Desperate for some help 🙁

[FaithArthur123999]

Hello, I put a post here yesterday about chicken bullying but the situation has gotten much worse. I have a flock of 5 after the death of a hen 2 months ago. 1 of my hens suffered a prolapse that was attacked by the other girls, she was seperated for a week to heal. After she healed we got her the implant to stop laying eggs and thankfully no more prolapse since. There was a bit of stress amongst the flock when returning her but it was okay, about 5 days of calm, babs began to moult from the implant. With typical moult symptoms. Unfortunately the girls have started to become mean to her, apart from 1. Babs now sits on top of the chicken coop to hide from the others, she doesnt get down for dood and water and when I try to pick her up she is terriifed. Ive noticed the other girls chasing her and she lives her life in fear. Tonight I tried to place her in the coop with the other girls for bed but she was hysterical, she was squealing and was in complete panic, then one of the girls tried to attack her. I now have babs sleeping indoors in a dog crate but I know the longer the seperation, the worse intergration will be but she is too scared to be round the others. I have looked into the pinless peepers and its definitely an idea but I know that babs would still be too terrified to go near them. I can order them but im worried she is still too scared to go near them. Im so worried about her and what to do with her. Any suggestions or help would really be appreciated.

 

[janiedoe]

What breeds do you have? And what breed is Babs?
Would you ever consider rehoming the bullies?
I love my flock, but I've rehomed a few hens in the past (all together) because while they were people friendly, they were bullies. I felt a bit guilty for doing so, but the flock is calmer now.
My goal is a very peaceful flock. Both roosters and hens must meet my criteria. I try to stay with gentler breeds, like orpington, brahma, naked necks, and legbars. My flock is also pretty diverse now, with a lot of mixed breeds. If none look too much alike, birds of a feather don't tend to flock together.
I no longer add barred rocks, rhode islands, or wyandottes to my flock. They are all great egg laying breeds, and friendly to people, but those breeds seem to prefer their own kind.
If you aren't willing to rehome the bullies, perhaps you could buy some gentler hens to house seperately, along with Babs.

 

[FaithArthur123999]

What breeds do you have? And what breed is Babs?
Would you ever consider rehoming the bullies?
I love my flock, but I've rehomed a few hens in the past (all together) because while they were people friendly, they were bullies. I felt a bit guilty for doing so, but the flock is calmer now.
My goal is a very peaceful flock. Both roosters and hens must meet my criteria. I try to stay with gentler breeds, like orpington, brahma, naked necks, and legbars. My flock is also pretty diverse now, with a lot of mixed breeds. If none look too much alike, birds of a feather don't tend to flock together.
I no longer add barred rocks, rhode islands, or wyandottes to my flock. They are all great egg laying breeds, and friendly to people, but those breeds seem to prefer their own kind.
If you aren't willing to rehome the bullies, perhaps you could buy some gentler hens to house seperately, along with Babs.

Hey, Babs is an ex battery hen so I am not sure what breed they really are. Problem is, is that out of the 5 hens, 3 are bullies. Which would only leave 2. I really dont want to rehome any of them just because I really do like them but buying more and houseing them separately isnt really an option either, we have a flock of ducks and we just dont have enough room for another area. Im willing to try anything to get them back in harmony but I just dont want babs to be so scared, I think they are trying to chase her off because the moult has left her looking a bit miserable x

 

[janiedoe]

Hey, Babs is an ex battery hen so I am not sure what breed they really are. Problem is, is that out of the 5 hens, 3 are bullies. Which would only leave 2. I really dont want to rehome any of them just because I really do like them but buying more and houseing them separately isnt really an option either, we have a flock of ducks and we just dont have enough room for another area. Im willing to try anything to get them back in harmony but I just dont want babs to be so scared, I think they are trying to chase her off because the moult has left her looking a bit miserable x

Do you have room in your coop and/or run to add a small fenced off area and shelter for her? She would have company, but they couldn't hurt her that way. Once her molt is over, she could rejoin the flock, without being considered an outsider.

 

[FunClucks]

If you search "Bully" in the Articles, several great articles will come up that might help you. This one helped me a lot when I had to deal with some bullying in my flock

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Do you have room in your coop and/or run to add a small fenced off area and shelter for her? She would have company, but they couldn't hurt her that way. Once her molt is over, she could rejoin the flock, without being considered an outsider.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Can you create a separate area and put the 3 bullies in there for now? Then Babs can mingle with the 2 non-bullies until they are good. Then reintroduce the 3 + 3? Just a thought.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Another idea; Figure out who the "ring leader" is (if you can) and separate that hen for a while to reset the pecking order.

Poor Babs...

 

[abenardini]

I might be in the hot seat for suggesting it, but look at a couple of options that have worked for me in the past…

1. You didn’t mention if these birds have a run and coop or free range. Increase the run size to allow others a place to go and get away from bullies (you can use clutter to accomplish this too)
2. Given that you have more bullies than not, and want to keep them all, please do look at pinless peepers. They likely could cause some immediate distress for the birds you apply them to, but not harm. The issue with some chickens is tunnel vision. As hard as it may seem, humans can’t apply the same emotional levels to other animals. If you can eliminate the immediate focus of the bully target, it can save a flock from being separated.

Obviously, this is only my 2cents and personal experience. Hope everything turns out okay for the flock!