Pecking Behavior? Establishing Dominance?

[AliDiaz]

Hello everyone!!

My family and I are raising 6 hens and recently one of them has started to establish pecking order behavior and establishing dominance to the other hens. And with talked with our local nursery and they told us not to worry and said that its normal. While we believe it is; we are a little concerned because one of the hens is completely terrified of the "most dominant" hen and the hen, Duchess is her name, will not stop picking/pecking on our Buff Orpington, Ethel. Ethel will cower in fear when Duchess is near and has even ran out of the coop and into our laps because she is so scared of her.

We know that this happens and these situations tend to be normal; but is there anyway to stop this behavior or anything to do so that our Ethel will not be terrified of her?

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Hello! I’ve found a few things help with pecking order... 1) make sure the birds have plenty of room in the coop, in the run and to roost. 2) have multiple water stations and feeders. The bullies can’t guard them all! 3) make sure there are places for the lower hens to escape to and things to distract the bullies. I have a variety of objects (tree stumps, a ramp, an overturned bucket, a sawhorse, etc. that they can both hide under/behind and perch on. 4) Keeping everyone busy scratching makes them less likely to pick on each other. Throwing compost, weeds, or food scraps into the run really helps.

Good luck with your flock!

 

[chickens really]

What breeds do you have?..Certain breeds are more aggressive...What age are they?..What do you feed?..Enough space?

 

[aart]

What breeds do you have?..Certain breeds are more aggressive...What age are they?..What do you feed?..Enough space?

These are important questions and should be answered before we can offer any viable solutions.
Especially the space question...
...How big is your coop and run in feet by feet?
Pics would be of great assistance.

Welcome to BYC @AliDiaz !