Hello and in need of a little advice!

[majortaylor]

Hello All!
We currently have a very small flock of three chickens. There are two barred rocks named Polly (the largest) and Wilma (a scraggly bantam) an one white crested black polish pullet named Sissy.
We live in Texas in a city but have a very large garden for our ladies to free range full time. Polly and Wilma grew up together and Sissy was an addition a few months ago ( I am now well aware of the hassles of adding a single polish chicken to a flock!)
Sissy was picked on by the largest, Polly, from day one, however Wilma was sweet as could be and just walked around with her. Things settled down with Polly after a few weeks and careful introductions. In the last week Polly has been pulling out Sissy's head feathers, chasing her and pacing in the chain linked run if we separate her.
Then last night, it got worse. At about 1 am there was clucking, screeching and squawking in the coop. We ran outside thinking it was a predator that had gotten in, but in fact Polly had attacked Wilma in the coop and pulled out numerous feathers and was chasing Wilma repeatedly into the fence and pushing her against it. Sissy sleeps in a tree above the coop so she wasn't involved.
I don't know what caused the sudden early morning violence and Polly has never picked on Wilma before, it was a really shocking sight to see her go so viciously after her.
Wilma the next night wouldn't go in the coop and decided to sleep on the log pile. We then decided that Polly needed to go into solitary confinement to try to break this bullying and was put in a dog pen in a second half of the garden, out of sight.
My question is, has anyone ever had a late night relentless attack like this? How long should Polly stay in solitary? Is she a lost case and would she do better rehomed?
Thank you all in advance for any advice!
Julia

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Some people have success with pinless peepers (I have only heard of them and never tried them) and others not so much. They are chicken blinders for the bully.

Yes by separating the bully it lowers her temporarily on the pecking order. But from my experience bullying may easily recur.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[littlechick2000]

Messing with the chickens pecking order, which in this case, is caused by adding a new chicken, will cause stress. Polly will pick on sissy for a while to establish dominance. But for Polly to attack Wilma, she might just be upset that there's a new chicken. I don't know how long this will last with yours, because different breeds of chickens have different personalities in general. I have four old English game in one pen, (Who are aggressive as a breed) and a pen with two red star and two hybrids. I tried to mix them, but decided against it when the roosters never stopped attacking the pullets. I can't free range my chickens because I live in the country, so coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and predatory birds are common. I've already lost two chickens to snakes, and one to a hawk this year.

 

[majortaylor]

Messing with the chickens pecking order, which in this case, is caused by adding a new chicken, will cause stress. Polly will pick on sissy for a while to establish dominance. But for Polly to attack Wilma, she might just be upset that there's a new chicken. I don't know how long this will last with yours, because different breeds of chickens have different personalities in general. I have four old English game in one pen, (Who are aggressive as a breed) and a pen with two red star and two hybrids. I tried to mix them, but decided against it when the roosters never stopped attacking the pullets. I can't free range my chickens because I live in the country, so coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and predatory birds are common. I've already lost two chickens to snakes, and one to a hawk this year.

We added Sissy about 3 months ago and of course there was the usual pecking order dominance but that settled down after about 2-3 weeks. I am just finding it odd that after months Polly has gotten more dominant with Sissy (who runs away and never fights back) and turned on Wilma in such an extreme way.

 

[littlechick2000]

Well I have around 40 acres of land, so I would just try to get another pen with Orpington or Cochin, which are very nice, docile chickens, and add sissy and see what happens. Then if Polly is still mean to Wilma, try adding Wilma to the other pen, and get some tougher breeds of chicken like, a welsummer or Minorca

 

[littlechick2000]

If you have chicken breed questions, I'll gladly answer them if I can

 

[drumstick diva]

Since Wilma and Sissy get along, I would just rehome Polly./ or have her for dinner. Chickens can resort to cannibalism and I wouldn't be surprised if she did.