Bullying! Is this normal after two weeks??

[isabrownmom]

I've had my 6 Isa Brown pullets for over 2 weeks and all seemed friendly and docile, until tonight! I came home to find one of the hens being bullied by another hen. If the poor hen comes near the bully, the bully pecks at her and chases her away. They are all the same age, from the same original flock of over 400 pullets!

I'd have thought that the pecking order would have been established by now so why is this happening? Will this behavior pass or should I get busy and build an isolation booth? Do I isolate the bully or the hen pecked chicken? Right now I have now predator proof isolation pen but I don't want to wake up tomorrow to find a dead chicken in the coop. We lock them in at night so I'm going to check on them in just a bit to see if the fighting continues in the coop. The have a 16x4x3 foot run and get plenty of food, water and treats. Today, the 6 hens gave me six lovely eggs. I'm new at this so any advise is welcome! Thanks!

 

[cmom]

I had two hens that were really aggressive so I put them in chicken jail for a week where they could see the other birds and the other birds could see them. When I let them out one was ok but one was still a bully. I put the bully hen back in the chicken jail which is a rabbit hutch that I had used as a brooder, for another week. When I let her out she was still a royal bully. I understand they have to establish their pecking order, but one hen was after blood so then I would squirt her with a hose when I saw her pouncing on one of the younger birds. Every time I saw her jump on and wail away on one of the pullets I squirted her with a hose. She eventually got the message or was getting tired of being squirted and decided it just wasn't worth it. They had feed and water and a place to lay their eggs in jail.

 

[Dirt Road]

Unless somebody is actually bleeding, you're better off leaving things alone. Chickens are constantly scuffling and pushing their weight around but about 98% of it is shrieking, flapping wings etc. and not much real harm done.

Jim

 

[isabrownmom]

Alright then, I'll just leave things alone until I see blood. I checked them over carefully when I gave them their treats of spinach and grape tomatoes out of my garden and didn't see any damage. Thanks for getting back to me. I suppose I should have the DH build me a chicken jail just in case I need it!