Bullying. Again. What am I doing wrong?

[Altairsky]

Your run looks lovely to me, but maybe a little bit too artificial. Instead of the toy box which I see quite useless and boring, I'd add some peat, leaves and compost. Throw something that attracts bugs, like fruit and vegetables, and kitchen scraps. Chickens would spend their entire day scratching dirt searching for worms and bugs.
A good way to attract bugs is to take a plastic bottle, like a coca cola bottle, cut the bottle at the top so bugs easily get in, drill some holes in the bottom of it and fill it with rotting fruit. Hang it above the dirt/compost pile.
This will attract fruit flies. The rotting fruit will fill with larvae, at some point the larvae will fall out of the holes in the bottom and on the ground where the chickens will have fun looking for them. So they can enjoy larvae without dealing with the mess of moldy and rotten stuff in the run.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Your run looks lovely to me, but maybe a little bit too artificial. Instead of the toy box which I see quite useless and boring, I'd add some peat, leaves and compost. Throw something that attracts bugs, like fruit and vegetables, and kitchen scraps. Chickens would spend their entire day scratching dirt searching for worms and bugs.
A good way to attract bugs is to take a plastic bottle, like a coca cola bottle, cut the bottle at the top so bugs easily get in, drill some holes in the bottom of it and fill it with rotting fruit. Hang it above the dirt/compost pile.
This will attract fruit flies. The rotting fruit will fill with larvae, at some point the larvae will fall out of the holes in the bottom and on the ground where the chickens will have fun looking for them. So they can enjoy larvae without dealing with the mess of moldy and rotten stuff in the run.

That sounds like a really fun idea that I can save for next time. I would definitely need to hot wire my run to leave any sort of food scraps overnight (we have active black bears on the property), but that's a task I really need to do anyway.

 

[azygous]

How are things in the flock now? Is the d'Uccle still a problem? Or have you simply surrendered to having a bully?

Picking and bullying behavior often have a neuro divergent component. This means that the bully can have compulsion issues sort of like OCD or autism that excessive stimuli can aggravate.

By cutting the sensory overload, this can result in much calmer behavior. To accomplish this, you can use pinless peepers to eliminate half of the visual stimuli. Is this d'Uccle a bantam? The devices may be too large to fit, but it's something I would look into trying.

 

[2 Acres]

Or he could add his own drama without helping at all. Sure, a good rooster can help but finding a good one can be an ordeal in of itself and owning a rooster comes with it's own challenges. A good rooster is a joy to have around but I would not get one hoping he'll solve flock drama unless you want or need a rooster anyways

Mine keeps my girls in line, and has been an asset for the last 7 or 8 years.

 

[thecatumbrella]

How are things in the flock now? Is the d'Uccle still a problem? Or have you simply surrendered to having a bully?

Picking and bullying behavior often have a neuro divergent component. This means that the bully can have compulsion issues sort of like OCD or autism that excessive stimuli can aggravate.

Hi azygous. The d'Uccle ended up being a model citizen. She did have an interesting habit (on the topic of OCD): tapping on plastic for literal hours. All of my birds liked to do this to some extent, but she REALLY got some satisfaction from it. I always assumed it was a self-soothing mechanism. Like kids that suck their thumb. My guess is her attention got directed towards a flockmate that day, but she served a few hours in solitary and never bullied again. It's hard to even consider it bullying in hindsight.