chickens attacking each other

[raffi]

Folks-

What can we do so that our chickens don't attach each other?

We have two Asian jungle fowl, 2 Rhode Island Reds, and one big black one. We've had them for about two years One of the jungle fowl (we call it the wild one) was being terrorized for a while until it began hiding under the shed. And when it rejoined it began attacking the others, especially during feeding in the morning (we feed them once a day); it assumed the top of the pecking order.

Now one of the Reds is at the top. And again the chickens will gang up on and attack this wild one (and she'll just take it).

We feed them enough-- they get chicken scratch and also a blend of grains, also they roam the yard for food as well...

We're in urban San Diego. We let them out in the yard for most of the day.

We're thinking of making a chicken run so that they can be out but not have the run of the whole garden.

Any suggestions?

thanks!

 

[Den in Penn]

Welcome to BYC.

It sounds like the wild one will be at the bottom of the pecking order most of the time. If she has the room to get away and isn't hurt when the others pick on her there isn't much you can do. Some times if there is one or two bullies you can reset the pecking order by separating the bullies out of sight and sound for a week. The smaller the flock the less likely that is to work.