Pecking - becoming a habit?

[Bantamkirkbride]

Yes, some individuals can be terrible bullies. I have one. She is in a perpetual lousy mood and pecks any other chickens who so much as passes too close to her beak.

I've used pinless peepers in the past with pretty good luck, and I also have a rehab program for bully victims to restore their self confidence so they start standing up for themselves. Here's the plan. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

Thanks Azygous, that's really helpful. Have you had any luck stopping the bullying? I was wondering about taking the bully out for a week and then reintroducing her to the pecking order. I'm not sure that'll help though

 

[azygous]

In short, and my article covers this in depth, a bully is almost always that way due to genetics. A victim, on the other hand, is that way due to negative conditioning. I retrain the victim not to be a victim. Once that's accomplished, the bully then meets resistance, the behavior getting short circuited.

I have never had a failure.

 

[Se7en]

This same exact thing literally happened to me... My chickens attacked my bantam and Araucana. I don't know why they are so rude to them. Make sure to get the blood off of the Araucana because chickens are attracted to blood. I recommend treating the bare, bloody spot. My chickens are still attacking the two hens and we have already had one die. I feel like I am out of options since I have added new things into the run for boredom. I am so sorry, and I don't know how to help since I need help to.

I am new at this too and here is what has worked so far. For the wounds, I mixed honey, lemon essential oil, tea tree oil, and blue food coloring together and swabbed the wounds. Honey, lemon oil, and tea tree oil have healing properties, and the tea tree oil has an odor that they don't care for. The blue food coloring hides the redness and they lose interest in the spot since they are attracted to the color red. Next, I separated my two bullies and after two days one bully is able to get along. The other bully is still in time out. I may try the anti-pecking glasses if necessary. Meanwhile, the wounded hens are doing fine and you can't see where the wounds were.