Help mean hen won’t let others eat!

[Zeeb]

A month ago I lost 3 hens from a dog attack and was left with one lone RIR hen about 1½ years old. I ended up buying 2 one-year-old hens (Black Copper Marans) to keep her company. One of the new Marans hen is so mean to my RIR and the other Marans hen. Everyday when I try to feed them she runs over and pecks the others preventing them from eating. I spread the food out in 3 different areas and anytime one hen would try to eat she’d race over, peck, and push the other hens away. It’s gotten to where during feeding time (2 times a day or more) I have to lock her in a cage and feed her separately until the other hens eat, then I let her out. They are in a large area 40 by 50 ft. and have two houses to sleep in so space is not a problem and I feed them a ton of food plus they have trees, bushes, and grass to forage in. When I get back to school I won’t have time to deal with this nonsense so I’m probably going to sell her. She does lay beautiful copper colored eggs. Does anyone have a solution for this problem or is it a lost cause? When not eating they all seem to get along.

 

[The Happster]

This does happen. I have a lot of hens that seem to go out of their way to do it.
I usually let the less dominant hens to a quiet spot to eat with the rooster. Or just put down more feeding stations.
If you're happy to sell her, problem solved.

 

[Chickeng1rl567]

I would suggest separating her for a couple of days. If that doesn’t work, try offering multiple free-choice feeders, each out of sight of the others so that if the hen decides to patrol one feeder she can’t see the other hens eating from the other.

 

[Zeeb]

Oh that does sound like a good idea having the feeding stations hidden so she can't see the other hens eating. I have 3 stations but they are visible, it makes sense to have them out of her visibility I'll try that. Thank you for the help. I'll let you know how it goes. Mahalo

 

[The Happster]

I also noticed when I put the mean hen in a flock with more dominant hens & the hen that she was bullying, it helped. Because they recognise eachother and seem to stick with eachother. Did that with two of my current hens and it's not as bad now. They even follow eachother and dustbathe together in peace.

 

[aart]

It’s gotten to where during feeding time (2 times a day or more)

They should have feed available in a feeder every hour they are awake.
Limited feeding opportunities may be why this hen is trying to 'hoard' the feed.

 

[BanjosLaughter]

We had the same issue with our two new girls and the "Alpha" hen. We did 2 things that seemed to sort them out. 1) We put in an extra feeder and threw a bunch of chick feed on the run floor just to make sure there was always an option for the new girls. 2) We ended up removing the alpha hen and kept her in a dog crate out of site from the other girls. She was well loved on, but was just in an extended "time out". Eventually she got the message, once we reintroduced her she left the new girls alone for the most part; from time to time she will chase them, but mostly she ignores them.

 

[Zeeb]

Thank you I did take advice from your posts and put out multiple feeders out of sight of the bully hen. I notice she will start to eat in one area then within seconds runs to where the other 2 are and pushes them out of the way or pecks them. They do have more than enough food, there's tons leftover for hours when I go to feed them late afternoon so I don't think it's a lack of food. I've been putting her in a cage with food for a short period of time while the others eat. Of course sometimes she's hard to catch because she knows what I'm going to do. LOL I lure her with treats and grab her from behind. I'm going to wait and see if she improves but I'm leaning towards selling her since she seems to have a personality problem. I'm thinking maybe to someone who wants just one chicken, she would do fine on her own. She lays beautiful copper eggs (Black Copper Marans). Mahalo all for you help!

 

[LaFleche]

What are you feeding them and did you de-worm the new hens already?

Could be her food obsession might be related to deficiencies caused by worms or not having been fed enough protein in her former home. Lacking the appropriate amount of protein they will try to compensate by stuffing themselves with whatever they can get.

You might want to weigh both Marans and feel their abdomen and breast to determine their actual condition (fat pad or breastbone sticking out etc.)