Help! Chicken fighting

[emmyk23]

I'm a first time chicken owner with 4 chickens in a 1/2 acre suburban yard. They're about a year old and have co-existed peacefully until now. In the last few weeks one of my Buff Orpington's pecked a big patch of feathers out of the other Buff's back. We pulled her out and isolated her for a few days and reintroduced her and things got worse. She started aggressively chasing and pecking my docile Barred Rock and was also being ganged up on and pecked by the other two chickens until her head and comb were bloody. We removed her again to isolation for I think 5 days. Tried again and same thing. She's back in isolation. The other three are happy as can be without her. We've tried expanding the run area, adding toys and treats to distract, saddles. I was going to try the pinless peepers but they looked painful and awful. I don't want to get rid of her but we're going on vacation in a week and I can't ask the neighbor to come watch my basement chicken several times daily! We don't have free range options because we're in a suburban neighborhood. And it's winter here so I fear the girls are feeling cooped up because their coop and run are the minimum size required. Any last ditch effort advice?

 

[Sally PB]

Can you enclose her in a coop/run of her own in the main run? Then she will be left alone, but not totally separated from the flock. Would your chicken sitter be able to deal with that?

Her enclosure would need to have its own food and water, and some place for her to get out of the weather and roost at night.

Where are you located? What kind of winter weather do you have?

 

[Geena]

Are they always confined to the coop and run? What size is it? That's most likely what the problem is, they might not have enough room to get out of each others way. IMO chickens need a LOT more room than the generally accepted minimum requirements. They are busy birds that need something to do and can get rather testy with one another if they are too crowded. Can you possibly expand the run?

 

[emmyk23]

Can you enclose her in a coop/run of her own in the main run? Then she will be left alone, but not totally separated from the flock. Would your chicken sitter be able to deal with that?

Her enclosure would need to have its own food and water, and some place for her to get out of the weather and roost at night.

Where are you located? What kind of winter weather do you have?

I don't think there's room to do that unfortunately. We would have to build her her own separate coop and run and that just doesn't seem feasible. We're in Michigan and we just had an ice storm We've had 4 or 5 major winter storms this year that have unfortunately trapped the girls in their coop for days at a time. I'm thinking that's probably what made one of them snap. It's almost made me snap lol!

 

[emmyk23]

Are they always confined to the coop and run? What size is it? That's most likely what the problem is, they might not have enough room to get out of each others way. IMO chickens need a LOT more room than the generally accepted minimum requirements. They are busy birds that need something to do and can get rather testy with one another if they are too crowded. Can you possibly expand the run?

Yes, they never free range because we are in the woods (predators) and have a dog (big predator lol). We did expand the run with a temporary fencing to about double the size to see if that would help when reintroducing her and the behaviors continued and/or got worse. Ugh!

 

[emmyk23]

I think the run is about 10'x48" so about 40 sq ft ish. Do you think this hens behavior can be reversed or is it a lost cause? I thought isolating her would help her fall down the pecking order but now she's just getting beat up on as well.

Yes, they never free range because we are in the woods (predators) and have a dog (big predator lol). We did expand the run with a temporary fencing to about double the size to see if that would help when reintroducing her and the behaviors continued and/or got worse. Ugh!

 

[Geena]

I think the run is about 10'x48" so about 40 sq ft ish. Do you think this hens behavior can be reversed or is it a lost cause? I thought isolating her would help her fall down the pecking order but now she's just getting beat up on as well.

I think it might be very difficult to resolve in that tight of a space. Often once they have a beef it can turn into a grudge. If they have the room to stay away from each other for awhile, it will generally simmer down over time.

I kinda liken it to how I would act after being locked up in a cabin with several other humans for a couple of months. I guarantee you it would NOT be pretty.

 

[Iluveggers]

Here are my suggestions: I would tarp and cover the run, and give the hens access even in the winter. They need as much space as possible. The cold won’t bother them as long as you block the wind and keep the precipitation off of them.

Then I would build a bigger area off of the run. It does not need to be as secure as the actual run. You can open to that area if you are outside with them, or don’t have daytime predator threats.

Being locked in a tiny coop for days will definitely create issues. You can give them boredom busters in the run, like a hanging cabbage or apple, or a suet block to pick at, or some dried leaves to scratch through.

Hope this helps stop the bullying!

ETA: just saw the part about your vacation…she may need to be rehomed if you can’t get things resolved before you leave. If you want to keep her, maybe you can find someone who would take care of her in their garage for a few days while you are gone if you have a crate or something to keep her in until you get back, and plan to work on integration when you get back!

 

[emmyk23]

I think it might be very difficult to resolve in that tight of a space. Often once they have a beef it can turn into a grudge. If they have the room to stay away from each other for awhile, it will generally simmer down over time.

I kinda liken it to how I would act after being locked up in a cabin with several other humans for a couple of months. I guarantee you it would NOT be pretty.

Yes you're so right! lol Would you recommend giving her away? I feel bad. I wish we had made their area bigger, I wish it wasn't winter, I wish I knew what I was doing! lol

 

[emmyk23]

Here are my suggestions: I would tarp and cover the run, and give the hens access even in the winter. They need as much space as possible. The cold won’t bother them as long as you block the wind and keep the precipitation off of them.

Then I would build a bigger area off of the run. It does not need to be as secure as the actual run. You can open to that area if you are outside with them, or don’t have daytime predator threats.

Being locked in a tiny coop for days will definitely create issues. You can give them boredom busters in the run, like a hanging cabbage or apple, or a suet block to pick at, or some dried leaves to scratch through.

Hope this helps stop the bullying!

Thank you so much! We've done most of that, their run is covered and they have constant access to it, they just won't come out of the coop on really cold or snowy days. We added a bigger temporary area off the run, we give them cabbage and a suet block and hay and scratch and nothing seems to keep them entertained for very long.