Hey there, I have 3 hens total, two Barred Rocks and one Rhode Island Red. We just got back from vacation and found that one of the BR's had beat the tar out of the RIR. We let them out of the coop and one of the BR's immediately began picking on the BR. These guys were raised together from chicks and have always gotten along flawlessly. They are about 9 months old. Not sure why they have started fighting but the RIR is definately running scared. Any ideas as to why this is happening or what I can do to stop it? There are two nesting boxes for the 3 birds, do I need to make another one so they all have a place to lay? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Whenever I have trouble with an aggressive bird I like to remove the aggressor from the equation for a bit. It helps bring them down a notch and calms down the overall situation.
Two nest boxes should be plenty. Is your RIR bleeding or have any open wounds? Do they have plenty of space? I know our chicks got pretty aggressive to each other when they just did not have space. I have read that some people put the mean hen in "time out" aka a separate pen for a few days so she drops to a lower point on the pecking order. Might just be they just got bored while you were on vacation
