Mean Hens

[The Cuckoo Nest66]

Hey all, newbie here! We got a mixed age/breed flock of hens three weeks ago and although I understand that they need to establish a new pecking order now, I am seeing one specific gal getting picked on by multiple hens. Two in particular (Buff Orpington and the other possibly an Australorp), I can tell are at the top of the order- my poor Dixie (Welsummer) is having a hard time taking a hint. Despite the constant pecking and being sat on, she keeps trying to sleep next to them. They literally sit on her head while the other pecks at her aggressively, so I make them stop in fear of them doing actual harm. I try picking Dixie up and putting her on a different roost, far from the others but she keeps following the mean girls. I've seen others peck at her when she is simply walking near them too, it's sad! We have a pretty large coop and have multiple tiered roosts-plenty of space between everyone. I don't have a way to separate anyone from the coop itself though. I would love some feedback and suggestions!
Thanks in advance!

 

[sourland]

Chicken society, the pecking order, is sort of like mean girls in high school. As long as they are not drawing blood I would let them work things out. Removing the two dominant birds for several days might help things.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Welcome to BYC!!
I agree with @sourland as long as no blood is being drawn I think I would just let them sort it out themselves.
It might be good to have multiple feed and water stations, and make sure there are places for the bullied chicken to get away and hide from the others.

 

[Mrs. K]

I question what you think is plenty of room, cause often times it is not, but you really can't change it. Try pin-less peepers, works well in small set ups.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

Three weeks ago you got a flock of mixed age/breed chickens. For these three weeks one of them has been getting picked on while on the roost by two specific hens and when just walking around during the day by others. Three weeks sounds like a long time for the pecking order still being sorted, I think something else might be going on.

It could be helpful to know how many total chicken you have, how much room you have in the coop and in the run (preferably in feet or meters), do these "walking around peckings" occur in any specific place or time, when do they have access to both the coop and run, what the roosts look like (how long and do you have more than one), breeds involved (especially does she look different like funny feathers), and ages. Did they all come from the same flock? The more we know about your actual situation the more likely we will notice something that might be a problem. Photos can often help, you never know what we might see.

Lack of room is a common cause of behavioral problems, that's why we ask, but it doesn't sound like that's the only problem to me. Still, it might be a part. My first thought is that there is an age (or actually maturity) difference. Is the victim laying? Mature chickens outrank immature chickens in the pecking order and can be pretty brutal in enforcing those pecking order rights. Typically my pullets don't make their way into the pecking order until they start to lay, then they are accepted. Until then mine tend to form a sub-flock and avoid the adults.

Chickens are social animals, they like to be with other chickens. But more mature hens are likely to peck immature ones if they invade their personal space. Is your victim alone and just trying to socialize but getting pecked for her effort?

Does the victim look weird, maybe silkie feathers or a weird hairdo like a Polish? If they grow up together that's usually not a big deal but occasionally when you integrate a difference can attract attention. That's more likely if they are crowded but could happen anyway.

When the victim goes to roost, does she go to the bullies or do they move to her? I read what you said but I've seen a hen leave her normal roosting place to go after weaker chickens at the far end of the roost. It's not always the dominant chickens either. I think it's one that is insecure in her position in the pecking order and takes the opportunity to brutalize a weaker chicken to try to keep it down. For whatever reason they do that, my immature pullets often won't sleep on the main roosts until they start to lay.

Is the victim unhealthy or crippled? Sometimes the flock will try to run off a weak chicken. They can be quite vicious about it. It's a survival technique, either to get rid of a sick chicken before they all get sick or a weak chicken can attract predators to the flock area. Does she act normal and have you checked to see if she is injured?

So what can you do? That kind of depends on what is going on. If she is young she may need to be separated until she matures. If you can identify instigators it can be helpful to isolate them from the flock for a while. That gives her a chance to make friends with the others plus can change the flock dynamics. The instigators lose their place in the pecking order and have other things to worry about when you put them back instead of being a bully. I try to solve for the benefit of the entire flock. More than once I've permanently removed a victim or a bully to maintain flock peace.

The right answer could be just to let them work it out as long as she is not being physically injured. That's my normal approach. But I do not force them to be in close contact with the others in order to force them to fight it out. I give them as much room as I can and let them work it out on their schedule, not mine.

I wish you luck with it, it's not always easy. And once again, to the forum!

 

[The Cuckoo Nest66]

I will go out and measure the coop and run in a bit and get back to you! We have 10 hens altogether, who came from a flock of about 100. So I understand the reasoning behind the pecking order, but like you said, three weeks seems too long for this to still be going on. The victim is a Welsummer, I don't see anything wrong with her health wise and don't think she is funny looking at all. I have not seen her lay any eggs yet, but the people we got her from said she had just started. Her comb is still pretty small. We don't know the exact ages of everyone but I do know we have younger hens in here who are not laying yet, and the bullies are closer to a year old. Dixie is most likely the third youngest.
I actually am concerned about the wellness of the bullies though.. The bullies are a Buff Orpington and an Australorp(?), whose combs are rather pale. Maybe they are grumpy because they don't feel good?
I don't currently have a way to separate them unfortunately, this is our only coop with a door. Here's a picture of the victim, Dixie, the roosts and the nesting boxes. Sorry for the poor quality photo of the roosts, it was nighttime. Dixie and the bullies are the ones on the bottom roost. The white stuff is DE. I will get a full picture of the coop when I go measure it. I appreciate the responses!

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

It's weird that they'll peck her when she's just walking. Sometimes chickens get aggressive around food, but I think they're just being bullies. Part of it could be the two "alpha" hens being together, if you separate the two, then maybe the two of them would be less aggressive, and there would be a chance for Dixie to work her way into the pecking order. Maybe even getting Dixie a separate area to sleep in, or getting Dixie a younger hen to make friends with and kind of be the "boss" of could help.

 

[The Cuckoo Nest66]

I am tempted to ask the lady we got the girls from would be willing to let us swap out the Orpington for another but she may have sold all the others by now.
Also, I measured the coop. It's 14ft by 15ft. The roosts are all different lengths but there are three tiers, the longest being 13ft. They free range during the day so they have access to 5 acres until sunset. The covered area/run is about three times the size of the coop. Should be plenty of space for 10 hens, right? We do have another coop area but it's not enclosed at all. Definitely something on my to do list in the future.

 

[aart]

Looks like plenty of space and roosts to me.

 

[Trevorusn]

Get a good size dog crate and use that to house one of the bully hens in temporarily, it will help reform the pecking order and could balance out the bullying behavior. Funny thing, 2 of my ISA Brown pullets had no qualms asserting dominance over all but my BJG cockerel, including 3 older hens and an older roo before I separated them for molting. Chickens can be funny like that sometimes.