Buff orpington getting attacked by rest of the flock!

[switters]

Over the past ten days our flock has been attacking one of the Buff Orpingtons. They've pecked her neck behind her comb almost completely raw.

She now spends most of her time in the run perched up high (while the others are out in the backyard), since that's the only place she's safe.

This seemed to start after she had been broody for a while. We put her in a separate cage, and broke her broodiness, but since she's come out of the cage she has been terrorized by our other 8 chickens.

Is there anything we can do?

 

[Blue_Myst]

I would separate her immediately. As soon as her companions see blood they will not stop pecking and she could get seriously hurt!

It seems like this is what happened: your hen went broody and you isolated her, then put her right back in with her buddies. She must have been away long enough for her spot in the pecking order to dissolve, hence the others picking on her.

You may have to go back to square one and put a divider somewhere in the coop so they can "see but not touch" until they get used to her again. There is also a product called "Blue-Kote" that is supposed to be very good for stopping pecking like this, but I don't know if you can put it on her face or not.

Best of luck with her!

 

[switters]

Thanks for your reply. Now that I think about it, they started attacking her while she was broody. We figured it must have been something hormonal. Have you ever seen that before?

 

[Blue_Myst]

If she is low in the pecking order it could be a possibility. She may not want to move off the nest and "her eggs" even when the hens are pecking her insistently, so it could be she is getting just as pecked as before, she is just less inclined to back off when it happens.

I can't say I've seen this before. In fact, my broody hens tend to give a butt-kicking to any hen that comes near. Then again, only the hens in the top of the pecking order seem to be going broody. . . so that might not count as anything!

Hopefully your hens will work out their differences in a few days. Keep us posted!