Bully hen plucking the others?

[ChaeBird]

She's such a nice bird to me, I hate that she is so bad with her friend, who I might add was her BFF when they were babies and dorky looking teens.. LOL Don't know why she hates her now.

Some hens are just like that.

Rosie is an awesome chicken...with people. With other hens(and dogs for that matter), not so much.

 

[kdwag]

So it seems they are, what are you supposed to do with them when they get like this?

 

[ChaeBird]

If removing the hen for a period of time doesn't work, I'm not sure. The new dominant hen in our flock keeps Rosie in her place and protects the other hens, if that weren't the case, I guess we'd be looking for a new home for Rosie.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Feather pulling and eating (not just pecking) is usually a sign of a nutritional deficiency.

 

[ChaeBird]

Very true. Rosie was (unbeknownst to us) about to start laying, definitely a big factor.

 

[kdwag]

Good to note, mine wasn/t pulling, she was attacking and biting!! ugh.

 

[kdwag]

Crazy bird was isolated for 4 days. I put her out tonight with everyone and they did well until they returned to their run/coop and then she started in again. I had noticed that with her gone, the lower two had become 1 and 2 and the girl crazy bird attacked was at the bottom, so, the victim appears to still be at the bottom and the crazy bird assumed her same alpha position and no one else really cared.

 

[ChaeBird]

Crazy bird was isolated for 4 days. I put her out tonight with everyone and they did well until they returned to their run/coop and then she started in again. I had noticed that with her gone, the lower two had become 1 and 2 and the girl crazy bird attacked was at the bottom, so, the victim appears to still be at the bottom and the crazy bird assumed her same alpha position and no one else really cared.

Have you tried something like blue kote to discourage the biting? It tastes awful, so if you're crazy bird gets a beakful of that when she bites the other hen, maybe that'll be enough to dissuade her.

 

[kdwag]

Yea, tried blu cote, didn't work--

 

[gardendragon]

I know this is an old thread, you should know I lost my hen that was being bullied. The vet said she was probably being bullied so bad because she had something wrong.
May want to have the hen that is being bullied checked out.