New member here, need advice

[Wisewoman213]

A lot depends on your set up and space. Sometimes when they attack a single bird - what they are telling you, is this is no longer enough space for all of us, one of us needs to go.

Show pictures and measurements if this is still not working. Adding hideouts, roosts, mini walls, pallets will make it look more cluttered to you, but add a lot of space, under and on top doubles that area, give hideouts and escapes so birds can get away from each other.

Sometimes you just have a vicious bird, that loves a victim. Removing her from the flock might help. Sometimes this works, sometimes she goes right back to it when you add her again.

In small set ups - pin-less peepers have been very successful for stopping this.

Hope some of these ideas help.

Mrs K

Thanks Mrs K, what do you mean by pin-less peepers?

 

[Mrs. K]

I have never tried them, or needed them, but many people have had great luck with them.

 

[Swbertrand1]

+1 on Mrs. K's advice. Since she's been removed to heal, she will be viewed similarly by the flock the way she was before, maybe worse since she's been gone. Sometimes removing a chicken, though good for the one removed, creates more problems upon reintegration because they're seen as a new addition.

We don't have much re-integration issues, but we've found that letting the birds live in close quarters but without contact AND letting them all free-range in our yard in the late afternoon with supervision can help them get used to each other again. However, this doesn't necessarily mean there won't be skirmishes, but the re-integrated bird(s) will have escape routes.

Pecking orders are fluid and change over time. Sure, there are those that will always be on top and others that will stay closer to the bottom of the order, but those in the middle tend to form new alliances as well as lose some friends over time.

Just take it slow, and watch closely for bullying behavior. Another solution is to remove the worst offenders (the bullies), separating them from the flock for a time and reintegrating them later and forcing them to a lower status in the order when they return.

Bullying is a learned behavior that can be tough to break sometimes. When one bird sees another bullying, they often follow along as sad as that is...

Good luck!