Bullying Bird

[Spartan22]

Pinless peepers?! My white leghorns are my best layers. I'd been tempted to cull them due to bullying, they'd been wearing the peepers for couple of months now and peace restored and culling got shelved indefinitely. Make sure to find a good quality ones if you decide to put them on.

 

[ellend]

I don't think space is the problem. The reason we all mention it, is it is the most common problem.

I would pull the aggressive bird, see how the flock acts, generally one of two things happen. Your flock is peaceful in a few days. Then you can add the other bird back, see if it is a go. If not, then she should either go, or try the pin less peepers, I have heard of good results with them by other posters.

The other thing might happen, is that anew bird will step up to be the bully to the victim. Then you might need to get rid of the victim. There is a theory that chickens can sense an illness or a health issue well before humans do. I myself had this happen, and with in a few days of this behavior, the hen was dead.

So frustrating,

Mrs K

She may well have been dead from being blocked (or too afraid to access) the food and water bowls.

 

[ellend]

So, since I'm pretty sure that space is not the problem, what else do I need to do so I don't have one chicken bulling another chicken?

I have one who is "slow"--she's always been "different." I now house her separately, where she and they can see and hear each other, to her relief. The others will pick on her worse if Iet them out of the run before she is already on the lawn. Less if she's the first one out. Always if she is in the main chicken run or henhouse. Bullies will keep the bullied one away from food and water. Good luck!

 

[farmgirl7]

I had one of my 6 leghorns that was behind in development (smaller, comb didn't mature as fast, etc.) and was being bullied. They still try to keep her away from food by chasing her away while everyone else is eating. I always try to toss her some while the others are busy. For awhile, they made her sit at the far end of the perch every night while everyone else snuggled up together. They didn't really attack her or bloody her in any way, but she became very depressed and I thought she was sick. She would just stand and look straight ahead without moving. I finally took her out and put her in our smaller chicken coop that I had used while they were babies. I gave her food and water and talked to her. She was far enough away that she couldn't see her antagonizers. I also wormed her, just in case. She began to eat again and drink and I was able to move her back in with the other chickens. She is still at the bottom of the pecking order, but has seemed to accept it.

Try putting up a perch made from a 2 X 4 with the flat side up. And make curtains for your nesting spaces to make them more "private" and darker. Nothing fancy, just tack up some fabric and cut a few slits in them. Chickens really like dark and private. I just made spaces under the poop deck and put a box in each one. They have lovely blue and white checked curtains.

 

[EchoesEchos]

In response to the snuggling. My birds did this until they were until they were close to seven months old. Was very cute I thought. They moved from the run to the coop but still crammed in front of the nesting boxes. Then they moved to all cramming inside a nesting box, then split up to two boxes then just rotated naturally up onto a roost at night. I believe it's just a natural evolution for some flocks.

Now at almost three years old I can go out and see two crammed into a nest box and maybe one in another one while the rest are cooing on the roosts....

Some just like to cuddle....

 

[Marthamildred1]

I also have a bully, Martha Mildred, my white leg horn has plucked half the feathers off my Rhode Island Red hen. I have tried everything I could think of, then my husband built me a chicken tractor. I'm just hoping that Martha Mildred doesn't decide on picking out a replacement to pick on. Good luck!

 

[HennaRose]

Well, Bianca ended up dying about two weeks ago. I had her in the house following another bullying incident so the other girls could be at peace while I was building her confinement coop outside. Somehow my preschooler got into my locked bathroom while I was outside and let her out and I found her in the hallway paralyzed and panting. I think the dog scared her to death, because I didn't see any injuries, but there is one dog that can jump the baby gate and he's not aggressive, but he is very playful, and it's possible he cornered her and she couldn't get away.

I'm still working on the confinement coop - I'm going to use it as the babies' escape area once they move outside while everyone is still getting used to each other. The babies are two and a half weeks old, not quite ready to move out yet, so I have some time.

 

[hrkimer4]

I'm so sorry to hear the ending to this battle. :-( I hope the new chicks and the established ones figure it out better before your heart has to break again.