Hello! I am having issues with 2 of my hens. 1 of them, Rosie my Blue Ameraucana (who is my favorite) and the other, Pyrrha, an Easter Egger. Pyrrha has always been at the bottom of the pecking order that I've seen and Rosie was above her, (not sure exactly where on the pecking order). I have a total of 10 hens.
Before this happened, Bonnie, my other Easter Egger, had lost one of her toenails completely, and I had brought her in for 4 days to take care of it and then let her out. I figured it would be fine. Rosie, who had been outside the whole time with Pyrrha, was acting strange the day after I let Bonnie back out, slowly walking around following everyone and trying to stay close to them, but then I saw Pyrrha raise up her neck feathers and go at Rosie. One of my older hens, Tiffany, a Buff Orpington, jumped at Pyrrha and started pulling at her neck feathers and pecking at her while Rosie ran to the back of our yard by the vinyl fence. Pyrrha, Tiffany, and a few other hens followed. Pyrrha attacked Rosie again by the vinyl fence and I ran out, grabbed Rosie and went back in to check Rosie out. I checked on her for a little bit, gave her an epsom salt bath, as I thought maybe she was egg bound, and started calling vets to see if they could see her. I was able to take her to the vet, and they took blood and were getting her tested for Mareks Disease. That was on December 29th. On January 4th, my mom received a call from the vet saying she was positive for Mareks, has Anemia, and some kind of infection. They weren't sure if it was bacterial or fungal. I've had Rosie inside since I first brought her in and have socialized her with other members of the flock, namely Bonnie, Weiss, and her sister Winter. It's been snowing outside and the flock doesn't want to go outside, and I feel leaving Rosie out in the Keep with Pyrrha being out there could cause issues. I do plan on having Rosie back out there. I'm just waiting for the snow to melt so that there's more room for them to go outside.
What can I do to stop Rosie and Pyrrha from fighting?
Before this happened, Bonnie, my other Easter Egger, had lost one of her toenails completely, and I had brought her in for 4 days to take care of it and then let her out. I figured it would be fine. Rosie, who had been outside the whole time with Pyrrha, was acting strange the day after I let Bonnie back out, slowly walking around following everyone and trying to stay close to them, but then I saw Pyrrha raise up her neck feathers and go at Rosie. One of my older hens, Tiffany, a Buff Orpington, jumped at Pyrrha and started pulling at her neck feathers and pecking at her while Rosie ran to the back of our yard by the vinyl fence. Pyrrha, Tiffany, and a few other hens followed. Pyrrha attacked Rosie again by the vinyl fence and I ran out, grabbed Rosie and went back in to check Rosie out. I checked on her for a little bit, gave her an epsom salt bath, as I thought maybe she was egg bound, and started calling vets to see if they could see her. I was able to take her to the vet, and they took blood and were getting her tested for Mareks Disease. That was on December 29th. On January 4th, my mom received a call from the vet saying she was positive for Mareks, has Anemia, and some kind of infection. They weren't sure if it was bacterial or fungal. I've had Rosie inside since I first brought her in and have socialized her with other members of the flock, namely Bonnie, Weiss, and her sister Winter. It's been snowing outside and the flock doesn't want to go outside, and I feel leaving Rosie out in the Keep with Pyrrha being out there could cause issues. I do plan on having Rosie back out there. I'm just waiting for the snow to melt so that there's more room for them to go outside.
What can I do to stop Rosie and Pyrrha from fighting?
