Mean Chicken all of a sudden..Is she a he? New Pic of her/him...

[Chick named Lola]

Thelma who has always ruled the roost kindly is now attacking one of my girls for no apparent reason. I've noticed this the past week, it's been getting increasingly worse. First she just chased her around, now she's biting at the back of her neck and chasing her. Rose was up in the coop laying an egg when I let them out today and when she came down to join the others Thelma attacked her. What can I do? Thelma is not laying yet, does that have anything to do with it? I have 5, 3 are laying. That is the only thing that has changed. I just want them to get along like they used to...

 

[Dar]

you can try separating the aggressive hen for a few days... knocking her down a couple of notches on the hierarchy pole.. if at any time you see blood shed they need to be separated because it will cause the others to join in on the picking

 

[Chick named Lola]

I have such a small coop I don't know how I would seperate her. I could put her in a dog crate during the day inside the small run I have and while they are out. Do I need to keep her in at night as well? How will she keep warm? No room for the crate inside the coop...????

 

[Dar]

can you bring her in the house for a day or 2 in the dog crate?

OH! I just thought of something... you can try peepers

 

[Chick named Lola]

Peepers?

 

[Dar]

they are called pinless peepers... they are like blinders for chickens... I tried to find a good link but I came up with another forum so I didnt want to post another forum and get sent to the corner

if you google search it you will get all kinds of hits

 

[teach1rusl]

Are the others treating Rose as they always have? Actually, the first two thoughts that flashed through my head were: Are you SURE Thelma is a pullet? And the 2nd thought was that maybe Thelma is getting ready to start laying; I do have one girl who gets really snippy around laying time.
DAR's suggestion for bully busting seems to work for some people, so if she continues her witchiness, I'd give it a go. I think it'd be most effective to keep the crate in the house, so the others don't even see her. She could go back on the roost after dark, and then back in the crate in the morning. But she could just stay in the crate.

 

[Chick named Lola]

The other chickens are treating her the same except today I did see the 2nd in command (another wyondotte) starting in on her a little... Yes, Thelma is most certainly a girl. She's the only one out of the 5 that will not squat or let me pet her. She will come near me and follow me around, but no petting. I thought she was going to lay first because she has the brightest red and biggest waddles/comb. But she is not laying yet. I suggested to my hubby to bring her in the house and he was not having it. He said we should send to her to my friends house who has a bunch of chickens for a week then bring her back. Would that be ok?

 

[drumstick diva]

The op says she has a very small coop, could this be the reason? At any rate, she seems to be influencing other chickens to pick on Rose. She definitely needs a time out or to be rehomed.

 

[crtrlovr]

I wouldn't suggest sending her to a friend's and then bringing her back. Even if your friend's chickens are healthy, they have become desensitized (probably, for the most part) to the organisms in the soil/grass at their home. Likewise with your own chickens. If you bring your hen over there, you will be exposing her to things she's not used to, and exposing your friend's chickens to organisms they're not used to. It may be perfectly fine, but then again it may not. (ever heard of Montezuma's revenge on tourists to Mexico? same type of situation). It wouldn't be worth it to me to take the chance. Can you not put her in a crate in the garage, storage building, spare bedroom / bathroom, etc.?