I wonder how old they are? How big your coop and run are?
The thing is, being raised together has almost no influence to future behavior. Chickens seldom get the whole BFF theory. Generally this behavior is caused by not enough space. What is plenty of space when they are chicks, rapidly becomes not enough space when they are adults.
Some birds can tolerate a little overcrowding, and some birds cannot tolerate it at all. Free ranging does not make up for not enough space in the run or coop. And the theory that all they do in the coop, is sleep and lay eggs, doesn't wash either. If you are in the northern hemisphere we are rapidly shortening up the days and lengthening. the nights. That is a long time to be overcrowded.
8 birds - a coop should be about 32 square feet - so a 6 ft x 6ft, or an 4 x 8 ft coop. They consider 10 sq feet for the run, so 80 square feet, 8 x 10 feet. A lot of people just getting started get sold the idea of those darling pre fab coops that STATE they can hold 6 birds, and really they can't. It is gross misinformation.
As for what you can try, and you need to do something or this ugly behavior can get much worse.
- Reduce the flock. Sell 1-2 birds depending on the measurements of your coop. It is better to keep fewer birds well, than to keep a lot of birds miserably.
- Pin less peepers have helped a lot of people keep birds in a small flock
- Add clutter to both the run and the coop. Many people have just a wide open run where every bird can see every bird 100% of the time. Adding pallets, saw horses, roosts, mini walls, totes on their sides, old furniture, can block the line of sight and allow birds to get away from each other.
- multiple feed bowls, set up so that a bird eating at one bowl cannot see a bird eating at another.
Always solve for peace in the flock. A peaceful flock is a joy to have.
Mrs K
