Oh no, a bully! Or bullies.....

You just never know when it will happen. We hatched polish and silkies together, and the hens have been together ever since hatching. The last two days the smallest silkie has been terrorizing two of the polish. She's been so bad that she's isolated right now while we decide what to do with the little terror. As they are close to a year old, this took me completely by surprise.

 

Are your birds all the same age or are the chicks in with older birds? How many are there and how much space do you have them in?

 

Most times with chicks (and grown birds, for that matter) pecking is a space issue. How many chicks and how much space? It's good to start with almost a square foot of space each when they're littles, and double that around 4ish weeks old.

 

Ours have over 5sq ft per bird inside, and 10 sq ft per bird outside in that coop. Sadly, for us it's just a wicked bird.

 

This sounds crazy, but I have a "time out" pen for anyone who wants to be a bulky. Establishing a pecking order is natural, but I can't stand to let it go too far. For example, one of my Cochins was being over the top for a long period of time, a very experienced breeder I know told me o put him in a pen by himself, but where he could see his old buddies for about a week. I did, and it worked perfect!

 

I was also instructed to remove and segregate the bulk from the flock. She screamed her head off for about ten minutes once she realized she was alone (she could hear the other chicks peeping back to her) and all seems fine now. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Last night while I was sleeping, she broke one of mg cockerel's tail blood feathers, so I had to pull it out and swab it with iodine. It's also not a space thing, and she only does it to the cockerel (he's the biggest of the group).