Sibling Hens fighting all of a sudden

[TheresaMi]

I have a hen that hatched and raised 8 chicks(6 female, 2 males). She abandoned them at 2 months and started to lay again so I returned her to the main flock.

The 8 chicks have their own coop and run seperate from main. They have been living peacefully for about 3 weeks now but today one of the girl started attacking the rest of the other girls only. I know about the pecking order but have never seen it this violent and bloody.

I have separated the bully girl now and cleaned up the rest of the injured. I have always raised day old chicks from the supply store so this is my first time with hatched chicks.

I was just wondering if this is normal for siblings to fight this violently all of a sudden? Is there anything else I can do or look out for going forward?

 

[birdlover2]

I have a hen that hatched and raised 8 chicks(6 female, 2 males). She abandoned them at 2 months and started to lay again so I returned her to the main flock.

The 8 chicks have their own coop and run seperate from main. They have been living peacefully for about 3 weeks now but today one of the girl started attacking the rest of the other girls only. I know about the pecking order but have never seen it this violent and bloody.

I have separated the bully girl now and cleaned up the rest of the injured. I have always raised day old chicks from the supply store so this is my first time with hatched chicks.

I was just wondering if this is normal for siblings to fight this violently all of a sudden? Is there anything else I can do or look out for going forward?

Hmm...if she's drawing blood it's not normal, (and if it is it's certainly not beneficial!) is she aggressive towards you? What food have you been giving them? How big is their coop? Do they appear to want to be with the others? Was this one super attatched to their mother? What are the roosters doing about this? Have they started trying to mate yet or have they started laying?

 

[TheresaMi]

Yes there was blood. One of the chick was really beatup and I seperated her too so she can fully heal up.

-They are all very peaceful and never show any aggressive behavior towards me.

- I'm feeding them regular chick starter crumble still.

- My coop is 3x5' ft and the run is 8x10'

- If you mean being together with the main flock, they do want to join but they are too young and get bullied by the older hen so I didn't want to introduce them yet.( I tried once and it didn't go so well).

- It wasn't super attached to the mother. The males were the more mother clingy ones.

- The males are just watching or not doing anything.

- They haven't played yet either.

 

[birdlover2]

Yes there was blood. One of the chick was really beatup and I seperated her too so she can fully heal up.

-They are all very peaceful and never show any aggressive behavior towards me.

- I'm feeding them regular chick starter crumble still.

- My coop is 3x5' ft and the run is 8x10'

- If you mean being together with the main flock, they do want to join but they are too young and get bullied by the older hen so I didn't want to introduce them yet.( I tried once and it didn't go so well).

- It wasn't super attached to the mother. The males were the more mother clingy ones.

- The males are just watching or not doing anything.

- They haven't played yet either.

(OK, well I would keep seperating the aggressive one from the others for now...but u could start putting them in with the others in a cage to get them used to eachother. Also, if they can fly up onto perches that works too, the others will chase them a while and they will go onto perches to avoid the others and eventually the others will perch and they can come back down. They will get used to eachother after a couple of weeks, (of course this method I've only tried once with my mother's bantams). I have to go now, though, the cage method would probably work best)

 

[TheresaMi]

(OK, well I would keep seperating the aggressive one from the others for now...but u could start putting them in with the others in a cage to get them used to eachother. Also, if they can fly up onto perches that works too, the others will chase them a while and they will go onto perches to avoid the others and eventually the others will perch and they can come back down. They will get used to eachother after a couple of weeks, (of course this method I've only tried once with my mother's bantams). I have to go now, though, the cage method would probably work best)

Alright thank you. I'll try that once they are healed up.

 

[aart]

Are you positive the bully is a girl?
Some birds are just nutz.
Curious why you didn't let mama integrate the chicks into the flock?

What does their run look like Might need some diversions in there.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

 

[keesmom]

I have a hen that hatched and raised 8 chicks(6 female, 2 males). She abandoned them at 2 months and started to lay again so I returned her to the main flock.

The 8 chicks have their own coop and run seperate from main. They have been living peacefully for about 3 weeks now but today one of the girl started attacking the rest of the other girls only. I know about the pecking order but have never seen it this violent and bloody.

I have separated the bully girl now and cleaned up the rest of the injured. I have always raised day old chicks from the supply store so this is my first time with hatched chicks.

I was just wondering if this is normal for siblings to fight this violently all of a sudden? Is there anything else I can do or look out for going forward?

Breed? Pictures of the aggressor?