Help! Aggressive Hens!

[zchic75]

Last week I had chickens from one coop all get sick. It came on fast and I lost 5 of 8 in 3 days. I believe it was a new bag of feed that only they got, they had inflated crops and threw up smelly yellow fluid when I massaged their crops. I treated them with miconazole and managed to save the last 3.
2 of them are sapphire gems and the other is a brown olive egger.
Now that the rooster is gone, and the other hens, these hens are nasty!! I have a sweet polish crested and a white egger in with my Muscovy ducks. These hens are chasing them and attacking my poor crested. They have 4+ acres to freerange.
I couldn’t find my polish Crested this afternoon , she doesn’t go far ever. I ended up walking the property twice and finding her by the road, laying down like she gave up. She is safe in the house now. No wounds… but is there anyway to make these hens stop attacking?? I’m ready to send them somewhere else and start over with chicks in spring.

 

[MamaWolf7]

It sounds like a major pecking order change is going on and the 3 aggressive hens are trying to establish their dominance over the others.

You could try having plenty of 'safe places' for the non-aggressive birds to escape to. Basically somewhere that they can quickly move out of sight of the aggressors. It would need to have 2 ways in so they can escape easily from either direction. Something as simple as a board on cinder blocks would do.

Also ensure you have several food and water stations out of sight from each other. You can also try some boredom busters like a couple pumpkins, heads of cabbage, etc...

 

[Mrs. K]

Pin less peepers might help, but some birds do not mix together well, and those polish and other fancy chickens often times become victims. Decide who you really like and get rid of the rest.

Mrs K

 

[Shadrach]

Now that the rooster is gone

Get another rooster.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

@Shadrach is totally correct! get a rooster. get it as a little chick and coddle it. then it is less likely to turn into chicken dinner in a year.
in the meantime, you will have to seperate the bullies. only other option, if you don't want to buy a rooster, is cull. I am totally for that when it comes to bad birds.

 

[zchic75]

Pin less peepers might help, but some birds do not mix together well, and those polish and other fancy chickens often times become victims. Decide who you really like and get rid of the rest.

Mrs K

I have my polish girl in the room that I have my baby Muscovys for now. She likes the ducks and has lived peacefully sharing the duck coop.
I have a neighbor with a bunch of chickens and I may see if she wants these 3 mean girls. I had chickens for years and never had a loss like this or mean birds. Just got back into them this spring, and have decided next year I’m going to go with some other fancy breeds and ayam-cemani, I may just have to have enclosed pens for each coop and alternate who gets to free range.