Bully near the bottom

[Ch1cken7]

I have a rather large lavender Orpington who despite her size is seemingly second to last or maybe 3rd to last in the pecking order. Unfortunately she’s vicious to the lowest hen who is a frizzle.

Frizzle feathers are easy targets, she’s messing wing feathers and now neck feathers because of this one chicken.

I’m struggling cause I don’t have a separate run, coop, water, food to house a single bird in. But I need to get this bird out. I’ll figure out something but question is 2 things.

1) how separated are we talking? Like cannot see each other? She needs to be in a boxes pen away from any chickens to reset? How long?

2) she’s so low in the order I don’t understand how it would reset anything in the hierarchy, wouldn’t she come in kinda low anyway and start again?

I have 6 hens and they’re all the same age about 1 year except for 2 oldest who are about 2 years. Top dogs don’t bully, just the one.

 

[thistlewick]

From what I've always read on this forum, you remove the bully and put HER in a pen that everyone can see/she can see everyone for a few days and that can reset things.

Then, if that doesn't, you remove her to a pen where no one can see her for a few days to give her a 'time out' -- not too long, just a couple days.

Then, third option if none of that works, is try pinless peepers if you're so inclined (they look mean to me, but ppl want to keep laying hens so I get it)

And fourth, if a hen is just a complete unadulterated AHOLE, then well - soup. (or sell her)

@MrsK's excellent advice "always solve for peace of the flock"

 

[Ch1cken7]

But what about the egg laying situation? I have a large dog crate she could hang out in while inside the run. But she wouldn’t have a ton of space or a place to lay eggs privately

 

[Ch1cken7]

I got creative and roped her off underneath the 4x8 coop. We have a coop attached to the run so I just ran a fence along the bottom. The coop sits several feet high so the bottom is accessible for them. I put some containers of food and water.

What about roosting at night? Will I need to bring her into the garage at night to be alone?

 

[RamenMamma]

This is my first post on BYC, but have been a regular consumer of all the fantastic posts here.
I have 9 layers and 1 "granny" hen. I allow a combination of enclosed run/fenced pasture and free range each day. My 2 Wyandots ,sisters, suddenly decided to start attacking my Lacy Frizzle about a month ago. My human eyes saw attempted murder to the point Lacy would hide and tremble and refuse to join the flock all day. Going to the coop was sheer terror for her. This was more than pecking order and I feared they would kill her. I combed thru these posts for some guidance and decided on this tactic to break them.

for several weeks I kept the sisters confined to the run while the others free ranged in full view of them. They went crazy trying to escape. I also managed to catch and hold each sister using the "rooster" technique of domination. I made myself at the top of their pecking order every day.

Lacy was able to freely join the other hens eating, grooming, dusting while the two were confined. But, how to give her the confidence back to withstand the sight of them when I would have to release them? I got a squeeze bottle of that Peck No More, a dab of purple on the back of her head and base of her neck where the bullies had been shredding her feathers. Stuff must taste terrible.

Strangely, there was peace in the coop when roosting for the night...
So, once the sisters were roosted at dusk I would take that bottle, hold it under their beaks and puff the scented air right into their nostrils. As expected they recoiled, I did it several more times each night. Then I released the sisters one day and observed what happened. As predicted they chased that Lacy and pounced but immediately let her go after a beakfull of purple. It took a few days but eventually with me still dominating them and purple dabs on Lacy their tempers seemed to cool.

I bring feed to the run in the mornings and prior to these efforts the sisters would terrorize Lacy so she hid in the roosting coop and not eat. After these efforts I decided to add my own "pecking" technique with a long metal rod {this sounds cruel but it worked}. When Lacy would venture out of the coop to eat with the flock the sisters would immediately target her. I put myself between them and her and gently poked their feathers with that rod, as if I was a hen pecking them. They stopped the attack and resumed eating.

At the same time I was pampering Lacy with her own scrambled eggs and feeding bowls since she was at the bottom of the order. She had lost weight and her molted feathers were not growing back.

Today, weeks later, the sisters have calmed down and stopped chasing Lacy even though she stays clear of them anyway. She is able to forage and groom with the whole gang now. Her position is still on the low end but I do see her starting to challenge a few of the other hens for food and perch. Her beautiful fluffy feathers are filling in the bare spots finally and she is the first one to see me bring food and run to my feet.

I have tamed her with all my pampering and when I kneel down she huddles next to me and tolerates gentle petting. I do pamper all my hens.

So, a mix of things have worked for me. But it took a lot of my time to manage and patience. And I had to keep checking Lacy for injuries, which thankfully they never got thru skin. I hope this helps.