Merging flocks, one bully chicken :(

[Rhyara]

Hello, I have 4 pullets and one cockerel I raised from day old, they're about 5 months now. When we found out we had no chicken ordinances we decided to get more hens since we're keeping our cockerel.
We impulsively rescued 2 polish and 2 silkie hens from an old couple, no longer able to care for them, ranging from 5 months to at least a year 2 old.

There's been some drama along the way trying to get the new girls integrated. (We had them separated to treat for leg mites, then they were in a see don't touch situation for about 3 weeks.)

So far our ISA pullet is a BULLY. No blood drawn, but she chases and pecks all the new girls into a corner where they cower and just torments them ripping out some feathers.

We're currently trying out having her locked in a kennel in the run so everyone can see eachother, but she can't actually hurt anyone. They're generally still in corners as a group, but not cowering anymore. They feel comfortable enough to eat and preen. Mild pecking order stuff between the new and old with the ISA taken out of the mix. Totally safe and makes me hopeful.

I'm just wondering if I should stick with this setup? For how long?
Should I remove her completely and put her in the garage for a few days?
They sleep through the night together okay, so I could put them all together at night and separate during the day.

It just breaks my heart seeing them so terrified.

 

[FunClucks]

Pinless Peepers for your bully chicken. My Pet Chicken and a lot of other folks sell them. I think they'd probably work great in this situation.

 

[Rhyara]

That will be our last resort, as my husband thinks that it would be cruel to her. I'm of the mind she's cruel enough she can handle a week or so of peripheral vision
Thank you for your input though, maybe with more support he won't be as against it. I feel like being alone in a garage would be harder on a bird than some blinders, but maybe not. We're new to the chicken world.

 

[FunClucks]

A helpful mental exercise: If the bully doesn't stop, what then? Your other birds learn the bad behavior and copy the bully? You do nothing and live with the bullying? What if the bullying escalates, and the new chickens get beat down enough to where they become permanent victims? At what point are you willing to rehome the bully in order to have peace in your flock again?

Definitely try the garage separation. Minimum of a week, maybe more to shake up that pecking order, sometimes that helps fix issues like this. But if that doesn't work, consider your backup plan.

Pinless peepers were made exactly for situations like this - where an owner wanted to keep the bully but peace in the flock was just as important. The chickens get used to the idea. It's a great option when you don't want to rehome your bully chicken and garage separation and other options didn't work.

 

[3KillerBs]

Do you have plenty of clutter to provide hiding places and visual blocks?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

 

[BDutch]

Hard to say what is the best solution. I dont think there is one size fits all.

I would add some panels/hiding corners, give feed in more and separated places. And give it a week to settle, since there’s no blood.

If the bullying doesn’t stop after a week, I would separate the bully in the garage for a week at least, to alter the pecking order.

 

[Rhyara]

Do you have plenty of clutter to provide hiding places and visual blocks?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

Yes! Maybe we should make more, but we had a ton of wood leftover from building the coop, my husband likes to make them new toys every week it seems. We can focus more on hiding holes instead of vertical opportunities.

Edited to add: We have a little enclosure attached to the run (we covered in hardware cloth) that has this whole jungle gym they run all over. We'll get some of our leftover plywood and make some hideyholes and random walls for them to hide behind. We have 3 feeders and 5 waterers of various sizes, (plus one of each that stays in the coop) We'll be sure to put all of them out.

 

[Rhyara]

A helpful mental exercise: If the bully doesn't stop, what then? Your other birds learn the bad behavior and copy the bully? You do nothing and live with the bullying? What if the bullying escalates, and the new chickens get beat down enough to where they become permanent victims? At what point are you willing to rehome the bully in order to have peace in your flock again?

Definitely try the garage separation. Minimum of a week, maybe more to shake up that pecking order, sometimes that helps fix issues like this. But if that doesn't work, consider your backup plan.

Pinless peepers were made exactly for situations like this - where an owner wanted to keep the bully but peace in the flock was just as important. The chickens get used to the idea. It's a great option when you don't want to rehome your bully chicken and garage separation and other options didn't work.

Talked with my husband and he seems more okay with the pineless peepers now, well give that a try, keep her separated during the day until those arrive.

I'd have a really hard time giving her up... I might even rather rehome the girls we nursed back to health rather than get rid of her, (maybe if I wasn't so new to this I'd be more open to it.... but first time raising chicks... They're my babies, they've become my comfort, my therapy, my life. I can't imagine getting rid of any of them) but it seems like my husband is thinking of getting rid of her if it comes down to it. We'll have to think about it, and try everything we can in the meantime.

 

[Mrs. K]

Always solve for peace in the flock. Doesn't matter how you do it, but do not let it be ugly for long. It just will ruin the enjoyment of the flock for you, and even the birds not involved are stressed with that aggression around.

Pull the victims - see if the flock resettles and is peaceful, if the bully picks a new victim, and sometimes they will, pull her for a week and order the peepers. They work very well in situations like yours. If pulling the victims makes for a better flock, they may never really fit in your flock, let them go to someone else.

A lot of people do not have success with mixing the bantam and full size birds. Some do, but some set ups are just not good for it.

Mrs K

 

[FunClucks]

Talked with my husband and he seems more okay with the pineless peepers now, well give that a try, keep her separated during the day until those arrive.

I'd have a really hard time giving her up... I might even rather rehome the girls we nursed back to health rather than get rid of her, (maybe if I wasn't so new to this I'd be more open to it.... but first time raising chicks... They're my babies, they've become my comfort, my therapy, my life. I can't imagine getting rid of any of them) but it seems like my husband is thinking of getting rid of her if it comes down to it. We'll have to think about it, and try everything we can in the meantime.

There is no one correct answer - the solutions are as varied as the people who keep chickens. I'd like to echo Mrs K's advice - solve for peace in the flock. Keep the chickens who you enjoy who fit your management style. Everyone has a different hierarchy of things that are important to them when it comes to keeping chickens.

I had a bully and a victim. The bully pulled out all of the victim's feathers on the lower half of her upper back in less than an hour. Like, over 50 feathers. I hand-raised all my chicks, and it made me very sad to rehome one of the more friendly ones (the bully), but we tried garage separation, and that didn't work, and with 19 chickens, we absolutely could not have that habit started in our flock. The victim was my favorite because she was beautiful, and I liked her personality even though she was pretty skittish. She only let the bully pick on her for some reason, but flew away from everyone else. She's still lowest on the totem pole, but she runs away well, and fights back pretty good, which prevents others from increasing their behavior from low on the totem pole behavior to outright bullying.

I thought the bully was too young for pinless peepers (she was 6-8 weeks I think?), and I'd been meaning to reduce our flock size anyway. So I took the bully and a flockmate who was the most skittish and rehomed them where they'd get to free range, and their skittishness could be for the good (for the skittish chicken), and everyone could get away from her, and she was the lowest on the totem pole (for the bully). The next option was permanent separation from the flock (not healthy for the bully chicken) or culling (last resort). If I hadn't already had too big of a flock, would I have pushed harder to use the pinless peepers? Probably. But I had two birds that didn't fit, and once they found a new home everyone was much calmer with less agression and also having more living space.

There are multiple stores on here of bullies and victims, and there is no one right answer on how to deal with it. You have to find the answer that feels right and works for you.