Plucky little bully pullet

[azygous]

Rooster feathers are very tempting to hens. Those tender-slender neck and saddle feathers are especially attractive. To make matters worse, many cockerels and roosters shove their necks under a hens beak to tempt them, and then they let the hens pluck them naked.. In all my years with chickens, I have yet to figure that one out.

 

[Devyn Nagy]

Just to let you know, your thread title is the ultimate tongue twister. I hope your problem is resolved soon.

 

[mandymuddymonkey]

Just to let you know, your thread title is the ultimate tongue twister. I hope your problem is resolved soon.

I love that I named her Polly (I name all the birds after Terry Pratchett characters), and that punk, plucky and pullet also start with P's . . .

Have you noticed her behavior being more intense at one time of day in particular? Often, after noon is a period when this type of behavior ramps up. But your pullet may have another pattern. You should observe her and nail this down to a time of day when the tryptophan would do the most good.

Not really - when I have a full day to observe, she seems to be at it every time I go out there, except when she's managed to herd them all into the roost to get away from her. It's fairly dark in there so I think she has a harder time seeing them in there. But this past Sunday/Monday when I tried to reintroduce her, it seemed to start first thing in the morning, and went pretty much all day. It got more intermittent when I started trying to discipline her, but then if I left and came back, they'd all be hiding up in the roost again. She has already demonstrated she's unusually smart for a chicken, and she may have figured out that when I'm out there, she gets disciplined.

 

[mandymuddymonkey]

You may have one that is hard wired to bully and pick feathers. I've had several of these types, and discipline doesn't work. I've found with these hard wired bullies, when they are high on hormones, the behavior is much worse. Spring is awful. Winter isn't so bad.

I experimented with triptophan, putting it in the food of these hard wired bullies. You could give it a try. It has a sedative effect on them. Commercial poultry houses often use it to reduce bullying. I bought some in bulk from Amazon. Typtophan is an amino acid (protein) so overdose isn't a big risk. As I said, the chicken may act drowsy is all.

Good to know! I'll look into it, thank you. Have you used it on pullets before, or only full-grown birds? She could definitely stand to take it down a notch on the energy, good grief. Even in the brooder I would watch her gear up and just pounce on the others' backs for fun. Like, she more startled than hurt them (especially because they were 2 weeks older and significantly bigger), but I was like, holy moly, lady. I only wonder about keeping the other 3 from eating the sedative, as that's the last thing they need. They're already so mellow, just eating and napping all day.