Serious head pecking

[KatefromOz]

Hello! I'm having an ongoing issue with one of my hens pecking the other on the comb and back of the head. The chook who pecks is broody a lot of the time, but when she's not, she is so aggressive to one of my isa Brown's. I haven't noticed it for a while but yesterday I saw blood on her comb. She has a bald patch on her head too. Today she is running scared and hanging by her best friend, my big RIR. Can anyone offer any advice? I'm worried for my little isa. Thank you!

 

[nchls school]

Hello! I'm having an ongoing issue with one of my hens pecking the other on the comb and back of the head. The chook who pecks is broody a lot of the time, but when she's not, she is so aggressive to one of my isa Brown's. I haven't noticed it for a while but yesterday I saw blood on her comb. She has a bald patch on her head too. Today she is running scared and hanging by her best friend, my big RIR. Can anyone offer any advice? I'm worried for my little isa. Thank you!

More room if possible. Separation. Providing some kind of cover so the smaller bird can escape the bullying.

 

[azygous]

First of all, you can trim the sharp end off her beak. She will do less damage with it blunted. Be careful to take it very slowly and just trim the last eighth of an inch so it doesn't damage the quick or it will bleed and when beaks bleed, they don't want to stop.

Is the Isa Brown standing up for herself at all? Or is she more likely to try to run away? Further observation of these two would be wise to see if the Isa Brown is being bullied away from the feeder, too. Feel her keel bone. If it's sharp and protruding, she probably is.

@nchls school has a good point. If there isn't ten square feet at minimum in your run, there is no room to run from a bully and you'll never have peace in your flock unless you enlarge that space.

 

[aart]

Knowing these things:
-your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
-have they always lived together or are some new additions,
-your coop(size in feet by feet with pics),
Might help us help you

 

[KatefromOz]

First of all, you can trim the sharp end off her beak. She will do less damage with it blunted. Be careful to take it very slowly and just trim the last eighth of an inch so it doesn't damage the quick or it will bleed and when beaks bleed, they don't want to stop.

Is the Isa Brown standing up for herself at all? Or is she more likely to try to run away? Further observation of these two would be wise to see if the Isa Brown is being bullied away from the feeder, too. Feel her keel bone. If it's sharp and protruding, she probably is.

@nchls school has a good point. If there isn't ten square feet at minimum in your run, there is no room to run from a bully and you'll never have peace in your flock unless you enlarge that space.

Thank you for your reply. I will check the kneel bone when I can. There is plenty of room for them during the day, at night the bully sleeps in the coop and the isa brown sleeps in the run with the other girls.
I have seen her eating. When the bully is close by she just takes off. When the bully does attack my isa just kinda lays there, I actually thought she was dead the first time I saw it. Like very violent mating, but she doesn't get up for a while. It was awful.

 

[KatefromOz]

Knowing these things:
-your flock size(numbers, ages, genders),
-have they always lived together or are some new additions,
-your coop(size in feet by feet with pics),
Might help us help you

I have 6 hens
1 RIR - almost 3 years old
1 cross breed (we were told RIR x sussex) almost 3 years old - this is the bully
1 isa brown - approx 2 1/2 years old - this is my injured one
1 isa brown - 18 months
1 araucana - 18 months
1 bantam Ancona - 14 - 18 months (not too sure).
They have always lived together, the Ancona was our latest edition about 10 months ago.
This started last year when my isa was having her first hard molt. I figured the bully thought she was sick and was trying to kill her (not sure if that's how they work). Once her feathers grew back it seemed to stop for a while. I'm in Australia so the girls will start to moIt again in the next month or 2 so it could be related to that.
I have attached a pic of the backyard they live in. They spend time in the empty double car garage during the day, or the backyard. They only use the coop to sleep and lay. We have an automatic door so they are out of there first thing in the morning. The run us probably 10ft by 4ft. I will get a better photo once my baby wakes up.

 

[azygous]

If you little Isa Brown is thin along her breast bone, she may not be getting enough to eat. That's a serious consequence of bullying. I wrote an article on how to rehabilitate a bullying victim so that the bullying stops. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[KatefromOz]

If you little Isa Brown is thin along her breast bone, she may not be getting enough to eat. That's a serious consequence of bullying. I wrote an article on how to rehabilitate a bullying victim so that the bullying stops. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

Thank you for the article. I went outside to give the girls a treat and she was hiding up in the run. She came out and ate with the others but it wasn't great to see her hiding up there. Thanks again

 

[KatefromOz]

Well the keel bone isn't prominent which is great. Her crop we also full. Witnessed some more bullying this morning so I let my isa hang out with me under the patio for a while. I'll have to start thinking about my next steps!

 

[chickens really]

RIR are known to be aggressive. What do you feed daily including treats.
Birds of a feather flock together and some just can't be housed with other docile breeds.