Need help with a Bully!!!*****Update*****

[mdbokc]

Me too. The bully changes or she goes to the market. Last time, when the bully got going after getting out of jail, the others immediately came to the defense of the bullied one and chased the bully away. Hoping she has changed her ways now.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Following the advice here, I put my bully into the caboose for about a week. She would only pick on one hen, Annie, but stressed poor Annie out til she went into a molt. After the week I let 'Mean Girl' out with the others while they were free ranging. The introduction was seamless and 'Mean Girl' is a respectful member of society now and Annie's nerves have settled right down.

 

[chicknchick]

Puppsnpullet, that is encouraging news.

I would never cull the one being bullied!! She is my FAVORITE! I will find a new home for the bully if this doesn't work.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

Quote:
Yeah.....I couldn't believe how well it worked. I'm just sorry I didn't sort it out before Annie went into the moult. Good luck!

 

[math ace]

I got 15 baby chicks at Christmas time. I had issues with one chick being a bully. I found that she needed more space than the others. If I isolated her from the others she would complain loudly and non-stop. If I gave her one or two friends, she was fine and no bulling occured.

The one chick NEEDED more space than the others.

When the chicks were about 8 weeks old, I tried to put them with my two 13 week old pullets. THAT DID NOT GO WELL. The two older pullets picked on ALL my baby chicks. Pulled tail feathers, chased them, and in general terriozed the younger pullets.

I left the younger pullets in the big run / coop and took both older pullets and put them in a time out together. Almost immediately, the younger ones were happy and active. The older ones seemed to be fine TOGETHER in their timeout.

They have been in timeout for almost two weeks now. I haven't tried to put them back together yet because the younger ones are still smaller. Also, everybody seems happy like they are !

In both cases of time out the chicken did much better with one other bird than with no company.

 

[chicknchick]

I am so mad at myself! I thought 5 days was enough but apparently it wasn't. It got really cold here last night so I thought I would let her roost with the other girls. She started pecking the two cochins almost immediately! UGH!

Back to the drawing board. Starting over today and going to make it the whole week if it kills me!! If she still bullys after the full week, I will have to find her a new home.

 

[chicknchick]

It didn't work!! I separated the bully for the full week and then today I let all of them out to free range together. When I put all of them back in the run, I noticed the bully pecking a little bit but I thought I was just being paranoid. She spent the next 15 minutes rolling in the sand and then I had to leave. When I got home just a little while ago I turned off their run light so they would all head into the coop. Once they were all in there, the bully started being aggressive. Only this time it was worse because she was going after all of them - not just one. So back to chicken jail she went. I really don't want to have to re-home her. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[KKatknap]

This is probably going to seem rather non-helpful, but try it one last time. Only don't let her have special privileges. No hanging with the fam, no free ranging. She's naughty.

I had a hen that suddenly decided she hated one of my other hens. I separated her for a few days. Didn't work. Separated her for a week (with her "buddy" hen). Didn't work. Pulled her right back out and kept her in a small pen next to the others - but separate - for two weeks. They are all fine, now, and have been for @ 3 months. If two weeks of jail doesn't change her attitude, you certainly can't say you didn't try.

ETA - Just checking...HOW aggressively did she go after the others this last time? There will be a re-establishing of pecking order when you re-introduce her. Is it possible that she was simply figuring out her place again?

 

[chicknchick]

I suppose it's possible that I didn't give her enough time with the others. But she was pecking everyone on the head and biting a couple of them on their wings. Before, she was just going after one particular hen. She was also chasing after one in the run every time they got close to each other. When it was time to shut them in the coop, the other girls were making a lot of noise - kind of like they were not happy that the bully was in there. Once they all got settled on their perch, the bully was pecking the heads of the girls on either side of her. It was different than what I have seen from the other four girls. It was down right mean. So I put her back in chicken jail.

I will try the two weeks of no priveledges and see if that works. I hate to give up on her.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Doopy]

Please do not take this to heart. But I was raised on a small farm where we all had lots of work to do and sometimes very little daylight to do it. Nobody had the time to babysit the chickens. My mother had between 20 to 50 chickens all the time and if we ever noticed a bully we simply had chicken and dumplings. A bully makes a fine meal. I guess I'm a little puzzled by the re-homing thing.