Pecking Order Issues

[enggass]

Why would a bird begin bothering another for no apparent reason? I have 5 birds that have gotten along (mostly) beautifully until yesterday one of my RIR began bullying one of my BRs.
Is it normal for weird pecking order behavior to surface from time to time?

 

[Pinky]

Sometimes pecking orders will change. They don't always stay the same. My flocks change the order at least once a year. Usually it's a hen challenging another but it's never nothing real bad or bloody.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

My roosters are reastablishing the pecking order now that my nine month old roosters have noticed that they are much bigger than the others. One of my younger roosters got a little bloody: I seperated him for half a week and he was fine after that. It usually isn't that bad, nothing to worry about

 

[teach1rusl]

I've noticed status changes when a girl begins laying who wasn't before. I think something similar happens with older or sick birds too. Of course roosters add a whole other dimension to the issue.

 

[enggass]

This is mostly just bullying it seems. Some bloody combs... And of course the one being picked on then turns to pick on another. I have 5 hens all 9 months old.

 

[Pinky]

Sounds like the pecking order. Sometimes it can be brutal. It is likely they are getting ready for spring. I think the pecking order has a lot to do with aging.

 

[junglebird]

Quote:
I don't know anything about how to separate. Do you leave them within visual range? Move to someplace else entirely? You move the junior rooster, not the senior rooster, right?

 

[Pinky]

junglebird, I would move the rooster you don't want in charge of your flock. If I have roosters fighting, I separate the two for good. When my roosters fight, not just one chasing the other, but a full out fight, I don't put them back together. They just try fighting again.

 

[Wild Trapper]

RIRs do that. I will not have any more of them around here for that very reason. Once they start it is very difficult to change their behavior. If you take her out of the flock for a while and then try to reintroduce her in a week or two the pecking order will have to be reestablished and maybe her place will be further down, but I doubt it. If it were me I would cull her, doesn't matter how pretty she is, if she cannibalizes the other hens, she has to go.