Big Bloody Problem!

[NewHenKeeper]

Help! Our hens are bullies! Let me explain what has happened. We are new to having hens. We bought a house and our friend, who knew we were interested in getting some chickens, found a new job out of state and gifted us her 6 chickens and their coop. There are 3 RIR (one of whom is clearly the dominant one), and 3 Wyandottes (one of whom is the obvious runt, for lack of a better term). They are all about a year old, and from what I've read, they are just starting to develop a pecking order. All the hens except the dominant one are missing some feathers on their rumps, presumably from pecking one another. Our friends said she hadn't seen any aggression in them, just some feathers missing. A few days ago, somebody broke an egg while fighting and it got all over the already-wimpy Wyandotte. All hell broke loose. When they got calm enough for me to check, our poor Wyandotte had crusted blood on her left wing, and her rump was pecked until bleeding. We removed her to a makeshift pen with some fresh water and feed, and clean pine shavings so she could heal up a bit, and kept her on our sunporch. Needless to say, she hasn't been laying. This morning, she broke free. She reluctantly let me pick her up, and I took her to the yard to let her peck some. She saw the coop and went running at it, so I let her back in. They were all fine, so I let her stay there for about an hour. I just checked, and she looks like an abuse victim! Her tail feathers are mostly gone, both wings are bloody, her neck is bleeding, and she won't let me get near her! I have no idea what to do besides separate them (which I have done). Our coop is about 6' x 10'. Is it a space issue? I could let them roam the yard, but it isn't fenced and is on a fairly busy road. I don't have a lot of time on my hands, either, as I have 6 month-old twins to care for to. Somebody, please help. I'm afraid my girls are going to kill each other, and I'm sad. I'm certain we can manage this, I just don't know how and may be in over my head. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[eaglerugby04]

Please help her!

 

[chickwhispers]

I too am new to having chickens and very busy so I understand your dilema. I have 8 in a 5 X 9 coop but there is also a 5 x 13 run outside ( which is in the process of being expand to 13 X 20) and mine are still young, only eight weeks old. But I do have one beautiful but very mean white Ameracauna. It looks like she is actually a he. One day about 3 weeks ago he already had picked at one of my other Ameracuanas, a pretty Blue Wheaten little girl, until she bleed on her back. I immediately broke up the pecking and picked her up and took her out for the day and put triple anti-biotic oinment on her and applied it thick enough again when I put her back in that she wouldn't taste good or feel good on the others beak so she would be left alone. I would try to find a place to keep her out while she heals and only gradually introduce her back in with the others. I would put her in a large wire dog cage if you have one or can get one cheap enough. Having your hands full with 6 month old twins doesn't leave much time to build or partition much. She won't need much floor space while she heals but will need a good bit of TLC, and a cage like that will keep her safer and will be easier to gradually re-introduce her to the flock. I would also keep an eye for the leader of the pack. That same one of mine also tried to attack one of my Black Copper Marans and started drag her around by the neck when i tried to introduce my 5 marans to the 8 (the marans are 3 weeks younger and in a separate "jr cage"). I let him know by being more aggressive with him that that kind of behavior won't be tolerated. I pushed him out of the way when he tried to go back to peck more and --- now this will sound wierd but I "crowed" at him like I was the boss

and continued to hang out until he had calmed down. He is still aggressive but hasn't pecked anyone to the point of blood since, but then he is still young! Also one more thing - you might want to put a red light in the coop so they can't see the red blood so easily until they have their pecking order figured out again. I hope I have given some feasible ideas and best wishes with your hens and Congratulations on your twins! Now I have to figure out where to expand my coop for my marans - they call it "Chicken Math"! LOL