Please Help! Bullying

[Gab2378]

I have 5 hens that have been together since they were a day old. They are now a year and a half! They have all gotten along great up until this past week. All 4 of them have started ganging up on 1 hen. No idea what happened and I can’t tell who is initiating the fights because it started when I was out of town and luckily the sitter noticed and put the 1 in my garage because they were running her and not letting her access food or water and also mounting her. The one that is being bullied appears perfectly healthy and I can’t find anything wrong with her. I let them all free range on our 5 acres today and when she got close to them they all took off running after her. What would cause this? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

 

[AidKD]

Try getting some brightly colored ribbon and tie a few strands onto her tail. Tie all the strands together the tie it around a tail feather. Try and make it look crazy and get a bright color. The other hens will be scared of it if it's blowing in the wind and even has a small bell attached to it. The bullied hen will then think that they're scared of her, so then she'll be more confident and willing to run back at them when it's taken off. I'm not sure what could be causing the sudden bullying though, as I've never dealt with that specifically.

 

[Mrs. K]

@ AidKD - that is a novel approach, and I think it might work.

Gab2378 - if you try it, report back

 

[AidKD]

@ AidKD - that is a novel approach, and I think it might work.

Gab2378 - if you try it, report back

Thanks! Yes, please do keep us posted @Gab2378!