Can I trade a mean chicken for a different one?

[BlindLemonChicken]

 

[rosemarythyme]

Agreed on cutting way back on treats, their diet should be mostly feed but you're putting out enough treats for a flock 10x bigger, though I don't think that will "fix" your mean girl.

The reality is your run is very narrow and because of that you have no clutter to provide hiding spaces. A narrow run also doesn't give the birds enough room to move by one another without triggering an aggressive reaction from a more dominant bird.

Best thing IMO would be to rehome this bird and just have 3 hens for now. Integrating a new bird takes more than minimal space.

As a separate issue, the nest box situation... start with blocking off the nests before dusk (and uncover once it's completely dark, if they're already laying). If they still don't roost then manually place the birds on the roost at night and do it consistently until they roost by themselves. Photos of your roost would help in case there's any issue with the layout of it that's causing them to not use it, but likely if they came from an environment where they weren't roosting at night then they never learned to do it early one so you need to show them how.

 

[mightybeckster]

I knew you people were the right ones to ask. ;-)

 

[Mrs. K]

I too, think try the pin less peepers. If that doesn't work, let the mean girl go. Keep the three. Then next year, you can maybe add 2. Then all your chickens won't be the same age and get old and quit laying all at the same time.

Mrs K

 

[MROO]

First time chicken keeper.... I have a backyard flock of 4 Lohmann Browns (that's the max we're allowed). They moved in almost 2 months ago when they were 20 weeks old. (The city allows us to have birds 16 weeks or older.) Anyway, one of them has become just a total twerp. She's pecking the other three a LOT. I can hear them squawking from INSIDE my house and I'm afraid she's going to end up really hurting one of them. (I'd rather see the top dog go than the underdog.)

I've tried to give them as best of a setup as I can - I built them a coop with an enclosed run and given them all sorts of enrichment things (swing, mirrors, xylophone, branches to climb on, treat cage, treat net, etc) to try to give them options for entertaining themselves but this one particular hen (we call her Regina George because she was the meanest girl in "Mean Girls") is just getting worse and worse.

Yesterday I actually thought I might get rid of her and get a different hen. There will be one ready in September if I want it. Would that be a good idea or a terrible idea? The new one would be 20 weeks old at that point while the other 3 would be 41 weeks old.

I thought I'd get a couple of chicken aprons to put on the two most beat up chickens to give them a break from Regina's nasty little beak. I have some spray that is supposed to prevent pecking but it doesn't work. It chokes me but doesn't seem to slow Regina down at all.

Any suggestions, thoughts? (They also are still all sleeping in a pile in the nesting box - that can't be normal at their age, can it? I'd rather they sleep on their roosting bar which has been ready for them since day 1. Sigh....)

Lots of good suggestions, here! Another thing you might try is removing your bully for a week. That often resets the pecking order while giving your more timid girls a chance to heal.
While the pain-in-the-tail-feathers is separated, add some boredom busters to your run. Bored chickens pick on each other! Start with a couple more roosts, but run them crosswise, not lengthwise like the ones already there. Put them higher up than the existing roosts and don't take the existing ones down. More perches make it easier for them to get (and stay) out of each other's way without taking up floor space. A swing hung between the uprights would be fun for them (and entertaining for you,) as well. Believe it or not, they seem to love swings! Mine also have a big stump. It's beginning to fall apart, which gives them yet another pastime ... bug hunting!
Good Luck!