Chicken violence

[Ridgerunner]

I'll link your duplicate thread. Some interesting comments there.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-violence.1654761/

Does anyone know why a peaceful flock would all of a sudden have a violence outbreak? Is this fixable? Will I need to rehome the troubled hen?

Different things could be going on. I'll present my theory. The injured hen may have been the dominant hen for those five years but is getting old. Another hen saw her chance and defeated her to become the dominant hen. When a dominant hen is cast out of office she sometimes becomes a bit of an outcast. By being beaten she has shown to have a weakness. Chickens can be bullies.

Another theory. She could have been the one challenging the dominant hen and was injured in the fighting. She lost and, well, chickens can be bullies.

I don't know that my theories are any better than anyone else's. Keep her out until her comb is healed and try to reintegrate her. If your reintegration is unsuccessful I'd rehome her.

 

[Marykate22]

How is her comb now? Do you have a picture of it injured? Chickens will go after blood, and if the injury was bad, that might have been why they were going after her originally.
Her comb may have been injured by the others, or depending where it was injured, it could have been injured by the rooster during mating. It also could have been injured by her accidentally getting it caught or cut on something, all depending on what the injury was.

I’ll take a picture tomorrow and share. It’s better now but not quite healed.

Thank you for helping me out

How is her comb now? Do you have a picture of it injured? Chickens will go after blood, and if the injury was bad, that might have been why they were going after her originally.
Her comb may have been injured by the others, or depending where it was injured, it could have been injured by the rooster during mating. It also could have been injured by her accidentally getting it caught or cut on something, all depending on what the injury was.

it’s probably infected now. Really swollen. I think she might need an antibiotic instead of the antibiotic ointment that I’ve been using