Hi everyone! I have a few questions regarding broodiness and bullying behaviors. First, I’ll explain the situation.
Sophia is my Americana, very gentle natured and sweet. She’s number 4 in the pecking order, as she isn’t the lowest girl on the totem pole (that would be Rose, my other Americana) but isn’t part of the “Buff Lady” gang (my 3 BO girls who are the top three). Sophia has gone full blown bloody, including breast feather pulling, guarding her eggs with dinosaur screams and puffed up feathers, and us having to remove her from the nest to put her in at night.
We’ve been trying to break her broodiness by removing her from the nest & removing the eggs (which sometimes doesn’t happen until after 4pm depending on if I am working or not). She is generally ill-tempered after nest removal, puffing up at any of the other girls who come near her and constantly chattering about her discontent situation. All of this has caused a lot of stress within the flock- Sophia has been attacked multiple times and some of the other girls (Rose- bottom chicken & Blanche- somewhere within the Buff gang, often a bully of Rose) are missing neck feathers due to attacks.
What can I do to help the situation? I have been separating Blanche for a few days, but she isn’t top hen- this would be Piggy or Dorothy (both who do not have missing feathers). I have seen Piggy be a real jerk at times & I have only seen Dorothy take part of the attacks once (against Sophia).
So, my questions are:
1. How can I fully break Sophia’s broodiness?
2. Which is the flock leader? It’s definitely one of the “Buff Lady” girl gang members, but hard for me to determine. Piggy is the largest: she’s wonky/ crazy- eyed, has a floppy comb, little spur nubs, is generally kind of dominate/ bossy (I know, I know- my mom would have culled her but she’s my charity case- long story. But maybe not- I’m considering butchering her if her attitude doesn’t improve). Dorothy is generally even tempered and doesn’t instigate drama- but I have once witnessed her following the other buff’s lead in attacking Sophia. And then there’s Blanche, who is totally wanting to up her social standing by guarding food, starting little skirmishes over treats, and pushing around Rose (my favorite and underdog)
3. What can I do to restore a healthy balance to the flock? Obviously breaking Sophia will help, but I think a reset of the social order is called for by removing flock leader (see question 2).
Thank you all for your advice. As always, your knowledge is valued and appreciated
Sophia is my Americana, very gentle natured and sweet. She’s number 4 in the pecking order, as she isn’t the lowest girl on the totem pole (that would be Rose, my other Americana) but isn’t part of the “Buff Lady” gang (my 3 BO girls who are the top three). Sophia has gone full blown bloody, including breast feather pulling, guarding her eggs with dinosaur screams and puffed up feathers, and us having to remove her from the nest to put her in at night.
We’ve been trying to break her broodiness by removing her from the nest & removing the eggs (which sometimes doesn’t happen until after 4pm depending on if I am working or not). She is generally ill-tempered after nest removal, puffing up at any of the other girls who come near her and constantly chattering about her discontent situation. All of this has caused a lot of stress within the flock- Sophia has been attacked multiple times and some of the other girls (Rose- bottom chicken & Blanche- somewhere within the Buff gang, often a bully of Rose) are missing neck feathers due to attacks.
What can I do to help the situation? I have been separating Blanche for a few days, but she isn’t top hen- this would be Piggy or Dorothy (both who do not have missing feathers). I have seen Piggy be a real jerk at times & I have only seen Dorothy take part of the attacks once (against Sophia).
So, my questions are:
1. How can I fully break Sophia’s broodiness?
2. Which is the flock leader? It’s definitely one of the “Buff Lady” girl gang members, but hard for me to determine. Piggy is the largest: she’s wonky/ crazy- eyed, has a floppy comb, little spur nubs, is generally kind of dominate/ bossy (I know, I know- my mom would have culled her but she’s my charity case- long story. But maybe not- I’m considering butchering her if her attitude doesn’t improve). Dorothy is generally even tempered and doesn’t instigate drama- but I have once witnessed her following the other buff’s lead in attacking Sophia. And then there’s Blanche, who is totally wanting to up her social standing by guarding food, starting little skirmishes over treats, and pushing around Rose (my favorite and underdog)
3. What can I do to restore a healthy balance to the flock? Obviously breaking Sophia will help, but I think a reset of the social order is called for by removing flock leader (see question 2).
Thank you all for your advice. As always, your knowledge is valued and appreciated
I'm wondering how much room they have? Some of the conflict sounds as if it could be minimized with more space, or perhaps more feeding and watering stations, scattered treats, and high protein snacks like cooked eggs or mealworms. Breaking broodies can sometimes be accomplished by putting bags of frozen vegetables (peas, corn, etc.) under them to cool that overheated incubation machine. I have only ever done that once, it did work, but not for long - but the broody was a Silkie, and they are constantly broody, so no surprise. Removing her from the nest gently, as many times per day as possible, should help, and you just have to put up with her scolding, I have Cochins and had three broody girls at once this spring, I just went out and removed them from the nest right after I had put fresh water in the run and opened the gate so they could free range, and more often than not, they would take a few sips of fresh, cool water, then run out the gate (grumbling the entire time) to go dust bathe and forage with their sisters. It took right around the full three weeks of normal incubation for them to quit, but they did, and now are back to being normal hens.
