Chickens fighting all of a sudden??

[rkapfen]

Hey everyone! I’ll try an catch you up on the issue. I raised 2 chicks that are now 6 months old and added them to my original flock of 5. Everything has been fine. One of the girls in my original flock never liked the new ones and she will bite and chase them but overall everyone was fine and the two younger had each other but now one of the younger ones is attacked the other young one. She will literally chase her around the yard to bite her. I feel so bad for her now cause she has no one and keeps trying to cuddle with her sister and keeps getting attacked. She won’t even let her roost next to her. In fact this one chicken won’t let anyone roost next to her. Does anyone else have this issue? Is this common? When they go to bed it’s always a disaster now with so much screaming and fighting going on and I’m having to rearrange them next to other chickens to stop fighting. Am I just being too sensitive to their chicken drama or is this not normal? I just want them all to be happy and healthy and it’s killing me to hear them scream when getting built. They have a nice large coop and they free range from morning to night in the yard so I don’t think boredom/too tight a space is the problem. Any ideas to help?

 

[slordaz]

Maybe they need some midol lol, I know a few guys on the city council that could use some here too lol

 

[Chickassan]

Are these two laying? If not the one biting is about to start.
They get unreasonably mean a couple weeks before.

 

[Mrs. K]

It really does not matter about the roosts, or the hiding spaces, this is not a peaceful flock. It is very disheartening to be with a flock in this state of turmoil. Pull one of the younger birds. Try pulling the bully first, if another bird starts attacking the victim, then put the bully back in and try pulling the victim.

Usually one of those solutions will work. Being raised together means nothing to chickens. They are not wired like that. If one of these work, you need to remove the other from the flock. Not all birds will fit in any flock and set up, some will never fit, no matter what you do and to keep trying causes a lot of strife, which is very hard even on the birds not part of the fight.

Once they start laying, they usually are accepted by the older birds, so it surprises me that they still are not.

However, always solve for peace in the flock. Wishing they will all be nice will not work.

Mrs K

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We had this issue briefly. Here's how we solved it. Take the bully out and put her on the floor in a wire dog crate but keep the crate in the coop so she is still part of the flock, she just can't bully anyone. Keep her there 3 nights, then watch to see how she does. If she bullies again, repeat 3 more nights. We did not have to repeat a third time. She had an attitude adjustment. No more problems!

 

[BlueBaby]

It sound's like a pecking order thing. The one getting picked on is on the bottom of the pecking order, and the sister want's to go up higher in that order.

 

[Folly's place]

Make sure that there's plenty of space, shelters to be out of sight, and multiple feeders and waterers, far apart.
What are they all eating? Any problems there with lower protein diets?
Sometimes a bird is just being a jerk, and has to be rehomed for the good of the whole flock. Is it actually a cockerel? Breeds?
Mary

 

[BlueBaby]

If it never fights back or stand's up for itself, it will remain at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[rkapfen]

Make sure that there's plenty of space, shelters to be out of site, and multiple feeders and waterers, far apart.
What are they all eating? Any problems there with lower protein diets?
Sometimes a bird is just being a jerk, and has to be rehomed for the good of the whole flock. Is it actually a cockerel? Breeds?
Mary

They free range all day in a large yard with plenty of hiding spaces for all of them. I have 3 feeders and 4 waterers spaced out for them all so they’re are no issues there. They have an organic all flock feed and then an organic laying feed for the hens. They also get plenty of treats such as meal worms and grubblies so low protein shouldn’t be an issue either. I’m sure she’s not actually a cockerel cause she is laying eggs already.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Using this method, do you keep the bully in the crate day and night, or just at night?
If the bullying is during the day, do you suppose just keeping the bully crated during the day (with food and water) would be sufficient?

The bullying was taking place at night. She was keeping all the younger hens from using about two-thirds of the roost, with the result that about 14 pullets were roosting on top of each other in a corner. They have a vast amount of daytime space. So we put her in the Time Out cage at night (I hate calling it Chicken Jail, lol). She got released in the morning along with everyone else. But I also added another roost which probably also helped. For a couple of nights after that we had to go unstack the young ones and set them on the new roost until they figured out it was there. Chickens ain't rocket scientists.

If bullying is happening during the day, I would suspect the space is overpopulated. It can help to add hiding spaces for the victims to escape. If you can set up two pallets in an A-frame configuration to make an in-and-out so nobody can get trapped, that makes a good hidey-hole. Also things like kids' tables that they can jump on top of or run under, those are very good. I personally would not cage her during the day, it's too hot. Others might.