Separate the bully or the bullied?

[countrygirl74]

How can you tell which one is the bully? We have 21 chickens. Only 2 are being pecked.

Lots of observation! My one hen that was being bullied was especially afraid of a certain other hen and would run like crazy and hide in the house whenever that hen came around. However, it could be that your two are being picked on a little by everyone, or several, in which case, probably the best bet would be to put them in a pen of their own within the big pen so that they can't be pecked but can still see the others. Then re-introduce them again. It took mine about a week or two and she's still low on the pecking order but no serious bullying anymore.

 

[taterbug41]

I have a quick question I have road island red hens and just put a game rooster with them and he is being pretty ruff on all the hens more like fighting than mating is this normal

 

[zeyhra]

We have 4 hens that were raised together from chicks, and they're almost 2 years old now.. Our cuckoo Marans has always been low in the pecking order as she is blind in one eye. We had no problems with bullying until just a few days ago. We had a pack of 5 chihuahuas come on to our property and attack our chickens a month or two ago and our Americauna took most of the attack. She lost a few feathers but was ok, overall. She would flinch and run and hide in the coop every time she heard dogs in the neighborhood bark for a few weeks after the attack. And now, in the last week or so, she has started bullying our half-blind cuckoo Marans. None of the other hens are being bullied and none of the other hens are bullying the Marans. After reading this, I suppose we'll have to pull out the Americauna and put her in the dog crate for a few days.

 

[Brookliner]

I have had success in the past with disrupting the pecking order by removing the suspected bully totally away from the coop & run. I then also isolate the bullied in the coop and run.I will also take a couple other high pecking order hens out to a third area for a couple weeks then put them all back together. This disrupts the pecking order and I have had the bully end up at the bottom of the pecking order because by mixing it up they have to reorganize totally. During the 2 weeks a new pecking order evolves.

 

[Citybirds]

Glad this thread was here and all the good replies. I am super new to this, I have five chicks about two weeks old and one became a huge bully today. I am separating her for the rest of the day, about 8 hours, see if I can't nip it in the butt before it becomes a huge issue.
It was a bit strange: Ms. Clucksworth has been the alpha the whole time, an occasional peck here and there, just life at the top. But today, Peanut went crazy, systematically going around and pecking each one for about 30 minutes (that I observed). Then, spent the last hour chasing and pecking Ms. Clucksworth. We need Ms. Clucksworth on top, she is a fair ruler.
Ms. Clucksworth for President!

 

[crazychick26201]

How long to keep the bully separate? She is getting anxious and to ought she attacked me, which has never happened before. Please help.

 

[TwoCrows]

Unless you leave the bully separated for a very long time, generally they do not change their aggressive habits. I find the use of pinless peepers much easier to deal with bullies. They wear them for a month or so, maybe more. Over time it can adjust the bully's attitude and it gives the one being bullied a chance to readjust and come around a bit more. However sometimes you can not change the personality of an aggressive bird and you either make a permanent separation, rehome them or eat them if all else fails.

 

[crazychick26201]

I hope we don't have to use those pinless peepers. They look cruel to me. Our little buff Orphington has been out for almost a week. She seems to be settling down. I hope all goes well when we reintroduce her. I just don't get why she started this in the first place. They were all very happy a week ago. I don't think they were let out of the coop/ run enough while we were gone last week.

 

[TwoCrows]

Pinless Peepers may seem a bit harsh or cruel, but in my humble opinion, allowing a chicken to bully another is far more cruel than preventing one from being a bully with peepers. You as a chicken owner are responsible for keeping all of your flock safe. And that includes the safety from each other. So if you have a bully chicken, they need to be separated, rehomed, eaten or stopped in some fashion from being a bully. Pinless peepers at least keep them out of the stew pot around here.

 

[crazychick26201]

Thanks for the advice. I ordered pinless peepers today in case we have to use them. She is still in chicken jail till Thursday. Can you give me some advice on how to reintroduce the bully back into the flock?