Bullies in the chicken yard

[Double W]

Is it best to give away the hens that I find are bullying my other hens. My one buff Orpington hen has sores all over her beak and near her eyes. There are two other hens that bully the crap out of all other hens.

 

[LaFleche]

Is it best to give away the hens that I find are bullying my other hens. My one buff Orpington hen has sores all over her beak and near her eyes. There are two other hens that bully the crap out of all other hens.

You can separate the instigator for two weeks out of sight from the flock and see if her pal stops the bullying. If not, separate both of them but far away from each other and from the flock.
If they start the bullying again after being reunited with the flock you can either rehome them or put them in your freezer for future chicken soup.

Do they free range?
What is the protein content of their feed?
How many birds are there in how big a coop and run?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. Sometimes when you have bullying the problem is with the one being bullied. There is something wrong with her or him, (disease or injury) that could attract a predator to the flock. So they try to run it off or kill it. Sometimes it is the instigator that is the problem, they are just brutes. I've seen one chicken take a strong dislike to another individual chicken, trying to kill it but it gets along great with all the others.

How much room do you have in feet or meters? Photos could help. How many chickens and what are their ages? From your post I assume they are all female. When they are crowded bad behaviors are magnified. Your problem may be due to crowding more than anything else.

Is there a special place or time this bullying happens? How many feeding and watering stations do you have? Sometimes they can become territorial about food and water and use that to bully others.

There are a lot of different things that could be going on. But you are interested in solutions. You have identified two instigators and they bully several different hens. If you can do as LaFleche suggested. See what happens and base your decisions on what you see.

 

[Double W]

You can separate the instigator for two weeks out of sight from the flock and see if her pal stops the bullying. If not, separate both of them but far away from each other and from the flock.
If they start the bullying again after being reunited with the flock you can either rehome them or put them in your freezer for future chicken soup.

Do they free range?
What is the protein content of their feed?
How many birds are there in how big a coop and run?

Yes they free range.

 

[Double W]

You can separate the instigator for two weeks out of sight from the flock and see if her pal stops the bullying. If not, separate both of them but far away from each other and from the flock.
If they start the bullying again after being reunited with the flock you can either rehome them or put them in your freezer for future chicken soup.

Do they free range?
What is the protein content of their feed?
How many birds are there in how big a coop and run?

Yes they free range. The bullies will run around until they find their favorites to bully

 

[Jmjlori]

I have the same problem. We had six pullets we got almost a year ago. When the two “alpha hens” went broody in March/April, we got 6 fertilized eggs after other attempts to keep them off the nests failed. One is white, 4 black and 1 brown. It’s the white one that gets bullied the most, of course. The chicks are different breed: red New Hampshires/leghorn mixes. They’re almost 8 weeks old and ALL chickens have stopped laying. We were down to three laying as of two weeks ago. Now the four that are not part of the “family” are run off and bullied by both of my “moms” AND the bratty chicks (they’re pretty big now, but still have the “cheep” sound).
They all have free range on about 3 acres. Woods and a pond are available, too.
I found my poor white one alone in the run a bit ago, so I snuck in and gave her some black soldier fly larvae. She enjoyed as I watched, and then I quietly left the run. I went around and before I knew it, one of the “moms” had gone into the run by herself and I heard a terrible commotion: she was after “Whitey”. I was so mad, I ran in the run and chased HER around, throwing a small plastic chick feeder her way (missing, but scaring). I know that is not the way to handle it, but I hate seeing that poor white chicken pecked at and chased away all the time so she’s alone. She’s healthy, as far as I can see from examining (feathers are growing back from their pecking and then a molt she recently finished). I think it’s because shes white and smaller. I knew kids could be mean, but these hens…OMGosh!!! seriously looking at soup this fall/winter…

 

[Jmjlori]

After my above rant, I realized I forgot to say what my “hopeful/current plan” is. A friend at church told me a while back to get a rooster. Soooo with this group of chicks, I was hoping to get a rooster that might “take charge”. I guess it’s a crap shoot…

 

[LaFleche]

I have the same problem. We had six pullets we got almost a year ago. When the two “alpha hens” went broody in March/April, we got 6 fertilized eggs after other attempts to keep them off the nests failed. One is white, 4 black and 1 brown. It’s the white one that gets bullied the most, of course. The chicks are different breed: red New Hampshires/leghorn mixes. They’re almost 8 weeks old and ALL chickens have stopped laying. We were down to three laying as of two weeks ago. Now the four that are not part of the “family” are run off and bullied by both of my “moms” AND the bratty chicks (they’re pretty big now, but still have the “cheep” sound).
They all have free range on about 3 acres. Woods and a pond are available, too.
I found my poor white one alone in the run a bit ago, so I snuck in and gave her some black soldier fly larvae. She enjoyed as I watched, and then I quietly left the run. I went around and before I knew it, one of the “moms” had gone into the run by herself and I heard a terrible commotion: she was after “Whitey”. I was so mad, I ran in the run and chased HER around, throwing a small plastic chick feeder her way (missing, but scaring). I know that is not the way to handle it, but I hate seeing that poor white chicken pecked at and chased away all the time so she’s alone. She’s healthy, as far as I can see from examining (feathers are growing back from their pecking and then a molt she recently finished). I think it’s because shes white and smaller. I knew kids could be mean, but these hens…OMGosh!!! seriously looking at soup this fall/winter…

You could just rehome her.
As being the only white bird in your flock and getting constantly bullied is no life for a chicken and she will get starved and ill.