How to deal with my mean hen?

[Chickassan]

Just my opinion but I think your hen is acting up because the new girls are reaching point of lay which means the pecking order is about to expand. I am experiencing my own terror hen she was bossy before don't get me wrong but when the new girls started getting red combs it was instant warpath.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you so very much for this! Very helpful!!

YVW.

 

[andreanar]

I agree with @junebuggena Its pecking order, and unless the queen bee is ripping out feathers or causing real injury, its going to be ok. Things tend to settle down once everyone starts laying. And Yes, another girl will just step up to the plate if you remove the alpha. Someone has to be alpha, altho some alphas are more aggressive than others. Multiple feeding/waterers should help, as well as having places where the other girls can get out of the alphas sight and way.

 

[Patinas]

Someone has to be alpha, altho some alphas are more aggressive than others. Multiple feeding/waterers should help, as well as having places where the other girls can get out of the alphas sight and way.

I agree. Unless the top hen is actually drawing blood from the ones she's picking on, I'd let them sort it out. My top hen was giving several a quick peck to the head when the treat tray was given to them. I started doing two trays just so the lowly ones in the pecking order could try and have some treats to. The head hen is much better as long as the lowly ones don't try and eat off the tray she is eating at and the lowly ones now give her space and will only approach the tray she is not eating at. Seems to have helped quite a bit.

I have two feeders and two waterers; one of each in the run and one of each in the coop. That way no one is getting starved or denied water by the top hens.

 

[aart]

No need to separate. She's the boss hen. It's typical pecking order behavior and just chickens being chickens. If you remove her, another hen will just take her position and do the same thing. They are still young a very hormonal, which can exacerbate dominant behaviors. Once everybody is laying, it will likely calm down. In the mean time, multiple feeding stations will help reduce tension.

Usually, when aggression is at that level, it's due to severe overcrowding stress. The behavior described by OP isn't extreme aggression. It's normal behavior.

Ditto both of dos^^^^

How big is your coop and run in feet by feet for your 6 birds @SpaghettiJo ?
Dimensions and pics would help.
BTW way I love your screen name, cracks me up every time ...word play on SpaghettiO's?

 

[SpaghettiJo]

Ditto both of dos^^^^

How big is your coop and run in feet by feet for your 6 birds @SpaghettiJo ?
Dimensions and pics would help.
BTW way I love your screen name, cracks me up every time ...word play on SpaghettiO's?

My coop is quite spacious and I can't remember the exact dimensions as of now, but I do remember when we built it, we had researched how much space each chicken needed and built them a coop and run a few feet larger than minimum in case we get more chickens..
As for the name "Spaghetti Jo", i promised my older brother he could name one of my chickens and he decided he wanted to come up with a ridiculous name... and I couldn't go back on my promise.. so he spent a few weeks trying to think of one, until he stumbled upon a meme (I'll attach it) and since "Spaghetti Joe" was number 3 on the girls and boys side, he chose that one, although "Megbert" was in his top 3.. but I decided to make it more feminine and change the spelling of "Joe" to "jo"