Sudden aggression after laying resumes

Or let her out with the others, and keep your bullies in there. I am more of a believer of locking up the bullies, verse the victim, but I have seen posts where, time alone for the victim is good. With protection, she forgets she is a victim.

Mrs K
I've been very tempted to isolate the bullies instead, too, but I had two concerns. One is that for the first couple of days, the injured hen herself was very nervous to be near other chickens - any of them - so I just wanted to give her a sense of security so she could get her confidence back. And my other concern was that at first I wasn't sure how many of the others were doing it, and how many to isolate. Or if I isolated a couple of them together, if they'd turn on each other when cramped for space... So it was complicated.

Now I think it's just two of them who are the main instigators. I'll see how it goes today, and then maybe tomorrow I'll put those two in the smaller run partition, and put the recovering hen in the main run with the others. Good thing it's the weekend so I can spend more time with them observing.

This whole intervention and rescue/rehabilitation operation has only been possible because of COVID. It's only because I'm still working from home that I was even able to notice she got attacked, and was able to isolate and treat her right away. She was so bloodied and so persecuted when I first saw it, that had I been at the office all day, I would have probably just come home that night to find her dead and half-eaten in the run :( So... the pandemic has been great for chicken ownership (as a silver lining to all the crap it has brought on other fronts).
 
Big breakthrough today! Look at them at the top of the frame:

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That's the injured hen and her main nemesis, standing next to each other on the two sides of the fence, preening themselves! That's gotta be a sign of peace, right?
 
Here are her new sleeping quarters! It’s going to be in the teens tonight and tomorrow until noon, and I’m worried about the temperature swings from basement to coop back and forth every day. So she has graduated from the basement. I covered the top so she wouldn’t get pooped on. The long side has clear plastic for protection and visibility, and the short side is open for ventilation.

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The two pullets came in to investigate right away. No attempts at pecking.
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I had to go pick the kids up from school and missed the bully coming in and finding the crate. By the time I got back, she was up on the roost, and bully #2 (the dark pullet) was showing a little too much interest in the open side of the crate… I think they were sizing each other up, heads held high, but without bully #1 present, I don’t think the injured hen is afraid of the pullet. The pullet ranked lower than her and still does, but gets emboldened by the big bully’s presence and tries to subvert the order (this particular pullet has always been assertive with the aunties, trying to fit in with them).
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Everybody’s down for the night. Let’s hope the morning goes well.
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How healed is healed enough? I'm thinking of trying her out in the main run tomorrow. But I'll put the two main bullies in the partition first, just in case...

That one comb point that kept bleeding the first day still looks black, and there are a couple of small scabs left here and there, but overall she looks pretty normal by now. Nothing about her screams "blood" anymore... What do you guys think? It's one week today since the attack.

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UPDATE: Today was the day of the big test. I closed the two bullies (the big Silver Laced Orp hen and the dark pullet) in the run partition, and I let the injured hen (who's mostly healed by now) come out into the main run. The rest of the flock was totally cool with her! She was happy to be back, too. I observed them for a while, and when I was certain she wasn't in immediate danger from these particular chickens, I decided to see what would happen if I let the bullies join as well. They'd been acting very chill through the fence for days, preening themselves right next to her across the fence, so I thought let's give it a try.

Well.

The SL hen went straight for her target and started pecking at her again!!!!! That spiteful b****. The poor victim hen lowered her head and her body language was screaming "I submit, you win!" which is usually enough, but the SL would not let up! I pushed her away, grabbed her and locked her up alone in the partition.

Then the dark pullet came up to the recovering hen. But the hen held her head up high (higher than the pullet, it's like they were out-head-stretching each other!) and did not back down. They stared each other down for a while, and then the pullet raised her hackles and attacked! The hen, however, seeing that it was a one-on-one and not a gang attack like before, handled it all by herself and kicked the pullet's butt until the pullet retreated and went inside the coop! I was SO happy to see her stand up for herself, and win. The pullet is still a pullet, after all, even if assertive and pushing the limits. I "pecked" the pullet on the head after she backed down and started walking away, just to confirm the verdict and make it very clear. I observed some more, but it seemed like things had settled and all was peaceful.

So the plan going forward at this point is to keep the SL bully jailed - in the run partition during the day, and in the crate at night - until further notice. I'll give her second chances periodically, but if she continues attacking, she'll continue living separate. She hasn't laid yet, but is squatting. I'm really hoping she lays soon and gets this PMS bitchiness out of her system, or whatever the hell it is. If it starts to drag out too much, I might crate her in the basement away from the others altogether, until they start to forget her, so I can reset the pecking order and knock her down.

I'm so sad and disappointed... She was always so incredibly sweet, with both humans and with the flock, and I was so proud of her for being the peacekeeper! She was always a fair and just peacekeeper, too. When two chickens would squabble, she'd break them up and peck each on the head (just once) and send them on their way, but she ALWAYS gave the first disciplinary peck to the one who had initiated the squabble. Sigh...

Here she is, in solitary:
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The reintroduced hen, enjoying her non-aggressive friends' company and free access to her former kingdom again:
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Preening and looking content and happy in the main run:
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She's officially back with the flock now, unless I see something sketchy, but I have hope that things are settled at this point.
 
UPDATE: Today was the day of the big test. I closed the two bullies (the big Silver Laced Orp hen and the dark pullet) in the run partition, and I let the injured hen (who's mostly healed by now) come out into the main run. The rest of the flock was totally cool with her! She was happy to be back, too. I observed them for a while, and when I was certain she wasn't in immediate danger from these particular chickens, I decided to see what would happen if I let the bullies join as well. They'd been acting very chill through the fence for days, preening themselves right next to her across the fence, so I thought let's give it a try.

Well.

The SL hen went straight for her target and started pecking at her again!!!!! That spiteful b****. The poor victim hen lowered her head and her body language was screaming "I submit, you win!" which is usually enough, but the SL would not let up! I pushed her away, grabbed her and locked her up alone in the partition.

Then the dark pullet came up to the recovering hen. But the hen held her head up high (higher than the pullet, it's like they were out-head-stretching each other!) and did not back down. They stared each other down for a while, and then the pullet raised her hackles and attacked! The hen, however, seeing that it was a one-on-one and not a gang attack like before, handled it all by herself and kicked the pullet's butt until the pullet retreated and went inside the coop! I was SO happy to see her stand up for herself, and win. The pullet is still a pullet, after all, even if assertive and pushing the limits. I "pecked" the pullet on the head after she backed down and started walking away, just to confirm the verdict and make it very clear. I observed some more, but it seemed like things had settled and all was peaceful.

So the plan going forward at this point is to keep the SL bully jailed - in the run partition during the day, and in the crate at night - until further notice. I'll give her second chances periodically, but if she continues attacking, she'll continue living separate. She hasn't laid yet, but is squatting. I'm really hoping she lays soon and gets this PMS bitchiness out of her system, or whatever the hell it is. If it starts to drag out too much, I might crate her in the basement away from the others altogether, until they start to forget her, so I can reset the pecking order and knock her down.

I'm so sad and disappointed... She was always so incredibly sweet, with both humans and with the flock, and I was so proud of her for being the peacekeeper! She was always a fair and just peacekeeper, too. When two chickens would squabble, she'd break them up and peck each on the head (just once) and send them on their way, but she ALWAYS gave the first disciplinary peck to the one who had initiated the squabble. Sigh...

Here she is, in solitary:
View attachment 2972324

The reintroduced hen, enjoying her non-aggressive friends' company and free access to her former kingdom again:
View attachment 2972327

Preening and looking content and happy in the main run:
View attachment 2972325

She's officially back with the flock now, unless I see something sketchy, but I have hope that things are settled at this point.
I am sooo happy things are smoothing out (for the most part)!
 
I am sooo happy things are smoothing out (for the most part)!
Thanks! Me too. Still upset over my former peacekeeper, but happy to see the poor victim rehabilitated and returned back to her family, peacefully.

I'm thinking of keeping the bully in the crate, actually. I'm pissed at her right now and don't know if I want to bother taking her in and out every day, moving the heated waterer, her feeder, and all that. She's on my sh** list at the moment, and not quite deserving of all that effort. So I want to keep her crated 24/7 for a while, in the coop, except there's one complication - it's going to be below freezing both during the day and at night for the rest of the week, and I'm worried about how I'm going to fit the heated waterer inside the crate. It's a small dog bowl, and the crate is a medium size, so there is room, physically, but being that it's an open container, I don't want her stepping in it in the dark and then getting frostbite on her legs, or sitting there with wet feathers. Ugh... I might section off part of the coop with chicken wire and put her feeder and waterer there, to give her more room, and put the bowl up on blocks or something. More work than I feel like doing for her right now, but still less overall than moving her back and forth every day (I don't want to just let her out into the closed coop during the day, which would be the easiest thing, because my one laying hen will need the nesting boxes, and the two of them cannot meet).
 
Thanks! Me too. Still upset over my former peacekeeper, but happy to see the poor victim rehabilitated and returned back to her family, peacefully.

I'm thinking of keeping the bully in the crate, actually. I'm pissed at her right now and don't know if I want to bother taking her in and out every day, moving the heated waterer, her feeder, and all that. She's on my sh** list at the moment, and not quite deserving of all that effort. So I want to keep her crated 24/7 for a while, in the coop, except there's one complication - it's going to be below freezing both during the day and at night for the rest of the week, and I'm worried about how I'm going to fit the heated waterer inside the crate. It's a small dog bowl, and the crate is a medium size, so there is room, physically, but being that it's an open container, I don't want her stepping in it in the dark and then getting frostbite on her legs, or sitting there with wet feathers. Ugh... I might section off part of the coop with chicken wire and put her feeder and waterer there, to give her more room, and put the bowl up on blocks or something. More work than I feel like doing for her right now, but still less overall than moving her back and forth every day (I don't want to just let her out into the closed coop during the day, which would be the easiest thing, because my one laying hen will need the nesting boxes, and the two of them cannot meet).
I feel ya! When my BO (former peacekeeper) got killed, my light brahma took over and for a while there she was ruling with an iron fist, I almost got rid of her, but things calmed down. That's a good idea sectioning off part of the coop, just like you did when you had your broody ;)
 
I feel ya! When my BO (former peacekeeper) got killed, my light brahma took over and for a while there she was ruling with an iron fist, I almost got rid of her, but things calmed down. That's a good idea sectioning off part of the coop, just like you did when you had your broody ;)
Aww, you remember! That's exactly what I was thinking. I'll dig out my pictures to see how I did it, and I'll just keep her there. Maybe with a feed bag tied to the chicken wire in front of the nesting boxes, as a visual barrier, so she's not intimidating the poor recovered hen while she's laying.
 

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