chickens fighting

[pacing EZ]

Hey all I'm desperate. I have had chickens for two years now and all of a sudden my girls are beating up on one poor girl. I'm fearful they are gonna kill her. I set her up a separate temporary pen for her where they can see each other after 2 weeks of her growing feathers back I tried to add her back in and they still beat her up aNY suggestions she is a sweet bird and I don't want her to die. Maybe I should kill off the other 2 who are terrorizing her. Thanks in advance

 

[Weehopper]

I'm not trying to sound rude or harsh, but why do we seem to want to cull out the fittest hens in favor of the weaker ones? Personally, I would much rather keep the fit ones and, possibly, re home the shy one, or keep her separated anyway. If you only keep animals you feel sorry for, eventually you will have a bunch of weak, shy animals that are unable to take care of themselves. And they will pass that on to their offspring.

 

[Toddrick]

Yep, keep picking the toughest ones and you'll make bigger and stronger chickens.

 

[TXchickenchick]

Well, in a very small backyard flock where these are pets and the eggs are just a happy bonus, keeping the sweet, gentle animals makes sense. In a large flock that isn't so much for pets but for production, the tougher birds make more sense. It's all about what you are looking for.

Are they all the same breed or different breeds? Some breeds are just naturally gentler and more prone to being picked on. The two that are beating her up sound just mean, though. A hen can be dominant without being abusive. Most people wouldn't tolerate a rooster beating up their hens why would they tolerate (or certainly why would they choose) hens who do?

 

[LouBlue95]

She's the dominant hen if you have no rooster
If a rooster is present he will knock off her behavior

 

[payton360]

So what ever happened with your fighting girls?
I'm having the same problem, I have 5 and one is being picked on terribly. She runs by all the other chickens and hangs out in the coop a lot. I have started letting her out of the fenced area, most of the time with one other chicken. I'll see what happens with this strategy. Good luck with yours

 

[ClaireDL]

I've got the same issue with my older hens that jumps on the younger ones, ..I was told to introduce a rooster. The first one was too aggressive I had to give him away after he punctured my legs, and my older hens got really scared of him at the point they would not come out of the coop anymore....Some friends of mine got 3 bantam roosters and now the peace came back in their coop.

 

[Ray E]

Hell my older hens grab my 5 month olds and terrorize them to the point they wont come out and I have 3 silkie roosters and a massive RI red rooster I have 6 sex links 5 red 1 black picking on my 5 EE"S AND MY BARRED ROCK