Bullying during molt

[crazychick26201]

I have a young hen who is super aggressive during her molt. She has been molting about two weeks. Yesterday she attacked my lone older hen who is also molting and has arthritis and cannot get away quickly. She put a hole in the older hens head. I have my old girl recovering in a hospital crate in the basement. Any suggestions to deal with this?i am feeding them a higher protein feed and black oil sunflowers seeds plus an occasional scrambled egg but unlike what I have read they are not eating much of their chicken feed.

 

[lbgreenfield]

My hens tend to eat less when they are molting, kind of counterintuitive since they need extra protein to regrow feathers!

For bullying, you can try and separate the bully from your older hen and see if that helps. I usually put my bully hen in a small milk crate for a few hours and that seems to help. Does the older hen have a safe spot to go to if she is being bullied? Adding clutter to your run/coop could also help, the older hen could go off on her own and relax away from the bully.

Hopefully your older hen recovers from her head injury quickly, too!

 

[aart]

I have a young hen who is super aggressive during her molt.

How old is this bird, in months?