes to worse, since my run is about 25 feet long, can I just put a divider in the middle of it so they nice hens have a side and the mean hens have a side and just build another small coop?

Thanks again!

 

[rainbowhatchery]

building another coop or divider would work if you wanted to do all that. Sometimes a divider like that calms things down as well and they get used to each other being right there but cant fight and then you can re integrate them. Thats what we do with new birds, we put them in a dog kennel in the coop so they are right there and can be right next to each other but not able to fight or pick and then let them out. Seems to work really well because by the time you let them out they know each other already. Maybe the divider would work the same way, make them interact in a way without fighting then when you put them back together maybe you get lucky and they are used to not fighting. Worth a shot.