Hens bullying pullet.

[Emily_loveschickens]

Hello everybody.

I have made multiple threads like this before but haven’t really gotten any answer I wanted so this time I am going to be a bit more specific. We have five hens. Back in July we decided to get two chicks to add to our flock. Sometime in October one of our two chicks was killed by a raccoon. That made the integration process, super hard, because we only had one chick. The hens are still not being nice to her. It is mainly my one golden comet Penelope, who is mean but every now and then the others give her a good peck, which I think it’s just part of chicken behavior. I was going to put a pinless peeper on our main bully, but wanted to know if there’s anything else I could do? The chickens have enough space. their run is 6 x 10’ and the coop is 4 x 5’. I haven’t been free ranging them as much because of the winter and getting our gardens going, but I will start doing that more. There are even some times that the pullet does not want to sleep in the coop because they are mean to her and chase her out. They have picked out her head feathers and her back feathers are looking pretty scraggly too. Four of our hens are two years old but the youngest one is around 10 months. I do not know if this is a detail you need, but they are on the Purina organic layer feed. Thanks.

 

[DotToDot]

Limited space can cause bullying, although your run doesn’t seem too bad. How many waterers/feeders do you have?

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Limited space can cause bullying, although your run doesn’t seem too bad. How many waterers/feeders do you have?

One waterer, and two feeders

 

[rosemarythyme]

Your run is sized at bare minimum for a fully integrated flock. Integration favors having more space because you need clutter to break up the space and provide hiding spots.

If you are unable to expand or to let them free range full time, then peepers are the logical next step to try.

Also what is the age of the pullet? She will not really be accepted into the flock until she reaches POL even if the bully stops attacking her.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Your run is sized at bare minimum for a fully integrated flock. Integration favors having more space because you need clutter to break up the space and provide hiding spots.

If you are unable to expand or to let them free range full time, then peepers are the logical next step to try.

Also what is the age of the pullet? She will not really be accepted into the flock until she reaches POL even if the bully stops attacking her.

She is 10 months. She started laying around 4 months ago.

 

[rosemarythyme]

She is 10 months. She started laying around 4 months ago.

Oh okay so this isn't a tiny one. Yeah I'd look into peepers at this point as the next step.

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

I tried to put a peeper on the mean hen, but I was having a tough time getting it on. What are your thoughts on rehoming one of the chickens either the bully or the bullied?

 

[MarlaMac]

I haven't rehomed any hens, but I read a comment on this site that made a lot of sense. Paraphrasing - if you are considering rehoming a hen, rehome at least two who are are good friends as rehoming one hen by itself into an existing flock will be super hard on that hen.