so I had four hens, two for almost 8 years now and 2 for a year and all of them were getting along fine no fighting at all but recently one of them sadly drowned so I'm down to 3. And ever since then the two hens Ive had for 8 years who have been by each others side and have had no problems, have been fighting with each other. The first time I was feeding them and they started fight out of nowhere and I separated them as fast as I could and they had some minor cuts but nothing bad and I've been watching them since then and they seemed to be getting along again. Until a couple days ago I came home to them and they both had blood all over there faces and the feathers on there head. Now they seemed to be neutral again so I'm not to sure how to handle this and I would hate to have to permanently separate them or have them end up killing each other
Sounds like it could be a fight for alpha hen position (assuming the one you lost was the alpha). If the fighting continues, then, yes I would separate them. CT
First of all, it's unlikely they will kill each other, and the bloody damage to their combs is not as bad as it appears. The death of the fourth hen has resulted in a competition, as CT points out, for top hen. Most often, pecking order issues are settles quickly and without much fuss, but when two hens both cannot agree on who gets which rank, it can be a prolonged conflict until one concedes defeat. If you want to get this resolved in the least amount of time, leave them alone to do what they need to do.
