Hen pecking.. how much is too much??

[LindseyDMD]

I have three hens currently, Frannie, Dorothy, and Nubz. Dorothy (standard size) and Nubz (bantam) are mixed breeds while we believe Frannie to be a Buff Catalana.

I am having an issue with persistent pecking. Dorothy and Frannie are currently the only two laying. Everything was fine until Frannie recently went broody. So, we placed a metal dog crate in the chicken run to break her. Yesterday, we confirmed she was finally broken. However, I noticed she was trying to sleep under the other two girls' wings. Cut to today, and Dorothy has been pecking at Frannie's head all day long, even when roaming outside and especially when eating. It's like even seeing Frannie get near food will piss Dorothy off and cause her to peck and to hold onto Fran. I noticed just now that even after four or five pecks to the head, Dorothy chased Fran across the yard to continue pecking. I have never had this problem before. In the beginning when we first bought the three, it was Nubz who was a nuisance and beating everyone up. Dorothy never did anything of the sort until today and it seems never ending. She has also been keeping Fran from eating. There is no blood yet or patch of missing feathers, but it is incredibly disheartening and angering to see it continually happening as Fran is very submissive and very sweet.

Is there anything at all I can do? I don't want this to escalate as I recently lost a hen to a scratched eye (somehow it progressed rapidly and she fell ill and couldn't recover). Should I separate Dorothy into the dog kennel? I thought about this earlier, but wasn't sure how she would react coming out and if that would piss her off more and attack my Fran more violently.

Side note: what makes this more concerning is that I understand when a hen returns to the flock, the pecking order must be re-established. However, when we were breaking Fran, we would keep her in the crate at night and let her range through the day with the others (this was probably stupid, I know, but I felt bad). The few times we did this, she was never attacked by Dorothy (just Nubz a few times but that was expected considering her track history). It only started today between Dorothy and Fran.

 

[LindseyDMD]

Bump.. anyone please it's gotten worse

 

[PouleChick]

Sorry to hear they are being so horribl eto her. I nearly ended up in tears when my girls had one of my silkies pinned down pecking her in the head - so horrible to watch I havent' had much experience of this myself, I used 'see but don't touch' separation when I integrated my silkies with the others and to start with we had a few days of short, supervised mingling and I'd put them back in their run if it started getting nasty. From what I've read I'd probably put the mean girl in jail for 2-3 days.

 

[aart]

How old are these birds?
Did you get them all at the same time, and at what age?
How big is your coop and run?
Dimensions and pics would be of great assistance.

Short term, put the bully in the crate.

 

[LindseyDMD]

We think they are about 7 months. We bought them at the same time from a lady when they were about 2-3 months.

The run is a 10x10 dog kennel my husband fastened to the coop door so I can open the coop door before school on the mornings to let them have more room and then I let them free range when I get home. The coop is probably 5x8 or so approximately.

I put Dorothy in the crate last night because she would. not. stop. beating up Fran from pecking her head, her feet, and her tail. It was to the point where Fran had her head buried under the other girl to try and hide. It was so sad. I let them all out this morning in the run and the first thing she did was attack Fran pretty violently and kept chasing her from food. I didn't have time to lock Dorothy back up so I pray I don't come home to a dead chicken.

I will lock her up when I get home and keep her in there. Hopefully it gets better

 

[PouleChick]

I didn't have time to lock Dorothy back up so I pray I don't come home to a dead chicken.

I will lock her up when I get home and keep her in there. Hopefully it gets better

Poor chook, I hope she is OK when you get home - they may have even sorted out their differences by then!

 

[aart]

It can be hard to balance such a small flock, nowhere to 'spread the love'.
...and some birds are just incorrigible bullies.
You may have to isolate the bully for a week or more.
Space sounds pretty good.
Does your run have lots of distractions and place to 'hide'?
Multiple feed and water might help too.
If you could post some pics, I could offer more specific suggestions.

Tho you're not really 'integrating', some of these might help:
Integration Basics:

It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

 

[LindseyDMD]

I have a toy that we fill with treats and a few outside roosts that they don't use lol, but that's about it. We never had an issue with space so we haven't loaded up on hiding spots. Another reason is the coop is at the edge of the woods, so I am concerned to encourage snakes and other pests if we were to put more stuff. I leave the coop door open for their food and water and they have three nesting boxes at the end I guess if things got really bad.

I wish I knew what has triggered Dorothy over night to behave that way

Thank you so much to everyone replying!! I can run and buy another food thing to try and help since a lot is food driven.

 

[LindseyDMD]

This is the best pic I could get of the coop along with my ol girl I lost to the eye infection

I just spent the time I've been home trying to keep the peace as even with three acres to roam, Dorothy still hunts down Frannie to attack. I tried locking Dorothy in the crate, but she kept spilling her food and drink and the last time I tried to fix it she broke out and ran in the coop. The entire time I tried flushing her from the coop, she was more worried about attacking Fran. I just don't understand.. it seems so much more sinister than pecking order if she is being chased with something to flush her out and she is trying to attack another hen rather than even get out of the way of my broom handle.

So tonight they are in the coop together.. again

 

[aart]

Oops, they can be hard to keep in the crate, and feed and water can definitely be a pain.
I've gone to wall mounted feed and water, but my birds are trained to nipples.The small white cage cup I got a pet store in the bird aisle, can be used for water too.
Cup on door makes it easy to dump a handful of food into cup with out escape,
and I've used a squirt bottle to fill water cup without opening crate door.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rates-a-good-tool-for-every-chickeneer.72619/


I've found grabbing them off the roost at night after dark and sticking them in the crate works best, but it doesn't look like you have room in coop for the crate, maybe another weather proof place to keep crated bird?

Just some ideas from my experience.
Sorry, I really don't know what to tell you about what to do with this bird.

Sometimes a bird just seems to flip a bit(old computer term) in their tiny brains.
Had a great and mellow layer go bonkers after being put in the coop partition section with a few other birds for a couple days. After she went back to main coop section she started pacing around frenetically, tearing up all the nests, disturbing the other layers.
Isolating her in a crate helped, I've tried this several times, but not for long. She's going to the processor tomorrow along with another trouble maker.