New member with chicken bullying

[Jee73]

Hello all. I am new to the group and joined for help with questions and hopefully benefit from your expertise. I currently have a flock of 15 hens, all Isas. I have been keeping chickens for about 8 years and have never had the following problem: The hens have singled out 2 others to bully and peck. A few months ago there were also 2 that got singled out and they pecked and pulled out feathers on one of these 2 and that one eventually died. They were acting aggressive toward the other so I gave her away to my daughter and crossed my fingers that all would be ok. It is not. Many feathers have been pulled from one and they are acting aggressive toward another. Since this has never been a problem in the past I am perplexed about what to do. It does seem there is more than one aggressor.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. It seems like sickness / space or other environmental stressors may be responsible others will chime in, no doubt

 

[Peppercorngal]

Yes, space is, many times, the issue with bullying. You need to have enough room for the chicken to run off, hide behind or in something or roost away from the others. If the bullied chicken has no place to go it will get pecked to death.
Good Luck, I hope you don't loose any more chickens. And if you have to, cage the bully, not the victim!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Possibly some external stress triggered it (predator came by, long period holed up due to bad weather, illness), and now they've turned it into a bad hobby. Have you changed anything since around the time the issue popped up, such as type of food, amount of time in the yard, etc?

Photos/description of your set up with numbers (size of coop, run, number of feeders, etc) may help.

 

[Jee73]

Thanks for your responses. I do not know of a thing that has changed since the pecking behavior started. The coop is about 8 ft wide x 10 or 12 ft long. Three 8 ft roosting boards, 12 nest boxes, hopper-type feeder accommodates 4 to 5 at once. Large waterer. 15 birds right now but we have had 30 or more in the past with no problems. Very large outside run that I shovel snow from so they can play outside.

 

[Building Bridges]

Welcome to BYC!!! I am new here too....but I don't have any chickens yet and you have your lovely 15 girls!! I'm sorry you are having this bullying issue.....and glad you came here with your concerns. This is a great place to get answers...the folks here have a great depth of knowledge and are very willing to help. Hopefully, some of their suggestions will help you discover the key to resolving the problem. We are very glad you joined us!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Very large outside run that I shovel snow from so they can play outside.

What does the run space look like? Some clutter might help diffuse the aggression a little: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

May help to also boost protein levels in your feed by supplementing. Some folks use canned fish (low or no sodium) or cat food or meat scraps.

Pinless peepers might be a consideration as well, perhaps in conjunction with the protein and/or clutter.