Bully-ing question...HELP!

[BeulahBreezes]

Hi! I am having a problem with my 4 13 week old hens. (2 RIR and 2 CM) They have aways gotten along just fine. Well, when I put them back in thier pen yesterday, after free ranging all day, until dusk.......there was a lot of commotion. They were trying to fly up to only hit the low ceiling and chasing one another around the pen. They just wouldn' t settle down. This was rather unusual for these hens...never a problem like this before. This morning I notice that one of the CM's would not come out of the henhouse.....I checked in on her and she was just sitting on a roost. She looks fine. Finally she did come out and one of the RIR's chased her wildly and she ran back up into the henhouse. OUt of thee 4 birds, I thought she was #3 in the pecking order, because she always 'grazes' with #1 and #2. The other CM is the one who is usually by herself.
What can I do to stop this agressiveness in RIR #1? Do I need to cage her seperately? Could it be because it is so hot here? (90's) I can't let them free range all day, but most of the day.
I am very new at chicken raising, please, any advice would be greatly appeciated! Thanks! ~Beulah

 

[NYREDS]

Fiirst of all "bullying" isn't a concept that can be applied to poultry. It's a human behavior that's motivated differently than what you're describing.
Your bird is establishing/demonstrating her dominance in the flock. If you remove her another bird will take her place in the pecking order but perhaps not as aggressively. If you then return her to the flock she may well retake her position.
In all liklihood her aggression will decrease over time.

 

[BeulahBreezes]

Thank you for your response NYRED!

 

[BeulahBreezes]

Lucy will still not come out of the henhouse...2 hours she's been inside.....

 

[svalentine]

Good luck with all this. It does seem like bullying to me as well. I have 2 yr old hens. And the one at the bottom of the pecking order is so picked on by many of the others that she has stopped going in the hen house at night. When I go to close up she is on the back of the house on the egg hatch door. So, up high, but definitely not safe. I have to put her in each night now. And then she goes into a nesting box.

In 5 minutes time this morning 3 different birds chased her off. She stays by herself all day long and won't even come around for snacks.

If chickens have feelings I know she's unhappy. But what to do is beyone me.

Another chicken owner I know has always re-homed bully birds. But in this case so many are picking on just the one.

I'm so frustrated with them at this point I wish I didn't have them.

 

[BeulahBreezes]

Thanks for your imput....svalentine! So sorry that you are experiancing this behaviour from your birds....

I have let the Cuckoo's out of the pen....not fond of doing so because I am not able to 'watch' over them at this time of day.......atleast she can eat and drink if she's not in the pen with the 'boss'...lol! ~Beulah

 

[BeulahBreezes]

bumppity bump.......lol!

 

[lonewolf308]

Added two slightly older chickens to my flock of three that has been thinned by a skunk. The two older hens are laying already and my original hens are just a few weeks away. After putting them into the coop one of the older hens started terrorizing the younger hens and they won't come out of the coop unless run out. Even the older chickens are only laying about one egg every two days,that's one egg between them?? Hope they start getting along before chickens start dying of starvation or dehydration.