I have a group of 2 Red Sex Links and 2 Cornish X (told that they were Leghorns), all 16-week-old pullets, and the leader of the group, one of the Red Sex Links, has always led and the other Red Sex Link has always been her best friend seemingly, following her everywhere and they'd do normal pecking order things, flaring/jumping ect but nothing extreme. Suddenly, the other Red Sex Link that was the beta decided to attack (rip out head feathers, pin down, and chase endlessly) the normal boss. I could not get her to stop by repeatedly intervening after it became apparently out of the norm. The former-boss was screeching and desperately running from her (I had them lose in my backyard, despite there being hiding places the other one wouldn't stop). I got afraid and put the aggressive one inside of the coop out of fear of her killing my other pullets.
She is fine alone for now, I put her into the run later that day alone with me and she was perfectly fine. I put the most docile Cornish X with her for an hour and she didn't bother her. It's just the other Red-Sex Link she's after. This happened earlier today and at this point I'm unsure what I should do with them in the morning as I separated them out tonight.
More information is that they have all been raised together since chicks and have never shown aggressive towards each other nor me. None have started laying yet, they are on 18% grower. I have a very large (8' long, 6' high) run for them and allow them to free-range in my backyard for about two to four or more hours daily under my supervision. I also supplement there water occasionally with electrolytes due to high heat in NM, mist them, and bathe them. I also give them watermelons, corn on the cob, a lot of things, and throw in a handful of scratch every few days, so I'm pretty sure its not nutritional or due to lack of space.
Thank you for reading! Would appreciate any advice.
She is fine alone for now, I put her into the run later that day alone with me and she was perfectly fine. I put the most docile Cornish X with her for an hour and she didn't bother her. It's just the other Red-Sex Link she's after. This happened earlier today and at this point I'm unsure what I should do with them in the morning as I separated them out tonight.
More information is that they have all been raised together since chicks and have never shown aggressive towards each other nor me. None have started laying yet, they are on 18% grower. I have a very large (8' long, 6' high) run for them and allow them to free-range in my backyard for about two to four or more hours daily under my supervision. I also supplement there water occasionally with electrolytes due to high heat in NM, mist them, and bathe them. I also give them watermelons, corn on the cob, a lot of things, and throw in a handful of scratch every few days, so I'm pretty sure its not nutritional or due to lack of space.
Thank you for reading! Would appreciate any advice.
