Bullying and singling out?

[joannaskier]

I have 6 hens, and they are all about 5 months old and have been raised together since a few days old. I have a Rhode Island Red, a Black Sexlink, 2 Americanas, a white Bantee Phoenix, and a unknown gray colored one. They lay really well (5-6 eggs a day) but fairly recently I have observed that the one Americana is being picked on. She is a big hen, we originally thought she was a rooster, and should'nt have any problems but the other americana and the mysterious grey one have been singling her out and pecking her. No other chickens are really involved, just the 3 mentioned. The bullies do a kind of tag team where they take turns pecking. They peck her feet until they are bloody messes, and peck the feathers out of the top of her head leaving her bald. It also seems as if they prevent her from eating and drinking with the others also. I really have no clue how to fix this except maybe putting her in with my neighbors chickens for a while (may cause more problems) I really need help and advice! Thanks!

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

I have 6 hens, and they are all about 5 months old and have been raised together since a few days old. I have a Rhode Island Red, a Black Sexlink, 2 Americanas, a white Bantee Phoenix, and a unknown gray colored one. They lay really well (5-6 eggs a day) but fairly recently I have observed that the one Americana is being picked on. She is a big hen, we originally thought she was a rooster, and should'nt have any problems but the other americana and the mysterious grey one have been singling her out and pecking her. No other chickens are really involved, just the 3 mentioned. The bullies do a kind of tag team where they take turns pecking. They peck her feet until they are bloody messes, and peck the feathers out of the top of her head leaving her bald. It also seems as if they prevent her from eating and drinking with the others also. I really have no clue how to fix this except maybe putting her in with my neighbors chickens for a while (may cause more problems) I really need help and advice! Thanks!

Take the lead bully chicken out and put them in "chicken jail" away from the others. A big dog crate in your garage or something like that will work fine. Keep the bully out for at least a week before you put her back in. In the meantime, you need to make sure that your bullied hen is not bloody and has a chance to heal, so another dog crate but leave it in the coop so that the bullied chicken is never seaparated. Hopefully, that will stir up the pecking order enough to stop the bullying, if not then I'd pull ALL the bullies out and separate all 3 of them from the other chickens and each other (solitary confinement) and see how that does. Worst comes to worst, you can either make a house chicken of the bullied hen or you can rehome her.

 

[joannaskier]

Thank you so much for the advice. I wash and put neosporen on he bloody feet as much as i can. I have tried bandaging them but she will only keep them on for an hour tops. Anyone have any tips?

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

Thank you so much for the advice. I wash and put neosporen on he bloody feet as much as i can. I have tried bandaging them but she will only keep them on for an hour tops. Anyone have any tips?

Bandaging chicken feet is a booger. If you get her separated, wash and put Neosporin on there, or spray some Vetricyn, and she should be fine and not need bandages. There's a thread on here about treating bumblefoot and they show various types of bandaging, but I'm not sure anyone is ever real successful at getting the bandages to stay.