Separate the bully or the bullied?

[lynnehd]

Good luck!

 

[JMinhondo]

Hello my helpful friend.
Update from the last time I talked to you. The day after our discussion, I planned on preparing the garage for a little prison. lol When I got home from work, I decided just before doing so, I would let little missy bossy back in with the other two girls just to give her one last chance. To my surprise, she was fine! I didn't want to get my hopes up so I continued to watch them like a hawk. We haven't had any issues. Maybe she just needed an extra day of alone time? Who knows! I let them out today in the yard and Phoebe (bossy pants) and Ragina (victim) decided to get into a little fight. Nothing where I needed to step in. They quickly finished and were on their way. To add to this, I also added a lot more to their coop. Hanging cd's extra areas with water and food, and suets.

Thank you so much for giving me advice. At the time, I was truly stressed. I now know, if this happens again and it isn't resolved, I will go build that prison in my garage. ; )

 

[lynnehd]

Hello my helpful friend.
Update from the last time I talked to you. The day after our discussion, I planned on preparing the garage for a little prison. lol When I got home from work, I decided just before doing so, I would let little missy bossy back in with the other two girls just to give her one last chance.  To my surprise, she was fine!  I didn't want to get my hopes up so I continued to watch them like a hawk.  We haven't had any issues.  Maybe she just needed an extra day of alone time? Who knows!  I let them out today in the yard and Phoebe (bossy pants) and Ragina (victim) decided to get into a little fight.  Nothing where I needed to step in.  They quickly finished and were on their way.  To add to this, I also added a lot more to their coop.  Hanging cd's extra areas with water and food, and suets.  

Thank you so much for giving me advice. At the time, I was truly stressed.  I now know, if this happens again and it isn't resolved, I will go build that prison in my garage.  ; ) 

So glad things are working out! My husband always says; 'expect the worst and you will be pleasantly surprised.'

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm a little afraid to separate the hen with the bloody tail. Won't she have an even harder time when she is re-introduced to the flock and she's lost whatever social standing she had? The blue kote is doing a good job of covering over her bloody spots.... but it's better to be safe than sorry - I would hate to think of her being pecked to death! I have no problem separating the bully, she deserves to be locked up!

How small of an enclosure is acceptable to keep either of them in for a short time? I have a very large cardboard box in my basement that might do, and I have a medium sized dog crate. Are these big enough to comfortably hold a chicken for a few days to a week? Is it OK to keep them in dim to low light for that long?

Funny, I know chickens in factory farms endure much worse treatment for their whole lives, and I'm worried about subjecting them to it for just a few days!

Chickens are only able to recognize about 100 hens or maybe a few less. Therefor they don't fight, boss, or pick at their flock mates unless one of them refuses to knuckle under to the other. The problem comes in when there are two equally matched hens and one refuses to knuckle under. A chicken has a tiny little bit of fluff right behind her comb. When she or he raises this small patch of down that chicken is surrendering to his or her antagonist. This is the true origin of the term "showing the white feather"

 

[Albertamamma]

I've enjoyed reading through this thread and do wonder how I might deal with the bullies in my flock. I have 5 hens that all grew up together and are now around 6 mos old. I've had them here in there new home for about 2 weeks. Everything was fine until I added 5 1 y/o Orpingtons to the group.... Now these bird were in rough shape when I got them. The roosters had been rough and they all had bare patches on them. One has also a naked front neck..... And they all seem to have feathers that are broken off as well along the back of them.
My concern is these 5 new birds are being relentlessly taken after by the other hens. A couple had there combs bleeding, so I separated them for the night and today. That left the 2 others who seemed to be getting on well enough, they weren't bloody and I hadn't noticed anything all day, then tonight I went to check on them and the one hen had a bloody spot on her back! So I pulled her out and put here with the other 3.... So I now have 4/5 birds in my greenhouse because they dont seem to be able to integrate themselves into the flock.
I'm at a loss, I don't want to keep them apart and quite frankly don't have the space to do so....

How long should I expect this could take? Do I try to find new homes for them if they can't seem to get along? In my case I don't have just one bird doing the bullying it's the 5 original hens that are the culprits....
Any suggestions are really appreciated.

 

[lynnehd]

I've enjoyed reading through this thread and do wonder how I might deal with the bullies in my flock. I have 5 hens that all grew up together and are now around 6 mos old. I've had them here in there new home for about 2 weeks. Everything was fine until I added 5 1 y/o Orpingtons to the group.... Now these bird were in rough shape when I got them. The roosters had been rough and they all had bare patches on them. One has also a naked front neck..... And they all seem to have feathers that are broken off as well along the back of them.
My concern is these 5 new birds are being relentlessly taken after by the other hens. A couple had there combs bleeding, so I separated them for the night and today. That left the 2 others who seemed to be getting on well enough, they weren't bloody and I hadn't noticed anything all day, then tonight I went to check on them and the one hen had a bloody spot on her back! So I pulled her out and put here with the other 3.... So I now have 4/5 birds in my greenhouse because they dont seem to be able to integrate themselves into the flock.
I'm at a loss, I don't want to keep them apart and quite frankly don't have the space to do so....

How long should I expect this could take? Do I try to find new homes for them if they can't seem to get along? In my case I don't have just one bird doing the bullying it's the 5 original hens that are the culprits....
Any suggestions are really appreciated.

I think the new ones need to be healed up before they are added. The original 5 will attack bare spots, because that is what they do.
You can treat these areas with BluKote and/or antibiotic ointment (no pain relief added), which may make pecking them less 'attractive' to peck, but I would still keep them apart.
(There are other anti pecking products out there, as well).

In this case, it would be best to set them up in parallel enclosures so they can see each other, but not directly interact. Can you get some inexpensive garden fencing and run it down the middle of the run so they can't get at each other?
After the new birds are healed up, let them free range at first, with supervision.
When that goes OK, try putting them in the coop to roost together after dark, and see how it goes the next day.

Sometimes it is easy to integrate new birds, sometimes it takes a lot of work, especially when the new birds have bare patches or injuries.

 

[Albertamamma]

I think the new ones need to be healed up before they are added. The original 5 will attack bare spots, because that is what they do.
You can treat these areas with BluKote and/or antibiotic ointment (no pain relief added), which may make pecking them less 'attractive' to peck, but I would still keep them apart.
(There are other anti pecking products out there, as well).

In this case, it would be best to set them up in parallel enclosures so they can see each other, but not directly interact. Can you get some inexpensive garden fencing and run it down the middle of the run so they can't get at each other?
After the new birds are healed up, let them free range at first, with supervision.
When that goes OK, try putting them in the coop to roost together after dark, and see how it goes the next day.

Sometimes it is easy to integrate new birds, sometimes it takes a lot of work, especially when the new birds have bare patches or injuries.

Thanks for the advice lynnehd Ive got 4/5 separated.......one seems to be faring well so far. I will try to get them looking better and healed up before I try and re-introduce I appreciate your input

 

[lynnehd]

Thanks for the advice lynnehd Ive got 4/5 separated.......one seems to be faring well so far. I will try to get them looking better and healed up before I try and re-introduce I appreciate your input

Sure! Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[hrdkndy]

What is a good starting point for isolating a bully? If anyone has any advice, I'd sure appreciate it.

 

[Chickiedoodle19]

So I have 3 turkey poults and one is being very agressive (which we expected at some point) but when we seperated him from the others he began throwing a hissy fit and rubbing his beak aginst the cage and managed to get himself bloody. We cleaned him up and he's in a box but I really would appreciate any advice that can be given?