How long will this bullying behavior last?

[HiddenChicken]

I had two astrolorps that would pick on my chickens all day long, I got sick of it and moved them to my moms for the summer, then this fall back home and yep they went right at it again, beating up on all the chickens. I will not deal with 2 witches that will notify nice, off they went to a new home. It's get along or get out. I put eggs under my broodys to hatch out, I do not have a rooster so I buy fertilized eggs for 3.00 a dozen from a local gal. This way they grow up in the mix and play well together. Adding to a already established coop can be very hard. It took me all summer to get my girls to play nice with the pullets I ordered. Of course those two girls are gone lol. The pullets turned out to be the best egg layers! RIR and EE spells awesome egg layers!

My top hen (quite the witch) is also an Australorp! They seem to be so mean! She's nice to me, but then I'm not a chicken...lol

My Ameraucana is turning out to be a great layer, too! Every single day, which I wasn't expecting.

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Read from the top of the threat. Buy some pinless peeper and put them on the offending bird. Randall Burkey sells them, they are a BYC sponsor.

Thank you, I checked them out last night. I may have to try that. Was just hoping things might could get better.

 

[HiddenChicken]

Got 8 5-weeks old chicks and I have noticed lately that one (the smallest one, of course) has been picking on all the others.  This evening I noticed that she was relentlessly picking on one particular one  who apparently had a hole pecked in her wing.  I quickly reassembled a tub, got the injured chick out and shot her with Blue-kote, gave her food and water in the brooder tub.  She was not happy.  I came on here and searched for what to do with the pecker.  There was lots of info on what to do for the peckee but only one reference to the abuser.  That was to put some toys in the the coop to give them something to do.  LOL  Okay, I will play along.  I found a big orange jingle bell pumpkin and put some red yard in a plastic water bottle.  Not sure what else to do.  It was dark by this time so I'm not sure if the aggressor will find a new target or what.  This one has always been the runt and was never picked on herself.  Anyone have any suggestions on what to do to break the pecker?  

Again...info from a newbie. Take it for what it's worth...

If I were in your situation, I would either cull the troublemaker (cull means remove from the flock, not necessarily killing it, BTW)...or I would separate them until my ordered peepers arrived. lol... Seriously, I cannot recommend the peepers more highly--they work! And they, theoretically, reform behavior, so when you remove them, no more pecking. (Theoretically, because a small % don't reform & need to wear them permanently.) At $2 for 5, they are a cheap solution!

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Again...info from a newbie. Take it for what it's worth...
If I were in your situation, I would either cull the troublemaker (cull means remove from the flock, not necessarily killing it, BTW)...or I would separate them until my ordered peepers arrived. lol... Seriously, I cannot recommend the peepers more highly--they work! And they, theoretically, reform behavior, so when you remove them, no more pecking. (Theoretically, because a small % don't reform & need to wear them permanently.) At $2 for 5, they are a cheap solution!

Thank you very much. I appreciate your recommendation and that's what I'm looking for.

 

[HiddenChicken]

I'm so glad they worked for you! They've worked miracles in our flock,too. We actually had a hen killed before we bought the first batch of peepers, but we haven't even had blood drawn since. We just use them at the first sign of trouble.

Another peeper success story...

 

[TherryChicken]

I wouldn't say they all settle down. Mine never did and had to be sold. They were ALL hens. One was even killed because another was so aggresive.. However it did seem to help when i seperated them at night and let them out in the morning. Good luck!

 

[karlamaria]

This video shows how they went on, but the end credits says the chicken was never the same and would sit all day. They took them off and never put them back on
[VIDEO]

 

[HiddenChicken]

This video shows how they went on, but the end credits says the chicken was never the same and would sit all day. They took them off and never put them back on
[VIDEO]

IMHO, the reason the hen would sit all day is because they put the googly eyes on. The peepers are a specific size and shape, I am assuming so the hen will still be able to see enough peripherally to walk around and eat. The googly eyes increased the "lens" size by almost double, probably blocking too much of her vision. (You can see the size of the peepers as a shadow thru the googly eyes when the sun hits them.)

My hens, OTOH, are absolutely fine with the peepers. They can still do everything they used to do, and can forage for bugs, dust bathe, etc...no problem.

I think the hen in the video would've been fine had they not futzed with the peepers. Now, having said that, way smaller googly eyes would be ok & really cute! lol...

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Re: the video above--

We have used peepers on over 300 hens. Sometimes, if we don't know exactly which hen is doing the pecking, we'll just peeper the whole group of 20 or so. There's a day of adjustment, but then the hens are back to running around and trying to fly over fences and eating bugs. We usually keep the peepers on for a month or so, but I did have one nasty hen that had to wear peepers full-time. Peepers have never stopped my chickens from being chickens. I'm not sure why the peepers changed the behavior in the flock above, but I dont' think that person's experience is a reason not to try them. They are a cheap, easy, humane solution to pecking and can stop a pecking problem before it becomes a habit.

 

[HiddenChicken]

Re: the video above--

We have used peepers on over 300 hens. Sometimes, if we don't know exactly which hen is doing the pecking, we'll just peeper the whole group of 20 or so. There's a day of adjustment, but then the hens are back to running around and trying to fly over fences and eating bugs. We usually keep the peepers on for a month or so, but I did have one nasty hen that had to wear peepers full-time. Peepers have never stopped my chickens from being chickens. I'm not sure why the peepers changed the behavior in the flock above, but I dont' think that person's experience is a reason not to try them. They are a cheap, easy, humane solution to pecking and can stop a pecking problem before it becomes a habit.

 

x2