Felt guilty, only to be betrayed !!!!

[savingpurple]

I was feeling so bad for my bully hen that is in solitary confinment. She looks so pitiful! So, since it was 2 days, and I had a thought of will it be so much worse for her by waiting a week in solitary confinement, in the reintroduction? Didn't want to creat more of a problem for myself.......HA!

She had me all figured out! Look pathetic, cry alot, and this new to chickens lady will feel so bad, she will cave......she was right....I caved.

We, my husband and myself, decided to try putting her back in with the hens. So we took her out, I put bird seed down to distract the others, and let the others out......within less than 2 minutes, she was attacking the other hens. She grabs on to their wattles, and shakes violently. They scream, and I feel so bad for the attacked hen. She ran to another and just started pecking her in the eye,and head.

So, she went back to solitary confinment.......don't know what to do. My husband wants to have her go to freezer camp. I am not so quick to judge her, as this started out of the blue. She was top in the pecking order, but never outright attacked a hen. ???

 

[emys]

I'm for freezer camp too.

 

[the4heathernsmom]

A Momma Hen with issues!!!!!!! Have you tried the squirt bottle? I had a bully hen and carried squirt bottle and just as she took a hold of someone I would squirt her......it worked for a while but she went back to her evil ways eventually and she had to go bye bye.

 

[SIMPleChick]

Uuhhh....I don't think it will really stop, maybe to a lesser degree, but who knows...Have your hubby go do the dirty work and you find a really fancy chicken recipe that you can have her be a part of, as a thanks to her!!!!!

 

[teach1rusl]

I would try solitary for a full week; You know not to cave now. If solitary doesn't work this time, I'd send her to freezer camp (in my case that would mean offering her up for free to someone else, because evil or not, I couldn't process one who'd been a pet

) The others don't deserve to be terrorized - and stressed hens don't lay as well.

 

[savingpurple]

thanks....switched the food back to crumble anyways, because all this started the day I switched their food to pellet.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
I totally agree. I have one right now that is a feather plucker eater-she tore up one pullet of the same age as they were hatch mates-now she's working on another! The first one had blood drawn and got beaten up pretty bad-all within an hour of me not watching them-she's in a first aid cage now getting treated for wounds. This picker pullet is locked up for being a brat. At first I put her out with the big girls to give her a lesson as I knew theyd go after her-didnt work she hid the whole time and they couldnt reach her! If she does it again she will go on craigslist with her story so folks don't buy/take her without knowing what she was capable of!

 

[Mtn Margie]

Sometimes...., sometimes it can be a protein issue in that they need more. It can also be a space issue. You can try adding a flock block to the mix so there is something else to pick on. I have a bully hen as well. I am letting her live until the next moult, but she has killed a younger hen in the past and I am worried about this coming winter with the up-and-coming new layers. Right now, they free range most of the time but the winter brings more in-house time and she will be a major problem. Good luck with your hen.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
All mine free range too and I have never seen this problem but I won't deal with it going into Winter. They have a huge barn but in Winter they WILL NOT go outside at all-so all of them have to get along to some degree or else I have to rehome her good luck OP I hope it works for you-keep us updated so I can keep the faith my situation will work too!

 

[Judy]

Maybe the crumbles, the week in solitary, and maybe a little more protein will do the trick for you; I hope so. Some chickens evidently get really bent out of shape about pellets. Ever since I read commercial operations found that reducing protein to around 14% increased production, I've felt layer probably didn't have enough protein for optimum health, so I supplemented with one thing and another. BOSS is a fairly inexpensive way to do this, though I like to find an animal protein source for them, too.