Chicken Bully

[lindsayrussell]

hi! I have a flock of seven chickens that have been together since birth, yesterday one chicken kept on bullying the other and pecking at her until she became wounded. we have separated the injured one but all the chickens can still see each other (she is in a covered dog kennel beside the outside of the run). we plan to put her back with the flock after about five days...any thoughts on this? or suggestions? it’s sad watching her sleep alone at night too

 

[Perris]

hello @lindsayrussell - welcome to BYC

Sorry to hear about your bullied bird; it's very common, sadly. Chickens can be horrid to one another. Yes, when she's healed put her back - and I'd swop her with the bully, so the bully is separated in sight of the rest for a few days. That will demote her, and hopefully stop, or at least retard, a repeat of her bullying. Good luck!

 

[aart]

I have a flock of seven chickens that have been together since birth, yesterday one chicken kept on bullying the other and pecking at her until she became wounded.

Wondering why the attack happened.
How old are these birds?
How much space in coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.

 

[lindsayrussell]

hello @lindsayrussell - welcome to BYC

Sorry to hear about your bullied bird; it's very common, sadly. Chickens can be horrid to one another. Yes, when she's healed put her back - and I'd swop her with the bully, so the bully is separated in sight of the rest for a few days. That will demote her, and hopefully stop, or at least retard, a repeat of her bullying. Good luck!

okay ! i heard of doing that and will try ! thank you

 

[lindsayrussell]

Wondering why the attack happened.
How old are these birds?
How much space in coop and run, in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.

hi! our chickens are seven months old and were all raised together. we bought them at five months old from A coworker‘s daughter who raises chickens.
the chickens
buff orphington
cinnamon queen (“leader”)
welsummer
black australorp
barnevender
lavender americana (being bullied by the leader)
red jungle fowl

the coop is 6x6x7’high and the run is Run is 18’x6.
please ignore the crate and dog kennel that is for the injured chicken lol

 

[Flockincrazy]

when my golden sexlink tried that when I just integrated my 4mth old EE's and white leghorns into my main coop so I did the dominance method i just hold her down chest to the ground let the little ones run free and hold her for a minute or so while they are walking around then let her up it lets her know that I'm the queen and not her and she stops

 

[lindsayrussell]

when my golden sexlink tried that when I just integrated my 4mth old EE's and white leghorns into my main coop so I did the dominance method i just hold her down chest to the ground let the little ones run free and hold her for a minute or so while they are walking around then let her up it lets her know that I'm the queen and not her and she stops

thank you ! so you are saying that i can hold down my lead chicken for a minute or so while the other ones run around? Thank you

 

[Flockincrazy]

thank you ! so you are saying that i can hold down my lead chicken for a minute or so while the other ones run around? Thank you

Yes it will teach her that you are in charge and she is not aloud to be a bully she will still control the flock but she won't be so nasty about it

 

[Eva2020]

So... my situation will take minute to explain but I'm wondering if someone can help me out, I'll give as many details as I can. I have 4 hens. A RIR (Rosie), and Leghorn (Lily), a brahma (Poppy), and an ameraucana (Violet). We got them when they were 1 month old (now 6 months). A little over a week ago Lily cut her comb on a piece of the run. Fixed the run, separated her and it healed nicely. We put her back with the other chickens last night. However, yesterday afternoon, we noticed someone had bullied Rosie and her comb was pecked, we separated her. Then today we noticed Lily's comb was pecked at again, and saw blood on Violet's beak, so we think she did it. It's kind of been stressing me out, we might put Rosie and Lily together now, they are both pretty chill. I'm worried about having to permanently remove violet now. We live in the city, so we dont have much room and I don't want her to be alone, but I don't want to keep having conflict. Also because the pecking order has been all over the place since we removed Lily, put her back, removed Rosie, then removed Lily again. I don't really know what to do, they have been in that coop and run for awhile, so it should be plenty of space for them (13'x3'x4'). Any tips would be highly appreciated.

 

[Flockincrazy]

put both back in on a morning you can sit and watch them to see who is being a brat once you find out hold that one down chest to the ground while the others walk around while you hold her down it will show her you are the boss and she will stop out of fear of being reprimanded