Hens suddenly fighting?!

[jlquick30]

We have 10 hens who have been together since they were just a few days old - they're about 5 1/2 months now, some are laying already and a few are not. There has always been one who seemed like the dominant (my Blue Andalusian), but she was never overly aggressive.

Then one of my red sex links got hurt somehow (cut on her neck) and the others started pecking at the injury. We separated her, but Blue-Kote on it, and put her back in the run.

That was 3 days ago -- now they're all fighting and pecking each other, injury or not. Tonight, they were pecking so much a couple actually left the roost and chose to sleep on the floor.

Should we do something about it? I don't want any of them to get hurt - especially the 2-3 that seem to not even want to fight back. We JUST got the coop+run finished, so we don't really have anywhere else for them to go (to separate them).

 

[LaynaDon95]

Are they free-rangers? If not, I would suggest that they may be bored. Boredom can cause even the sweetest chicken to fight because there is nothing better to do. Here is a good thread on keeping you flock entertained.

 

[jlquick30]

They are free range from sunrise to sunset. At sunset (which is not until almost 9 pm these days), they voluntarily all go back in the coop. That's mostly when they seem to fight - from the time it starts getting dark until they actually get on the roost (and after).

I will check out the thread and maybe add something "fun" in the coop to get them entertained until they go to sleep.

 

[LaynaDon95]

That's a good start. That may be all they need. Do they have enough space per bird in the coop. (I know my birds don't, but that will be remedied soon.) Each hen needs 3-4 square feet of space a piece in the coop, and a foot of space each on the roost.