Looking to see if anyone has any advice on how to deal with a chicken who is a bully at bedtime.
Everyone gets along fine during the day. It's at bedtime that the beak comes out. The hen is question always goes to bed first.
The 4 sleep in a 3' by 4' coop that has two side by side roosts. The bully selects a spot on the roost and won't let anyone else roost on that roost w/ her.
So if one of the other hens goes even to the opposite side of the roost, she'll walk over and peck at them tell they step off. She doesn't really peck at the face and it's not vicious. She's more going for the neck and not pulling feathers. But it causes drama because the others don't like it. (Can't blame them.) They step down, sometimes come out of the house and go back in and this goes on and on until the bully finally gets a roost to herself and the three others all roost up together.
I can't justify putting a peeper on her just for this 5-10 minutes of drama. I've tried spraying her with water. But they ALL hate the water bottle and when they see it they ALL freak. So it's tough to direct it just at her. I suppose one solution would be to make a little roost just for her but since she goes to bed first, I don't think she'll use it. I think she'll get up on the bigger one and the drama will continue.
Any suggestions? I'm ready to shove a Prozac down her throat at bedtime to get her to chill I'm so sick of this drama.
Everyone gets along fine during the day. It's at bedtime that the beak comes out. The hen is question always goes to bed first.
The 4 sleep in a 3' by 4' coop that has two side by side roosts. The bully selects a spot on the roost and won't let anyone else roost on that roost w/ her.
So if one of the other hens goes even to the opposite side of the roost, she'll walk over and peck at them tell they step off. She doesn't really peck at the face and it's not vicious. She's more going for the neck and not pulling feathers. But it causes drama because the others don't like it. (Can't blame them.) They step down, sometimes come out of the house and go back in and this goes on and on until the bully finally gets a roost to herself and the three others all roost up together.
I can't justify putting a peeper on her just for this 5-10 minutes of drama. I've tried spraying her with water. But they ALL hate the water bottle and when they see it they ALL freak. So it's tough to direct it just at her. I suppose one solution would be to make a little roost just for her but since she goes to bed first, I don't think she'll use it. I think she'll get up on the bigger one and the drama will continue.
Any suggestions? I'm ready to shove a Prozac down her throat at bedtime to get her to chill I'm so sick of this drama.
