Hen not leting other hens in the coop during the day.

[Shilo7]

I have a hen that has always been a bully. Most of the bullying is over food or the roosting bar. Today she will not let other hens in the coop to use the nesting boxes. Is this the hen escalating her bulling or is she trying to go broody. There are no eggs in any of the nesting boxes so she not protecting eggs as of right now.

 

[cavemanrich]

PLACE FEED OUTSIDE IN THE RUN AREA. AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

WISHING YOU BEST.....

 

[Shilo7]

PLACE FEED OUTSIDE IN THE RUN AREA. AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

WISHING YOU BEST.....

Because of her bulling I have 2 feeding stations and 2 watering stations in the run. They have 1ft of roosting space inside the coop per a chicken and many roosting places in the run.

 

[Shilo7]

Also the chickens free range 5 days a week

 

[cavemanrich]

She is a bully for sure, I'm running out of IDEAS, only thing that come to mind is music. I posted one of these posters inside my coop and all behavior totally changed..

 

[Mdm Cluck Cluck]

Could you isolate her from the others for a day or two?? Then when she goes backing she may well be lower in the pecking order.

 

[aart]

I have a hen that has always been a bully. Most of the bullying is over food or the roosting bar. Today she will not let other hens in the coop to use the nesting boxes. Is this the hen escalating her bulling or is she trying to go broody. There are no eggs in any of the nesting boxes so she not protecting eggs as of right now.

Tell us more about your flock and coop/run.
Number, ages, and genders of birds???
How long have they all lived together?
Size, in feet by feet, of coop and run??
Good pics of coop and run always help.

In general, with such limited info, I would remove the bully bird and isolate her for a few days to a week or more.

 

[Shilo7]

Tell us more about your flock and coop/run.
Number, ages, and genders of birds???
How long have they all lived together?
Size, in feet by feet, of coop and run??
Good pics of coop and run always help.

In general, with such limited info, I would remove the bully bird and isolate her for a few days to a week or more.

1 rooster 6 hen in 4x 8 coop. The run is 25ft by 30ft. The rooster and 5 hens are just over a year old. 1 hen is 6months old. The 6 that are the same age have lived together from chicks. The other hen has been with them a little over 2 weeks. The bully hen has always been a bully but not letting others is new as of this posting topic. I can put her in another run but she would need to go back with the others at night. I do not have a coop to mover her to right now. I put her in the other run yesterday after she had her egg she was calm again and I let her back in with the others. They are out free ranging today and have used the coop at different times so no issue today. This is a new problem so I will need to see if she guards the coop next time there is no free ranging.

 

[aart]

Quote: Did the coop guarding start when you added the one new pullet?
Do all the others get along OK with the one new bird?
That could have been the trigger....or it could be that it's spring and hormones are on the rise...
...or it could be that she's just a biotch...hahaha!
Even separating her for part of the day could help,
maybe put a dog crate or something in the other run for shelter and laying,
do what you can to give the others a break.
Chicken Juggling...just try different things to break her habit as much as possible.
Best of cLuck!

 

[Shilo7]

the coop guarding did not start when I added the new pullet, Just started a day ago. Thank you everyone for your help. They are all Wyandotte chickens.