Bully being bullied

[Amethyst288]

Our hens free range. One of them has been going back to the roost a lot earlier and at times keeping her distance from the flock, which I thought was strange. However she has been picking on the youngest hen, the one in my profile picture that is non-aggressive, for quite a while. She pecks / jumps at her / at times tried to grab her neck unsuccessfully. She is jealous if I give any attention to the non-aggressive hen. We have put her in a separate area several times during the year for several days at a time. This worked for a while until she started again.

Then I just caught 2 of the leader hens bullying her! It was awful to see one on top of her and the other one pecking at her comb, which has small wounds. Never saw anything like it before. So now, we have a bully who is now being bullied by 2 hens. I don't know what to do. I straight away put the one that got on top of her in the run of their coop, separated, so they can still see her - but not sure whether to prevent her from joining the others at night. Or let her join them. Has anyone had this experience of the bully being bullied by two hens? How did you deal with this? Thanks!

 

[thecatumbrella]

This article gets recommended a lot, but I feel like it's perfect for your situation. Your girl could probably benefit from some general separation (while still "with" the flock) to help build confidence. You've mentioned separating her before with some success; what about trying for longer? Maybe a couple weeks? Nervous energy can 100% attract bullying, so hopefully this will knock everyone out of this cycle.

 

[Beaus plus baby Bunny]

looks like they were probably trying to teach her a lesson maybe. to me it sounds like they were putting her in her place.
remember chickens are emotionally intelligent creatures. alot of people dont give them the credit they deserve. its believed they can remember 100 faces. it likely sounds like the 2 hens were standing up for the quiet lady.