HELP FAST!!!! It started with one. ALL hens are fighting constantly!!!

[ChickLover98]

My sweetest hen in the flock suddenly starts fighting and going directly for the face of another hen who is at the bottom of pecking order. Chica, the hen who started fighting, isnt very high up on pecking order either. She has the biggest comb, but wasnt the first to lay. They are almost 5 months old. My rooster doesnt try to break it up, either. I will pick Chica up everytime she picks, but as soon as I put her back down, she tracks down Bianca (The hen that Chica is fighting with) and fights again. I am thinking of putting chica in a separate cage for a while to calm it down, but i need help!

Thanks in advance...

Update in post 12

 

[bargain]

It's a dominance fight - "queen of the Hill" as it were.... Standby but it gets too rough the rooster, if he's a good one, will break it up. It will probably resolve itself before then.....The hens are just doing a hen fight! It happens. Take care. (If you intervene too much it will actually make the dominant hen pick on the weaker one more!)

 

[ChickLover98]

Hmmm... I will have to watch them. It just kills me when they fight though. I cant stand it. Nobody ever fought before...

 

[bargain]

I know it's tough... it really is for me too! I once even sprayed down the mean chicken with a water hose! She cooled off ....it was in the heat of summer though!

 

[ChickLover98]

I dont think I will be spraying anyone with a hose, though

 

[sourland]

If the fighting continues to escalate, put the trouble maker in time out for several days to rearrange her attitude. When you reintroduce her, hopefully everyone will give an attitude adjustment. Do not remove the hen who is being attacked since this will lower her position even more.

 

[math ace]

If they are both lower level birds, it should work itself out in a couple of days. . . . . One will cave and submit to the other.

You don't normally see a really high level bird go after a really low level bird when they have been peacefully coexisting.

HAVE you added anybody new to the flock or changed anything ? ? ? When their happy little world gets turn upside down . . . it can cause some in house fighting to occur.

 

[tcates]

I had that with my RIR after I introduced a roo.... the Hen in charge was knocked down a notch by the roo.... a few weeks went by, then the "head hen" acted like a roo, went after the smallest in the group..... plucking her feathers, pecking her head and back..... every time I was out by the coop, I stopped the behavior, but I could tell by her appearance it was still going on. I finally got tired of it, picked up the "bottom of the pecking order" hen (refused to name her cause I figured she was not going to make it in the natural order of things) and put her up on the waterer (highest point) and every time the "butch" as I call her came near I sprayed her with the mister on the hose. After 3 days, the abuse stopped and now everyone seems to be on the same level and her feathers have stopped being plucked and no more bloody marks on her

 

[math ace]

 

[bargain]

Okay before I get a bad reputation Sigh and smile, I only used mister on the hose, and it was gentle just surprised her! No, to those that pm and e mailed me I do not have a fire hydrant hose nearby! Love you guys -