I suddenly have aggressive hens!!

[HorseFreak777]

Ok guys, on Tuesday, my older hens started bullying one of my younger hens. Then Yesterday, my Mom found the bullied hen hiding and her neck had been torn at relentlessly. She has chucks of skin missing, and I could see the muscle underneath. My question is why so suddenly though?? They have been together for months with minimal dominance things going on.
I do know that particular hen that was attacked has recently started squatting and getting ready to start laying. In fact, she has already laid two eggs a couple of weeks ago. Could this be why? What can I do?

I do have the younger hen separated but in the coop, so everyone can still see her.

 

[Marty1876]

Ok guys, on Tuesday, my older hens started bullying one of my younger hens. Then Yesterday, my Mom found the bullied hen hiding and her neck had been torn at relentlessly. She has chucks of skin missing, and I could see the muscle underneath. My question is why so suddenly though?? They have been together for months with minimal dominance things going on.
I do know that particular hen that was attacked has recently started squatting and getting ready to start laying. In fact, she has already laid two eggs a couple of weeks ago. Could this be why? What can I do?

I do have the younger hen separated but in the coop, so everyone can still see her.

Sounds like their maybe protein deficiency in your food. If your not allready feeding hen layor crubles, its time to offer it freely in unlimited amounts.

 

[Den in Penn]

How much space do they have? Are there places to get out of the line of sight of the other hens?

 

[Mavrik]

It's normal for chickens to attack sick/dieing birds.

However, I have a four year old that suddenly the others are attacking the neck/head, sometimes bloody. This has been going on for over a month, no clue why it started, she is not sick or dieing. The crew has double the coop space needed (8 sqft per bird) and free range all day.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I would consider removing the aggressive hen if this continues...it may have to be a permanent thing..definetly not normal if they have enough room to avoid each other.

 

[LivingTheDream65]

I have 4 hens and I don't feed them meat very often but a few weeks ago I did and it seems like they became more aggressive after that and started picking on one certain hen. After several days they calmed down and I tried feeding them meat again. Same thing, they got aggressive toward that one chicken. I've read that it's okay and very good for them to eat meat but I'm wondering now.