misbehaving flock

[colliechicks]

looking for help with a flock that has begun picking on one hen (10 hens, 1 roo) they have all been together for over 1 yr..tried isolating the one hen, then reintroducing her at night with some pine tar on her comb but that did not work..have a 200sq ft area elec fence and she makes a bee line for the henhouse and hides in a nest..need ideas. thank you

 

[Dora'smom]

Have you tried isolating the bullies? If you find that it is one or two hens that are picking on the one girl, they can be removed from the flock for a day or two, and then re-introduced. That will make them resort the pecking order. The solution that worked best for us was the pinless peepers. They allow the birds to be able to see to eat and drink, but not straight ahead to peck on others. Good luck with your birds.

 

[colliechicks]

my concern is that they are all getting in on the act..there is one though that is notoriously irritable..maybe isolating her? the weird thing is that this picked on hen may have been a bully herself..she is one that has more feathers than the other girls and i just saw her as one that the roo could not get too near..i've always had issues with naked butts on most of my hens even when there was no roo..but she is more feathered out than the others..thank you

 

[tammyd57]

Have you thoroughly checked over the picked on hen for mites/lice/worms/injuries/crop problems? If a hen is ill or has something wrong with her, the other chickens will know and see it as a weakness and pick on her. I would look her over real good and rule these things out. If she has no obvious problems then I would separate the hen who is doing most of the picking for a couple of days to see if that helps.