chicken bully

[hvl25]

i have a maran that is bullying 2 of my chickens. one is another maran that has been with it forever and the other is a new wyandotte that just got put in with it. it has pecked feathers off my other maran and is going after the new one. any ideas on what to do to stop it? there are no open sores on the other maran that it is bullying, just missing feathers. i checked it good today.

 

[Kittymomma]

Put the bully in jail for a week. It doesn't always work, but when you put her back into the flock she should be knocked down in the pecking order after her absense and that will often stop the bad behaviour.

ETA: It's also good to put another feed/water station in the coop/run when you integrate or just have bullies--it makes it harder for them to keep the lower ranking chooks away from food and water.

 

[hvl25]

thanks. i think i may have to do this this week. i don't really have anywhere to put her, except a large dog crate. could i put her in that during the day then in the coop at night? once its dark they just go up to their normal sleeping spots and seem to leave each otehr alone.

 

[teach1rusl]

A dog crate will work fine. Of course make sure she has food and water. And yes, if you place her on the roost at night and put her back in the crate in the morning - that'll work. I'd keep the crate away from the others, so onebody can see anybody else. And kittymomma made a good suggestion; keep an extra dish of food/water in the run (set apart w/some kind of barrier- straw bale or something) can help, since the bully can't be in two places at once (though some will try

). Adding extra roosts in the run helps too, giving birds being picked on places to go to get out of the way.