Little Bullies. Help!

[JonnyRobertz]

Also, the incident did not happen during roosting time. One bird in particular seems to pick on her but they all ignore her and stay together while she is alone most of the time.

 

[junebuggena]

Run is too small. You are short 8 sq ft. And that's the minimum. Some individuals, and some breeds in particular need even more space than that. Barred Rocks, for instance, are a breed that really needs their elbow room or they can turn into really mean creatures.

 

[JonnyRobertz]

Okay, thanks for the tip! I figured that since they were so small that would have been ample room but maybe not...

 

[Jciarmom]

There are many good points above.

Re-introducing many species animal/bird can be difficult with the pecking order that occurs. Any time a bird/animal is taken from the herd/flock...they are a bottom rung individual whenthey're returned and since they're strange...every body notices them immediately. When taking out an animal/bird...although it's not always possible, I try to take more than one out so when I reintroduce the animal...the interest from the main flock is spread over 2-3 animals. I have sheep and even they will bully a new comer. I always moved the original flock into the pen of new lambs or sheep. It's strange to the originals and they aren't as aggressive.

Is four birds the number of birds you have in total? If so...once your girl is healed, I'd kennel the 3 birds in the run and release the healed bird so she has the entire run to herself for a day or so. Then let the least aggressive bird out of the kennel. Let them spend time together. It's at least one on one and a fair fight. When the two are ok with each other let the second bird out of the cage and so forth. The original bird has the power play right from the beginning and the rest can't beat her up because of the way you release them.

Always let the most timid birds out first so they can get used to the new environment/surroundings. They learn where everything is and they have more confidence. It gives the timid/hurt animals a much better chance.

This is great information, thanks so much! One of my 4 pullets (the one I thought was the dominate one of the group) was pecked by another one today after they had a scare, and was bleeding on the back of her neck. We took her out and planned to keep her separate for at least the night, but after I read your post I put one of the nicer birds in with her to keep her company and hopefully avoid any problems when putting her back when she's ready. Thanks again

 

[JonnyRobertz]

Okay, so instead of keeping her alone we should add one of the friendly/ timid birds in the separate coop with her while she recovers? Also, to mix up the pecking order we were considering removing the one doing the bullying when we reintroduce her to the original coop. Good idea? We were thinking this would sort of break up the group and maybe keep them from ganging up on her?