Bully Hen

[aking19]

I have been reading through what to do about a bully hen and I am still struggling. Also, the bully hen happens to be my favorite hen . We had to get rid of rooster in Nov (he was too mean) and I knew she would end up being head hen (she bullied the hens when the rooster mounted them). The last couple months I noticed about half my girls have bald backs and i thought they were just bored but come to find out the bully is mounting them like a rooster and pulling their feathers out, pecking, etc. i have isolated her for an entire week i put her in a pen inside the covered run and at night she sleeps in a crate in my garage. I let her out this morning and she went right back to mounting and pecking the other girls. My question is should i have totally isolated her from the flock for the week? Here is a pic of her setup. Not sure what to do i hate to rehome her because she is my fav but shes hurting the others. Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Many times you can resolve bullying by isolating and rehabilitating the victim of the bullying. But when the victims amount to the majority of the flock, we need to resort to creative solutions.

I'm going to suggest a remedy not many people here have heard me suggest, but it's actually used in large poultry operations to control aggression. It's a food supplement called Tryptophan. You can buy it in bulk or capsules on Amazon.

Add a quarter teaspoon of the powder to this hen's food twice a day. Or if you elect to use the capsules, give one-half or one capsule directly into her beak twice a day. Tryptophan has a sedative effect on chickens. They slow down and become lazy, preferring to just lounge about.

I used it on my flock as I had, and still do, several feather pickers, and I wanted to control it. I didn't pursue it, though. It has such a sedating effect, my chickens turned into zombies.

But for a favorite chicken with a serious bullying problem, perhaps being sedated is preferable to killing and eating her.

 

[aking19]

Many times you can resolve bullying by isolating and rehabilitating the victim of the bullying. But when the victims amount to the majority of the flock, we need to resort to creative solutions.

I'm going to suggest a remedy not many people here have heard me suggest, but it's actually used in large poultry operations to control aggression. It's a food supplement called Tryptophan. You can buy it in bulk or capsules on Amazon.

Add a quarter teaspoon of the powder to this hen's food twice a day. Or if you elect to use the capsules, give one-half or one capsule directly into her beak twice a day. Tryptophan has a sedative effect on chickens. They slow down and become lazy, preferring to just lounge about.

I used it on my flock as I had, and still do, several feather pickers, and I wanted to control it. I didn't pursue it, though. It has such a sedating effect, my chickens turned into zombies.

But for a favorite chicken with a serious bullying problem, perhaps being sedated is preferable to killing and eating her.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will research it, definitely is creative. Is there any type of egg withdrawal?

 

[azygous]

Not at all. Tryptophan is a common amino acid in all animal protein. She's likely eating it already. So are you when you go to Colonel Sanders or Chick-fil- whatever its called.

 

[aking19]

Not at all. Tryptophan is a common amino acid in all animal protein. She's likely eating it already. So are you when you go to Colonel Sanders or Chick-fil- whatever its called.

Oh duh, tryptophan (turkey coma at thanksgiving lol). Thank you!!!

 

[FrostRanger]

I would separate her for about a week and if that fails, try pinless peepers. How big is the coop and run in feet and for how many birds? Also, what's the protein percentage in their food?

 

[aking19]

I would separate her for about a week and if that fails, try pinless peepers. How big is the coop and run in feet and for how many birds? Also, what's the protein percentage in their food?

I did separate her. But I didn’t completely isolate her, just put her in her own pen inside the run with the rest of the flock and she slept in the garage. Kind of a see no touch isolation. I am afraid of pinless peepers, they look mean.

Coop is 6 ft x 8 ft. Run is 10ft x 20ft and i have 12 birds total. Their feed is 16% protein and i alternate between natures best organic layer or dumor organic layer. Most everything i find is 16% protein

 

[FrostRanger]

I would remove her completely from the flock for a week to reset her position in the flock. I would also switch to a higher protein feed. 16% is the bare minimum amount of protein and if a hen gets too little protein it can lead to behavior like feather picking. I'd try a 20% all flock if you can't find a layer feed with that protein, just make sure to have oyster shells available in a separate container. Also make sure there's enough clutter in your run so birds can escape her line of sight if needed. Hopefully between those measures she'll calm down. If that fails, ik pinless peepers look scary, but it's nicer to have a bully wear them and be able to stay in the flock peacefully rather than have her bully everyone else or have to be removed permanently. When applied correctly, while they may initially be annoyed by them, it doesn't hurt the bird at all

 

[azygous]

Pinless peepers are mean. I try to avoid them if possible as I've seen permanent damage to the nares where scar tissue will grow over the nare and make it impossible for the chicken to breathe out if it.

And I've also had chickens find ways to still feather pick wearing them. If they're used, they should be removed after a couple months.

 

[aking19]

I would remove her completely from the flock for a week to reset her position in the flock. I would also switch to a higher protein feed. 16% is the bare minimum amount of protein and if a hen gets too little protein it can lead to behavior like feather picking. I'd try a 20% all flock if you can't find a layer feed with that protein, just make sure to have oyster shells available in a separate container. Also make sure there's enough clutter in your run so birds can escape her line of sight if needed. Hopefully between those measures she'll calm down. If that fails, ik pinless peepers look scary, but it's nicer to have a bully wear them and be able to stay in the flock peacefully rather than have her bully everyone else or have to be removed permanently. When applied correctly, while they may initially be annoyed by them, it doesn't hurt the bird at all

Thank you for the suggestions. I will remove her completely from the flock for sure. Maybe I didn’t “reset” her because she was still with everyone just couldnt touch them. There was no drama like there normally is. Thanks again for all the advice