Separate the bully or the bullied?

[Lady Catrina]

Very true - separate the bully. I have a runt that was always being picked on, and I had no choice but to separate her. Tried and tried to reintroduce her once her foot healed, but no - she now lives in a very large rabbit cage, within the coop. I have a roo also that started getting picked on by the other roos, so he is now in with Angel. The rabbit cage has turned into my 'isolation' cage, per se - neither Angel nor Hawk bother anyone that needs to go in there for a spell. Worst comes to worst, you can always make a cage with hardware wire for any future isolation needs, but for now I would def use the dog crate, esp. if it is for larger dogs.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

 

[nutmeg1980]

Thanks everyone! I tried to take the bully out this morning before work, but I couldn't catch her. It'll be easier tonight after they're on their roosts. I'll put her in the dog crate in the basement.

The bloodied chicken made it through the day just fine today. I put up a cabbage "tether ball" for them, and they seem to have loved it - it's completely pecked. I bet she'll be OK if I leave her with the others. If not I'll put her in a separate cage within the coop.

 

[goodridge_]

my new light sussex is the same being bullied by the others but only one seems to be the ring leader always pecking her starting the others off so iv'e taken the bully hen and put it in a rabbit run/hut so she wont pick on them will find out in a few days if this has worked when i put her back in.

 

[igep]

Hi:

I have a bullied hen which I have isolated for a few days. Problem is, I do not know who the bully (or bullies) are. I need for her to heal and put on some weight.I have her in a cage outside the pen now. Should I put the cage in the pen? I don't want them to attack the cage and traumatize her further. Any suggestions?

 

[countrygirl74]

If you separate out the injured chicken then you will have a hard time re-introducing her. I know from experience...I now have a lone garage chicken until spring when I can properly re-introduce her using the crate technique. I have seen that taking the bully out is the best way to go. The bullies are assertive enough to be re-introduced, whereas the bullied ones may hide and get bullied even more when put back with the flock. My hen got bullied so bad when I tried to put her back with the flock that she hid in the nest box and I had to hand feed her. Despite that she still lost weight and is now all alone in the garage bulking back up. So..don't take out the bullied, but the bully. Good luck!

Help, please! Okay, so I know this thread is older, but am looking for some advice... One of my hens got hurt by the ducks and before we noticed the smaller wound was bleeding, the other chickens did and caused more damage to her. I had her in the house in a Rubbermaid for about a week and a half while she healed and her feathers grew back. I placed her in the house with the other chickens after dark last night so that they would all wake up together. When I went out this morning to let them out in their run, I noticed that she is very scared of all the other chickens, except for a banty that she actually picks on some. Anytime another hen comes near her, she runs away and if she doesn't run away, they bite her. She keeps either running under me to hide or into the chicken house. Nobody has done any real damage to her at this point, physically - but she is scared to death of everyone. Just so you know, they are all around 9 weeks old and have grown up together. I didn't know that I shouldn't remove her from the group completely. Our nighttime temps are 15-25 so I didn't want to put her outside alone. All the other chickens have each other to keep warm (11 others) as I don't provide heat to the coop. I've had her in the house healing as it's too cold for her to be out alone. Now, I don't know what to do to make her not scared of everyone. I don't want the others to keep her from eating or drinking and have her hiding in the house all day. How can I help her in the middle of winter? Or will I need to keep her as a house chicken until it gets warm enough to do the crate thing as mentioned above? Help!

 

[Mrs. K]

Pick one of the nicer hens, and put the two of them together for two days, add a third hen for two days, and put the trio back in the flock.

 

[countrygirl74]

Pick one of the nicer hens, and put the two of them together for two days, add a third hen for two days, and put the trio back in the flock.

So, bring 2 of them into the house for a couple days, then a third, then put them all back in? I don't have anywhere to put them outside... Will that work?

 

[countrygirl74]

Okay, so I kept adding chickens until I had 4 chickens inside for the last several days and let them out today. Everything seemed fine at first and then one of the chickens just barely pecked at the Americauna (the main one with the problem being re-introduced) and she freaked out. Whatever happened the first time around that beat her up so much has really traumatized her. She seems scared to death of all the chickens even if they are nice and just walk by her. She ended up going and hiding in the back of the coop in the farthest nesting box. I just kept trying to bring her out but she would just keep getting spooked and running away and of course that made all them start chasing her. It's like a vicious cycle. If I am in the run with her, she uses me as her hiding place, jumping into my lap and burying her face in the crook of my arm trying to hide. If I step away from her and she can't hide using me, she will run into the coop. However, I noticed that she doesn't seem as afraid of everyone when they are all in the coop. I decided to take a chance and leave her out all day even though I felt like a big meany. Because it had snowed, they all spent most of the day in the coop, so I thought it would be a good day to leave her out. I checked on her periodically throughout the day to make sure she wasn't getting hurt. She was fine. She's so sweet and would actually make a great house chicken if I was to do that. She loves people! But, I want her to be accepted back into the flock as a hen. I just checked on them for the night and she was sleeping with all the others in a pile, so no problems for now. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I did notice that because she was so afraid of the others today that she often got scared away from the food and water so I made sure I spent some time in the run with her for a while to make sure she ate and drank. I've never seen anything like this... it's like they all know she's afraid and as soon as one hen spooks her, they all chase her until she runs either to me or the coop. Here's a photo of her before I tried the above advice. She's got the prettiest colors! Her name is Chubby Cheeks.

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

Okay, so I kept adding chickens until I had 4 chickens inside for the last several days and let them out today. Everything seemed fine at first and then one of the chickens just barely pecked at the Americauna (the main one with the problem being re-introduced) and she freaked out. Whatever happened the first time around that beat her up so much has really traumatized her. She seems scared to death of all the chickens even if they are nice and just walk by her. She ended up going and hiding in the back of the coop in the farthest nesting box. I just kept trying to bring her out but she would just keep getting spooked and running away and of course that made all them start chasing her. It's like a vicious cycle. If I am in the run with her, she uses me as her hiding place, jumping into my lap and burying her face in the crook of my arm trying to hide. If I step away from her and she can't hide using me, she will run into the coop. However, I noticed that she doesn't seem as afraid of everyone when they are all in the coop. I decided to take a chance and leave her out all day even though I felt like a big meany. Because it had snowed, they all spent most of the day in the coop, so I thought it would be a good day to leave her out. I checked on her periodically throughout the day to make sure she wasn't getting hurt. She was fine. She's so sweet and would actually make a great house chicken if I was to do that. She loves people! But, I want her to be accepted back into the flock as a hen. I just checked on them for the night and she was sleeping with all the others in a pile, so no problems for now. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I did notice that because she was so afraid of the others today that she often got scared away from the food and water so I made sure I spent some time in the run with her for a while to make sure she ate and drank. I've never seen anything like this... it's like they all know she's afraid and as soon as one hen spooks her, they all chase her until she runs either to me or the coop. Here's a photo of her before I tried the above advice. She's got the prettiest colors! Her name is Chubby Cheeks.

If they keep on harrassing her, then you really only have 2 choices. #1, and my favorite if you can, is bring her in and make a permanent house pet out of her or #2, give her to someone who would like to have a nice hen but doesn't have a bunch of other chickens. That way, if they just WON'T accept her back into the flock, she will have a good home.