Bully and victim

[Afors]

Hey there,

The fam and I have almost had chickens for a year and we’ve lost a couple to a falcon and another to scissor beak, but other than that things had been going swimmingly. We have 7 currently 4 EE, 2 RIR, and 1 sapphire gem. Three of the EE are about 6 months younger than the rest of the flock. Eggs have been awesome and so have the birds. The wife has enjoyed them much more than she thought she would. However, this all got flip turned upside down about 45 minutes ago. I went out to gather eggs and lock up for the night and all but two hens were out in the run grabbing a last bit of light before heading in to roost. I opened the nesting box and my sapphire,who is molting real bad right now, but was on top of one of my younger EE and going to town on her neck feathers. The EE jumped out the nesting box and ran and hid behind my leg. I scooped her up and noticed her neck was bloody and bare of feathers in a patch about 1” by 1/2”. It’s a pretty bad wound too. I put some ointment on it and cleaned it up a bit. I currently have the victim in a dog crate with some food and water and the bully in another container as well. How long should I separate them from the flock? I saw an article about having a jail in the run and putting the victim in there for the day time so they can still be with the flock.

Just looking for some ideas and recommendations since my 11 months of chicken keeping knowledge is tapped out.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I normally keep the injured in the run and coop but separate just so I don't have to do the 1-2 weeks of reintroducing into the flock. It is less stressful for everyone.

 

[aart]

I've never really had to deal with this,
I have enough space that a 'victim' can get far enough away to usually break the cycle.
That your victim was hiding in a nest and being bloodied sounds severe.
In your scenario I'd isolate the bully rather than the victim.

Bullying is often a space and/or diet issue.
What all and how exactly are you feeding?
Include brand/model/protein and calcium percentages of main feed.

How big is your coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help immensely here.

Oh, and, it always helps to know.....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[rayrose]

I just went through this with a white maran, who was really sweet to me, but a complete task master with the rest of the flock, always biting and chasing for no reason. I tried putting her in jail twice, 2 weeks at a time. My mistake was placing her crate inside the run. I couldn't see this at the time, but her mere presence obviously kept the flock in flux. So when she got out, her behavior never stopped and she never lost her dominant position. I know now, that I should have placed her crate inside of my garage and totally out of sight from the flock. If I had done this, maybe the flock dynamics would have changed. In order to preserve the rest of the flock, I had to cull her yesterday. It broke my heart, but the flock is now at peace and totally happy. Raising chickens is not all fun.

 

[Afors]

I've never really had to deal with this,
I have enough space that a 'victim' can get far enough away to usually break the cycle.
That your victim was hiding in a nest and being bloodied sounds severe.
In your scenario I'd isolate the bully rather than the victim.

Bullying is often a space and/or diet issue.
What all and how exactly are you feeding?
Include brand/model/protein and calcium percentages of main feed.

How big is your coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help immensely here.

Oh, and, it always helps to know.....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2475084

I’m in western Washington. Lots of tine in the coop as of late due to it being dark around 430pm till 8am ish. I am feeding Purina flock raiser it’s a 20% protein formula and i have oyster shell as free choice. A couple times a week the get a few handfuls of “grubblies” they’re a soldier fly larve. The coop 4’x7’ with two separate roosts in there and the run about 8’x12’ with about half of it covered and a little extra under the actual coop.

 

[Afors]

I just went through this with a white maran, who was really sweet to me, but a complete task master with the rest of the flock, always biting and chasing for no reason. I tried putting her in jail twice, 2 weeks at a time. My mistake was placing her crate inside the run. I couldn't see this at the time, but her mere presence obviously kept the flock in flux. So when she got out, her behavior never stopped and she never lost her dominant position. I know now, that I should have placed her crate inside of my garage and totally out of sight from the flock. If I had done this, maybe the flock dynamics would have changed. In order to preserve the rest of the flock, I had to cull her yesterday. It broke my heart, but the flock is now at peace and totally happy. Raising chickens is not all fun.
[/QUOTE

So sorry you had to do that’s. Raising anything isn’t fun at times but the good outweighs the bad most the time. I currently have the victim in the run but separated from the rest of the flock even though they never have given her grief. Going to do that for a few days. Her head looks way better today than last night. It’s closed up and stopped bleeding. She’s eating and drinking plenty and is much happier to be held than normal. As for the bully she’s in a very large dog crate on the porch out of sight from the coop.