Help a bullied hen

[Arlowbird]

Haha..... can I ask you another question please? Some of the hens have a bald (ish), dirty backside - I have read somewhere that we should sit them in warm water to clean it off and then put blue antiseptic spray on it. What would you suggest?

 

[Pork Pie]

Its not an unreasonable suggestion. Maybe you can check them for lice / mites at the same time. Make sure they are thoroughly dry after their wash.

CT

 

[Arlowbird]

LittleBrownHen.........So sorry to hear of the difficulties your little girl is going through. I know it must be very traumatic for you and of course for her. As you have probably read, we put our bullied girl in a pen within the larger pen so they could all see each other but not touch. She also slept alone in a smaller house we made. We did this for about a week and then let them all mingle and snack together in the field. We put her back into her own pen at meal times but allowed another hen to share her sleeping quarters. This seems to have worked for us and last night two hens shared Rosie's house for the night. We have three or four feeding stations but there are still one or two girls that will chase her away at meal times so Rosie gets fed behind her house where the others can't see her! I do hope your girls settle down together soon ......

 

[luvmyroos]

Hi all!

My 23 week old Cream Legbar Pullet is now being bullied by my 16 week old guinea fowl ( I believe they are males based on inability to make the female call). They chase her insessently, she hides under whatever she can. It just started this past week

Shes always kind of just done her own thing, we had another we lost to a hawk about a month ago. The guineas think they're chickens, they do everything with them and follow one of my roosters like minions.

I am wondering if its because she is the only one of her breed??

Any help is appreciated!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's the troubles you often get by keeping two different species together. You need to separate out the guinea. I haven't owned them, but my turkeys harass chickens and have their own pen. Your chicken could get hurt, and even killed, so find your guineas somewhere else to live.

 

[luvmyroos]

Thank you for the advice . I will see what we can do, the guineas were raised from day 1 with 8 other hens their age. My husband is now saying he is seeing others join in so I will evaluate the situation this weekend.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I once made the mistake of raising turkeys with chickens. They bonded with the chickens. When they reached sexual maturity the two toms went after a rooster and killed him. I keep them separated now and don't raise them together anymore.

 

[Chickenmanjim7]

the ex battery hens are going to have a lot more social problems than a chicken raised in a back yard would have. be patient.

 

[sdml19]

I've also started having problems with all the hens ganging up on another. I have a variety of breeds and she's not the only one of her kind. It just started today and I'm not sure what to do about it. Should I have her sleep with others tonight and see how it goes?