Chicken fights

[roguedesigns]

I'm trying to figure out some recent chicken behavior and hoping a more seasoned person can help me out.
My EE and my bantam Silkie have started attacking each other.
I noticed the silkie had some pretty bad pecks (they were bloody) on her "shoulders" and feet. I immediately created a little chicken hospital for her away from the rest of the girls so they wouldn't keep attacking her (but I kept it right next to the coop so they could all still see each other, and trade insults back and forth). At the time, I didn't know who was responsible, but she tends to be at the bottom of the pecking order, so I figured it could have been any of the other hens.
I kept them separated for nearly a week, and then let them all out to free range in the yard, figuring that if they weren't on top of each other, they'd be fine. Well, she got too close to my EE who then gave her a good going over until I separated them. I thought maybe that was that, until the Silkie kept attacking the EE and then getting her fluffy little butt handed to her once the much larger EE had had enough.
This happened three times (the two mentioned above, and once more) before I finally sent everyone to their rooms.
Now I'm worried that my Silkie will never be able to live with the rest of the girls again, especially in the close quarters of their coop and run - any advice? Will they get over it, or do I need two coops now?!
It's so weird, as the EE is usually the Silkie's protector - whenever she goes broody and I reach in to get the eggs and she makes an alarm call, the EE is the first to hop up and come to her rescue by pecking at me. They were pals for so long, I can't figure out why they've gotten so vicious lately.

 

[centrarchid]

Damage to shoulders and feet seems odd result form fighting. Do you have rodents visiting at night?

 

[roguedesigns]

Thanks for responding Centrarchid.
I noticed the wounds late in the afternoon and they were very fresh (the blood was still flowing), and the coop is entirely screened in with hardware cloth, so I have a hard time imagining it's rodents. I thought it seemed like odd damage as well since it was so symmetrical. At first I wondered if she had flapped her wings and gotten injured somehow, but then when the two started fighting straight away, I figured it was definitely chicken inflicted damage.
I'm afraid to reintroduce them into the same space even though her wounds have mostly healed (certainly not raw looking any more), but it doesn't make sense for me to keep two completely separate chicken homesteads. . . .
Anyone else care to chime in as well? I can use all the help I can get!

 

[roguedesigns]

I'm back again - it's been nearly three weeks now, and my EE still attacks my Silkie every chance she gets when we let them out to free range. The Silkie is fine with the other two girls (a RIR and a SLW), so now she's back in the coop with them, while the EE is in solitary confinement in our dog's crate next to the coop now. Will she get over it eventually and can we help it along, or does one of them have to go?

 

[lilje]

I am recently having a similar problem. Hopefully, someone can help us both out with this situation. I had 5 chickens up until about two weeks ago. One of my chickens died and since then the other four have been "okay". They stopped laying eggs for a few days and otherwise thought that she (the chicken that died) was somewhere out in the rest of the yard and they would spend the whole day running the fence line trying to get out.
This week the behavior has changed again. I have two Americaunas, a Brahma and an Austrolorp. The Braham and Austrolorp have always been best friends and the two Americaunas have also been best friends. The one who died was at the bottom of the pecking order. So now I guess someone needs to fill that spot and it is one of by Americaunas. She is taking a brutal beating from all of the other three. She goes in to lay an egg and they kick her out of the nesting box. She moves to another nesting box and they kick her out of there. They come tumbling out of the coop door and it's a giant ball of feathers screaming loudly.They also chase her away from the food and water. I am so upset about this. I just don't know what to do. I have never seen them behave like this and I'm afraid they will kill my little Rosie if I don't do something about it. I, too, could use some help from someone with more experience. I have had them for three years and this is a first.
Thanks

 

[centrarchid]

Solitary confinement is part of problem. It sustains animosity. Separation does not make heart grow fonder in chickens.


Show a picture of players.

 

[roguedesigns]

I want to put them back together, but any time they're out together, the silkie takes a brutal beating - she's taken to almost playing dead as soon as the EE even looks at her, and stays on the far side of the yard away from all the rest. When they go into their run together, and the EE attacks the silkie and I can't break it up, I'm worried she's going to kill her, especially since with all the screaming, the other hens come running and will sometimes join in. Scary mob mentality. . .
In the video below, you'll see the silkie (Olive) after a recent attack (hence the kind of loose feathers on the front of her head and her unwillingness to move from my left side over to my right to be near the others), you can also see some of the damage on the "shoulders" of her wings; then Rose (RIR), Blanche (SLW), and our aggressor, Dorthothy (EE). Olive gets along with all of the other girls, and Dorothy gets along with all of the other girls, it's just the Olive + Dorothy combo that isn't working lately. Since Blanche appeared to be our queen bee for quite some time, we were hoping that she and Rose might stick up for Olive when Dorothy got too brutal, but that was just silly. Chickens just aren't that altruistic.