Bully BRs - stay or go?

[backwards hat]

Hi everyone! Looking for some advice.

Background:
I have 4 Amberlinks (2 yrs old), 4 Barred Rocks/BR (2 years old), 2 RIR (1 yr), 1 Australorp (1 yr), 2 Easter Eggers/EE (3 mths).
The main coop is a converted 10x10 shed. The chicken run is enclosed and is 16x20. There are multiple feeders, waters, and nesting boxes. There are multiple roosts in both the coop & the run.
There is a mini coop adjacent to the main coop and is currently housing the Easter Eggers.

Issue: The Amberlinks are #1 in the flock. They are totally chill, occasionally they will peck the other girls but nothing major. However, the BRs (which are the middle of the pecking order) have always been downright mean to the younger 1 yr old chickens. They deliberately chase them around, push them away from food/water, pull feathers, block nesting boxes, etc. The BRs are super friendly towards us, will sit on our laps, lay almost daily, and are great chickens - if you factor out their bully behavior to those younger than them.

A few weeks ago, DH told me he saw one of the BR's viciously attack our Australorp in the run. The BR was on top of her just pecking at her head. I inspected her, she seemed fine, no blood, so I just made a mental note of it to keep an eye on that particular BR. Since watching her, I've seen her run across the field to go out of her way to attack the Australorp. She does this inside the run as well as while free ranging. The other day I actually witnessed the BR viciously attack the Australorp first hand. The poor Australorp was making awful crying noises and was flat on the ground while the mean BR was pecking at the pin feathers on her wing and head. The BR didn't even stop until I entered the run and pushed her away! It was horrible. This time there was blood. We moved the BR to "rehab" - a decent-sized crate with food and water - where she has spent two nights so far.

I'm really worried about reintroducing the mean BR back to the flock. I've spent so many hours reading posts here that I have concerns. A couple people posted that the re-introduced hen was good for a week or so and then went back to her old behavior. I just can't tolerate that. I've got 2 young EE to introduce to the flock soon and I love them to bits and will not allow them to be attacked so cruelly.

And now I've got another BR running across the yard to torment one of the RIRs. She runs up behind the RIR, causing her to hover as though she is about to be mounted, and starts pecking at her head multiple times. The RIR is missing feathers from her head now, and a 3rd is starting the same behavior - going after BOTH the RIR & Australorp. UGH.

As said before, the BRs are great hens. I love their personalities and they are very special BUT I plan on continually adding to the flock every year and the anxiety about worrying if the new ones will get attacked is killing me. Should I rehome all 4 BR (or maybe keep 1 or 2?) and buy eggs (gasp) for a bit of time until the EEs start laying? Should I try a very long rehab with the 2 super awful BRs? Will rehab even work???

Additional note, DD & I will be out of town shortly (of course this all escalates right before we leave) and DH & DS will be taking care of the chickens, but they won't be able to keep an eye on them all the time. If this behavior happens while we are out, DH won't tolerate it and the BRs will be gone so I need to get a plan in place before we leave so that everything is calm while we are gone.

As always, thanks for your insight and advice.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Personally i wouldn't keep them with the flock. If that means get rid of them or make two flocks is up to you

 

[bobbi-j]

If you plan on adding to the flock every year, are you going to also subtract, or keep adding more coops and space to your run? Eventually, it’s going to be too crowded if you don’t remove a few chickens when adding more. Overcrowding can cause a lot of bad habits to develop, such as bullying, feather picking and cannibalism.

You are the only one who can decide how much nonsense you’re going to put up with from your BRs. Are you keeping a flock of chickens, or a bunch of individual birds? If you’re keeping a flock, you manage your chickens for the betterment of the whole flock. Sometimes that means removing birds that aren’t working out. If you’re keeping individual chickens, you spend your time trying to manage each bird. That can take a lot of time and energy, I think. If this were my flock, the bullying ones would be gone. Especially if you plan on adding young chickens every year, and these bully the younger ones.

 

[Whigru]

I had a BR that we rehomed earlier this year for this same behavior. She was great as part of her original flock of 2/3 (lost one along the way so it was just her and a RIR for several months) but when adding two little ones, she was down right evil. A lot of the same stuff you mentioned - attacking, pulling tufts of feathers, cornering and tormenting, etc. I tried to keep them separate but visible for several weeks and nothing seemed to help. Even though she was clearly top dog in the flock, it was like she couldn’t help herself. Eventually i got tired of having to watch and listen for baby chick screams and we found a new home for her. Good luck!

 

[WatkinsCluckers]

I just had to re-home one of our BR's because she was just so aggressive to my silkies. I understand that Silkies are pretty meek, but my other BR and RSL were so chill with everyone that once I got rid of that BR, it was so nice and everything was so cohesive.
I know it's not what you would like, but she's not going to get any nicer

 

[HappyClucker7]

You could try removing the bully from the flock for a few days (which you have already done) and when you put her back you can put pine tar on the hens that are being bullied. Just put it on all the spots where they are being pecked. Chickens hate the taste of pine tar, so once the bully gets some in her mouth, she won't try to peck the other hens anymore.
If this doesn't work, I would rehome the bullies.

 

[aart]

DH won't tolerate it and the BRs will be gone

Sounds like a good plan!

If this were my flock, the bullying ones would be gone.

Same here, they will be delicious!

 

[Mrs. K]

You could try pin-less peepers. People have reported huge success with them. And I would try them before leaving them with DH. They block their forward vision, so they can't chase or harass chickens. With chickens, out of sight is out of mind.

Then, if things settle down, good, if not... out they go. Always solve for a peaceful flock.

Mrs K