Still bullying after isolation and pinless peepers... please HELP

[Samanternat]

I have had a bullying problem arise suddenly this spring. My 4 chickens (two 12 mo. and two 11 mo.) lived together just fine for 9 months after the initial integration of the two young pairs. Long story short, my younger hens (one in particular) have decided to turn on the older hen. This isn't my first post about it, and although I have ideas about what might have prompted the change in pecking order, I really am not sure. It was an overnight change.

The bullying was not mild. The main bully will chase, peck, and even jump on the victim's back to pluck feathers. Fortunately, the victim has never been injured but she is traumatized! It got to a point that she was hidden, face in the corner, in the coop. Any sight of the bullies and she shrieks and runs/hides like this.

Here is what I have done so far...
- Isolated bullies (2 hens) together out of sight. Left the victim in coop and run with the rooster. Victim was almost immediately comfortable to resume normal behaviour.
- After over a week of separation, I started hour visits for a few days. In sight of each other, but wire between. This was OK. Victim was on edge the second she saw them, but eventually realized she was untouchable. Her confidence started to build with them around.
- Gradually, I would open the separation during these visits and sit there to watch/intervene. This was fine mostly, victim had confidence to come out around them with just enough caution to know to stay out of their way. However, there was still the occasional intimidating behaviour from the main bully when she'd notice the victim, who would then start freaking out which prompted a chase. So, I still could not leave them alone. The secondary bully was better behaved during these visits.
- Isolated the main bully alone for another week or more. This time, I left the secondary bully in the coop and run with the victim and rooster. Things were fine between those 3 chickens... any pecking order stuff that might have still been happening was not impacting the victim's ability to roam, eat, and drink. More supervised visits with everyone during this time... similar to before, but seemed to be much better (some visits there would be no interaction of bully/victim, other times there would be some small ones). I still didn't want to leave them alone, though.
- Pinless peepers on the main bully and supervised a visit. At this point the bully was still in isolation, but the peepers appeared to help so tremendously that I left them together for the afternoon/evening. This was a success. I was SO HOPEFUL and RELIEVED. They roosted together. Next morning and most of the day, things still looking fine on cameras. The victim clearly giving the bully her space but everyone was normal. Later that afternoon... bullying started AGAIN from both the main bully and her little bully friend joining in again too. I left it initially, thinking they had to work it out and the peepers would prevent the worst of it, until finally the victim was back in the coop hiding with the bullies literally going out of their way to go in and torment her to make her stay there, which is where I draw the line. I removed the main bully again (leaving the 3 others), and things went back to fine right away.

I am actually in tears of frustration because I will not cull any of my chickens, and I do not intend to rehome any of them. I am desperate for a solution. I have read so many posts for research.

Is it my execution of the strategies above somehow??? Why aren't the peepers stopping the chasing/plucking?!

Meanwhile, I've been building an extension for the run that I can close off and use as a "jail" for daytime separation, or open up for more run space. Almost done... not a handyman. I plan to eventually build them a new coop, but that can not happen overnight (and again, amateur handyman, lol).

Please please please help.

 

[Yardfulla poopers]

I am so sorry to hear of your frustration. It sounds like you've done everything you can. I hope someone here has more help, but I hope it gets better!

 

[Samanternat]

I am so sorry to hear of your frustration. It sounds like you've done everything you can. I hope someone here has more help, but I hope it gets better!

Thank you. I’ll keep trying. She’s never been such a meanie before… hopefully I can break her of it. Meanwhile I’m max stressed.

 

[Yardfulla poopers]

I totally get it! We want our critters to be happy and healthy and when they aren't, it hurts.

 

[Mrs. K]

You have done the strategies and have considerable more patience than I do. I am assuming that others have recommended the space and how that space is set up, I am assuming that you have the hideouts, the mini walls, multiple feed stations.

There are some birds that for whatever reason just will not live together in peace. I would let one of the birds go, I find that this kind of strife just ruins my enjoyment of the flock. And I cannot think that they enjoy living this way either.

Your only solution is to separate them and keep them separated for at least months. I would cull the bully. That bird might do perfectly fine in someone else's flock. One tends to focus on the victim, but really the bully is also very unhappy and insecure and feels the need to push this bird out of the flock, which is exhausting.

Mrs K

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I am trying to remember @aart's suggestions for dealing with situations like this. As I recall, she advocates isolating the bully for long enough to allow the victim to develop confidence and stop feeling and acting like a victim. At the same time, it makes the bully lose status in the flock. In your case, obviously a week was not long enough. How long has the bullying been going on? I'm going to suggest separation for at least a month. Then re-integrate the bully as if she is a complete unknown. Start with a week or two of side-by-side "see-no-touch" pre-integration socialization, where she is separated from the other birds only by fencing. Every day, sprinkle some kind of treat on both sides of the fence so all the birds are eating in close proximity. At the end of this time, remove the fencing (preferably at night after they've roosted so it's no big deal), and let them physically mingle. Let the (hopefully) former victim's behavior guide you as to whether she is ready for the (former) bully to be allowed back into the flock. Please let us know if this helps.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If you are not familiar with the "see-no-touch" method, I wrote an article on it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-a-pictorial-guide.79343/


And here is another excellent article on integrating flocks:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-chickens-step-by-step.72815/