Question

[Mandied]

I've rehomed a couple of hens in the past, because they were bullies. They were sweet to me, and beautiful hens, but they made the flock miserable.
They mounted and chased other hens, an caused stress for the flock and myself. I had a good rooster, and they submitted to him, but they continued to bully meeker hens. I finally found them another home. It was a good decision for my flock.
I would only suggest you rehome as a last resort. Make sure you have extra waterers and feeders available.
You should try to seperate & reintroduce before you make any decisions.
You can also try separating your flock into standard and bantam flocks.

We will do that thank you

 

[janiedoe]

We will do that thank you

I hope you'll let us know what you decide to do, and how it turns out. Good luck!

 

[Mandied]

I hope you'll let us know what you decide to do, and how it turns out. Good luck!

I definitely will. Thank you for talking.

 

[Mrs. K]

You can try pin less peepers. They are little 'glasses' that have worked well for a lot of people with smaller flocks. It interferes with direct sight, but not with eating or getting on the roost. So they quit bullying the smaller birds.

Some people can get a flock of standards and bantams to work, but a lot of people have the same issues you are having once everyone gets full size.

Another issue that can help is clutter in the run, little mini walls, roosts, boxes laid on their side, pallets leaned against a wall, something where a bird can get out of sight, out of mind of a more dominant bird. I have seen a Queen, give a peck, the lower bird vanishes, and a minute later back out eating next to her. She bowed to the queen, and it is over.

Where as, a lot of runs, are just a wide open rectangle, where as a bird can see every other bird 100% of the time. So the Queen pecks, the bird has no where to go, so she pecks AGAIN and harder, and still no place to go, and it gets ugly.

Multiple food bowls, set up so that a bird eating at one station, cannot see a bird eating at another. And a group of bullies cannot keep others from eating.

Mrs K

 

[Mandied]

You can try pin less peepers. They are little 'glasses' that have worked well for a lot of people with smaller flocks. It interferes with direct sight, but not with eating or getting on the roost. So they quit bullying the smaller birds.

Some people can get a flock of standards and bantams to work, but a lot of people have the same issues you are having once everyone gets full size.

Another issue that can help is clutter in the run, little mini walls, roosts, boxes laid on their side, pallets leaned against a wall, something where a bird can get out of sight, out of mind of a more dominant bird. I have seen a Queen, give a peck, the lower bird vanishes, and a minute later back out eating next to her. She bowed to the queen, and it is over.

Where as, a lot of runs, are just a wide open rectangle, where as a bird can see every other bird 100% of the time. So the Queen pecks, the bird has no where to go, so she pecks AGAIN and harder, and still no place to go, and it gets ugly.

Multiple food bowls, set up so that a bird eating at one station, cannot see a bird eating at another. And a group of bullies cannot keep others from eating.

Mrs K

Thank you. We will look into the peepers and our run is alittle clutered not bad. We have a tree limb for them to roost on.

 

[Mrs. K]

Maybe you mis-understood - you need A LOT OF CLUTTER. Enough, so that it is a bit tricky to walk around in the run. That will make more use of the vertical space too. A platform up on bricks, where birds can get under it and on top of it, actually make more usable space in the run. And it makes it more interesting and less boring for the chickens.

You need places where the birds can get away from each other, and out of sight of each other.

Mrs K

 

[Mandied]

Maybe you mis-understood - you need A LOT OF CLUTTER. Enough, so that it is a bit tricky to walk around in the run. That will make more use of the vertical space too. A platform up on bricks, where birds can get under it and on top of it, actually make more usable space in the run.

You need places where the birds can get away from each other, and out of sight of each other.

Mrs K

I did thank you we will definitely do that