Bullying or Pecking Order?

[rosemarythyme]

When she catches her she pecks her maybe once or twice, but it never results in any injuries or missing feathers. In general the bullied hen eats and drinks just fine but usually gets bullied out of treats. The bullying seems to get worse throughout the day to the point where the bullied hen ends up spending the latter half of the day staying inside the coop to get away from the bully.

Is this normal behavior in re-establishing the pecking order with the newly smaller flock?
Is the flock TOO small and in need of a few additions?
Any suggestions for curbing this behavior without separating the bully?

Can you post photos of your set up? It didn't sound too bad at first description, until you got to the part that the bullied hen spends half the day inside just to hide from the bully.

Adding MORE birds to a bullying situation is probably not going to help - someone has to be bottom of the pecking order, and you may end up with more bullied birds, or more bullies.

 

[Chiggums]

Can you post photos of your set up? It didn't sound too bad at first description, until you got to the part that the bullied hen spends half the day inside just to hide from the bully.

Adding MORE birds to a bullying situation is probably not going to help - someone has to be bottom of the pecking order, and you may end up with more bullied birds, or more bullies.

Photo of the inside of the run attached.

Agreed, reading through everything I could find I thought it might be pecking order behavior, but I feel terrible for my poor hen that's constantly hiding inside the coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photo of the inside of the run attached.

Agreed, reading through everything I could find I thought it might be pecking order behavior, but I feel terrible for my poor hen that's constantly hiding inside the coop.

Most of your clutter is small and pushed to the sides. You could use something bigger smack dab in the middle to break up the space, as you look to have the space for it. Might even think about moving the coop more towards the middle of the area, if it's not permanently secured in place.

The famous clutter thread (linking directly to my entry): https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/page-6#post-25037140

 

[Chiggums]

Most of your clutter is small and pushed to the sides. You could use something bigger smack dab in the middle to break up the space, as you look to have the space for it. Might even think about moving the coop more towards the middle of the area, if it's not permanently secured in place.

The famous clutter thread (linking directly to my entry): https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/page-6#post-25037140

I never knew about this but will give it a try. I learn something new about chickens every day! Thanks for sharing

 

[mrsmistoffelees02]

I'm having a similar concern with my flock. I have 5 hens in a 9x12 foot run with plenty of perches and toys, including a peck block. But I have one hen in particular that regularly chases one of the other hens around. When she catches her she pecks her maybe once or twice, but it never results in any injuries or missing feathers. In general the bullied hen eats and drinks just fine but usually gets bullied out of treats. The bullying seems to get worse throughout the day to the point where the bullied hen ends up spending the latter half of the day staying inside the coop to get away from the bully.

The flock is all about 7 months old and have been together since 2 months of age, and this has more or less been the dynamic all along but it seems to have gotten worse since we lost a hen a few months ago that was previously at the bottom of the pecking order and was getting the brunt of the bullying.

Is this normal behavior in re-establishing the pecking order with the newly smaller flock?
Is the flock TOO small and in need of a few additions?
Any suggestions for curbing this behavior without separating the bully?

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one in this type of situation! I completely understand how you feel.
I don’t think your flock is too small, I think 5 is definitely reasonable. I have definitely seen pecking order rearrange in my flock whenever changes are made, but the hens on top have pretty much stayed the “alphas”, so I feel like if more were added it would just be a different chicken on the bottom of the totem pole or another bully to cause problems… I have 13 and still have this issue My younger half is in the coop most of the day to avoid the instigators as well, but they seem happy and healthy amongst themselves. I’d rather them go to a different area than be around the bullies 24/7and stay stressed.
I know you said you didn’t want to separate the bully, but would temporarily doing so be an option? If you have a spare dog crate, have you considered putting the bully in there inside the coop or run for a couple of days where she can be around the flock but not establish dominance? It can definitely take a chicken down a couple notches.
Obviously I’m not an expert but hopefully this helps. You’re not alone!

 

[Chiggums]

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one in this type of situation! I completely understand how you feel.
I don’t think your flock is too small, I think 5 is definitely reasonable. I have definitely seen pecking order rearrange in my flock whenever changes are made, but the hens on top have pretty much stayed the “alphas”, so I feel like if more were added it would just be a different chicken on the bottom of the totem pole or another bully to cause problems… I have 13 and still have this issue My younger half is in the coop most of the day to avoid the instigators as well, but they seem happy and healthy amongst themselves. I’d rather them go to a different area than be around the bullies 24/7and stay stressed.
I know you said you didn’t want to separate the bully, but would temporarily doing so be an option? If you have a spare dog crate, have you considered putting the bully in there inside the coop or run for a couple of days where she can be around the flock but not establish dominance? It can definitely take a chicken down a couple notches.
Obviously I’m not an expert but hopefully this helps. You’re not alone!

Thank you for the reassurance! Yes, I ultimately caved and put the bully in a crate (see attached pic). My girl that was being bullied has been out, roaming, scratching around, and happy as can be ever since. For the next few days while the bully is in jail I'll be rearranging and adding more clutter to the open areas as rosemarythyme suggested. I really hope these changes will do the trick!

 

[NouChickMamma]

Thanks for your input! It’s hard because when researching before getting chicks I found a lot of conflicting info about how many chickens can comfortably fit in a 8x5 coop (several websites said 24… I wouldn’t try that though!) and of course, chicken math. I definitely wouldn’t keep that many roosters per hen though, I have 2 Roos and 11 ladies,

My main concern was that the batch I got at the end of April seemed to bully the batch I got at the beginning of June -because the younger ones avoid them like the plague. But since it’s been a couple months that they’ve been together and everybody is still eating/drinking and no blood has been drawn/feathers plucked, I’m going to take @rosemarythyme’s advice and leave things for now while keeping a close eye on them. Thanks again for your advice!

Mine did that too. So for a while I left the smaller batch inside to eat, then I left the bigger ones inside, and now they all come out together and seem to have settled down. Although the bigger ones are still top in pecking order, and the smaller ones have to wait their turn.

The littlest one got some of its feathers pulled out, but that seems to have stopped too.