One chicken is being bullied by the rest of the flock & it's BAD!

One of my Rhode Island Reds is being severely bullied by the rest of my hens. I have 4 reds and 3 Australops (I know I spelled it wrong, so I'll refer to them as "the black ones") in a roomy pen. About 2 weeks ago one of the black ones started attacking this one hen in particular and everyone would join in. Well, it's gotten so bad that this one hen just hangs out in the rafters where they roost and will not come down. She is not eating, drinking or socializing and I am scared for her life. What can I do to stop this bad behavior and improve her quality of living? I know I could remove the offending chicken but I don't know where I would put her and I wonder if the flock will just turn on her when she is re-introduced.

Interesting problem.

I dont have any hens yet but I think i would build a inner pen in the run so your bird could be seen by the others but they could not get at her, this would give her time to heal & let the others get used to being around her.

Could be a problem at night tho !

Reg

If you take a chicken out, try taking the bully out for a few days, not the victim.

No matter what you do, make sure you put the victim in a safe place or protect her each day, to eat and drink. Since this has been going on for a bit, she may be starting to have a problem from not eating and drinking enough.

For space, how many square feet do you have per chicken? Has anything about their care or daily activities been changed? Have you added or lost any members of the flock? Are they eating enough protein and a balanced chicken feed? Could they have external parasites? Are they getting a period of darkness to sleep every night? Are any of them molting? Any of these things can make chickens more fussy and contribute to pecking.

In addition to correcting what's bothering them, you can try to add more diversions, like foraging in some hay or hanging a cabbage in there. Tossing some grain around in the coop litter. I'd add an additional food and water container in a different location, too.

If all of that doesn't work, you can get peepers, to block the vision of the bully or bullies.

just cull her.

Can you afford to get one of those dog cages from Lowes (about $65 plus tax)?


They are large enough for one or even two full sized hens to live in temporariliy.


I have one, and I just keep it in the main henhouse 24/7/365. When I need to isolate a chicken for some reason, I put the chicken in that cage, where she can still live among her flock, but she is protected from danger.


In a case like yours, I would isolate the victimized hen in that dog cage for a few days. Of course, I'd provide her with food and water -- and maybe special treats like some suet or something to help keep her entertained.


But then after she healed a bit and got some good food and water into her belly, I'd turn the tables and lock up the main bully(ies). Even if I had to cram in three of the worst bullies into that one cage, I would do it. Offer her freedom with the better behaved birds, while the biggest behavior problems got several days of lockup.


I had one lady who was shaping up to be a particularly bad bully, and it took an entire week locked up in that cage, but I got her behavior under control by caging her that way.

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I'd cull the bully long before I'd cull the victim, unless there was a reason for doing otherwise.

You really need to look at the underlying issues that may be causing it, though. Otherwise, you can just get a new victim or a new bully. It's not always a case of just one bird being a problem.

I know this isn't the case for everyone but I had a RIR that was bullied something terrible. She had gotten to the point that she could barely eat, she didn't clean herself, she was completely anti-social and went into little panic attacks about everything, once while I was holding her and had to actually revive her (dipped her beak in ice water and patted her until her colour came back). She was the runt and everyone said to cull her. I brought her inside, fattened her up, got her clean, trimmed her bum gave her some booster like you use for chicks (she isn't laying eggs so I didn't worry about the medication). I culled the bully who turned out to be a mean rooster anyway, put her back out at night and let her be. It took a couple weeks which was agony for me watching the whole time but now she is still the bottom of the pecking order but she is thriving! She is bigger, socializes, takes dust baths (I hadn't seen her take one in months) and is even mating with the rooster for the first time. Don't give up on yours yet. You may be able to do something similar.

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If someone is asking for help, they are probably looking for advice besides culling. I'm sure most can come to that conclusion themselves.

If you haven't already, get a red light for your coop. It will calm them and confuse them, they won't be able to tell blood from everything else. Chickens under stress will turn cannibal, so look for signs of stress: lice, fleas, mites, crowding, not enough feed or waterers, not enough nesting or roosting areas, etc.