One chicken keeps attacking one other

[Kita363]

Hey.

There are a few posts on this but none seem EXACTLY like my chicken situation so here goes;
I have 4 girls, Mary-Jane (top dog), then Amanda, then Pamela and then Jessie.
Jessie a couple of months ago started molting and in that time the other chicks (except MJ) started being mean and pecking her randomly (Jessie is the smallest but she had a hardy attitude). Now Amanda was always known for being a nasty lil girl pecking Pamela and Jessie when it came to food just to I guess let them know she's above them (she tried doing it to MJ once and she stood up to her and has never done it since ), but anyway since Jessie lost her feathers Pamela started chasing and aggresively pecking her.

I seperated Pamela in a cage next to the other girls until Jessie slowly got her feathers back (looking pretty damn beautiful right now). This whole time the girls have loads of space to free-range they are out from wake up till sleep time pretty much every day, in the meantime whilst this was happening I let Pamela out in the back field and the others in our garden so she wouldn't get at Jess. Now past couple weeks I've been trying to mingle Pamela back in but she keeps randomly attacking Jessie again, and its not when theres food or anything just random it seems. She knows shes doing something wrong cause as soon as she does it and I'm there to catch her either I've been squirting her with a water pistol OR picking her up and throwing her back in her jail cell - and today I gasped when she done it and she knew straight away! But she keeps on and its doing my head in!

Should I keep her in that cage on her own for more than a couple days (never kept her in there more than 2 days) OR should I set up another cage somewhere where she can't even see the other girls? OR my final option is to give her to the neighbours who have about 15 chooks they have rescued just so I don't have to deal with it anymore? By the way this Pamela doesn't do this to the other chicks, and the other chicks have their pecking order sorted so sometimes when theres food they kind of chat away to each to tell them to back off or be warned with a peck but Pamela just seems to randomly go for Jess and well.. my poor lil Jess!

 

[jolenesdad]

How big is there coop and how many feed stations do you have?

Every time you separate they’ll have to work out a pecking order and you’re resetting it each time.

I would leave them be for longer than you are now and see if they work it out. Pamela may just have asserted her place higher than Jessie. If it gets too much, if there’s blood or Jessie doesn’t fight back in a real fight, then I would separate Pamela for at least a week.

When I had some pecking order issues the last time I just added a few more feed stations and would treat several times a day in multiple spots at once so no one felt like their food source was threatened.

 

[Kita363]

I have 2 feed stations now due to the separation but used to only have one (although the feed station I was informed was big enough for the 4 of them). The coop is probably about 8 by 8 meters (by this is mean the coop and run area - coop alone is probably about 3x3m) and in the daytime they have a couple of acres of land to roam. So they are pretty spoilt!

Hmm what you say kind of makes sense I guess I'm probably just overprotective of the little one now due to all this!! Haha. When I feed treats I'll tend to feed Mary-Jane and Jessie together as they pair nicely.. probably because MJ is well established to be top.

Ok so I'll just need to try your advice and leave them on their own for a while and see how they get on along.. if not separate longer. Thank you! I'll update once I've tried these options.

 

[jolenesdad]

It’s not the size of the feeder as the perception of the abundance of feed. I would add a temporary feeding station too.

 

[Kita363]

Ok will try that too!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I am pretty sure that since the bottom dog has lost so much of her plumage that the other hens do not recognize her anymore.

I am sure that I will catch grief for this, but chickens are not exactly brain surgeons. They react instinctively or blindly, and in this one important way chickens are very much like you and me.

 

[Kita363]

Haha Pamela also seems to be the least smart of the chickens as well.. I'll give them more time together and see how it goes. I just want them to go back to the good ol days of getting along with no nastiness.. girls ay!

 

[Jemma Rider]

I have pretty limited experience, I've only had chickens for a year but i had a similar situation with bullying after my hen went through a horrific molt last winter.
My bottom hen Rosie was being bullied by another hen in a similar manner to yours. Rosie wouldn't leave the coop, not even to free range so during the day she was absolutely terrified, i fenced off half of the run (so she could see the other chickens and the other chickens could see her) and let Rosie have her own area away from the bullying to gain back any lost weight and get back her confidence (which was pretty much lost because of the bully hen and the horrific molt poor Rosie went through). I put her on the roosts away from the bully and near Rosie's two friends at night and would go out early in the morning to put her back in her separation area, i added some outdoor roosts for her to hide on and one extra feeder and waterer and everything was good again. It takes a bit of time but if there isn't any blood or if the bullying isn't affecting the victim much then i wouldn't worry to much, if there is blood or if the bully denies the victim access to food all of the time then it's necessary to intervene but I've always thought it was better for the flock to sort things out amongst themselves, just seems to help the dynamic stay more stable rather then rearranging the pecking order every time one of the hens hit a bullying streak (for me, its always the same hen, i think some girls are just hardwired to be more aggressive then others).
but anyway, i hope everything gets sorted out!

 

[Kita363]

Ah poor Rosie! Glad to hear she's all good again.

So I've been leaving them to try and sort things out between themselves but today my bf went out to the coop to check on wild birds raiding the chickens food, (yet another issue ha!), and found Pamela had cornered Jessie in the coop where she was laying and was aggressively pecking at her again! And even the past couple of days I've noticed her still doing it randomly but Jessie kind of doesn't seem to care as much. But also since bringing Pamela back into the flock the other 2 chickens who are usually OK with Jessie have started on her a bit more too... I'm seriously thinking of going to the neighbours and giving them Pamela as I don't really have time for this considering in less than a week I'm having a baby and when Pamela isn't in the flock the other 3 get along fine...

 

[jolenesdad]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

give yourself your own push present and push Pamela out the door. I rehome chickens of their personality changes and it effects the balance of the flock and you have given plenty of effort. In a new flock she will have to work her way up and will find her place.