Sudden Agression and Pecking

[eekay]

Hello all,

4 black Sexlinks, approx 1 year old.

Most guides have suggested if I don't fix this problem now then I will likely soon have dead birds.

About 4 days ago I Noticed a bald spot on top of one of my girls heads, around her comb, kept eye on it, thought maybe molting. No blood or broken skin.

Three days later I Spent an entire day outside in the yard prepping my garden, the girls are confined to a 60sqft run as per bylaw. No issues all day long. No fighting.

Late in the evening they're all stuffing their faces as per their norm, when suddenly a massive brawl breaks out. Our dominant hen is chasing and pecking at our most timid one, ripping her head feathers out. The other two join in, they then all begin turning on eachother. I have to stand in the run for a solid hour just til things settle. The dominant hen was militantly stalking the littlest one, the littlest one was pecking at our biggest one.

After an hour they settle, they all behave, preening and eating. The only incident after that is the littlest one pecks at the largest and most timid one. They all go to bed, no issue.

I'm petrified I'm going to come home to one or more severely injured or dead girls if I'm not there to break it up.

Food and water are normal. Weather has been significantly warmer. There have been no major changes to environment aside from The day after discovering the bald spot I did remove the plastic sheeting that was surrounding the run.

The fight did appear to break out when they were all eating (if one eats then they all want some) , the feeder in question is a bucket style with two ports. One port faces a corner and any bird eating from it has nowhere to go if a more dominant bird steps in. I relocated the feeder a short distance away.to avoid anyone getting cornered.

im going to spend today implementing as many boredom Buster's as I can. There are no visible signs of illness.

ANy thoughts? Input? Advice?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of your set up, preferably current, with the feeder in current location? It's unfortunate you can't expand, as that would help with giving you room to add clutter/hiding spots, but let's see what we have to work with.

At the very least, for now, I'd see about adding a second feeder. Doesn't need to be fancy, even just a small bowl will do.

 

[eekay]

Photos of your set up, preferably current, with the feeder in current location? It's unfortunate you can't expand, as that would help with giving you room to add clutter/hiding spots, but let's see what we have to work with.

Current setup with feeder to the right of the human access door.

 

[cluckcluckhens]

You need to fix this asap. I would say more feed and water areas. You have a top girl in the pecking order. Top girl always eats and drinks first is what I read years ago. I'm sorry you are going through this. It's not fun.

I don't have black sex-links so I don't know what they are like but, I do have a golden sex-link.

At least you don't have a bully that goes after australorp's. That happened to us years ago and she wiped out our four australorp girls.

If you don't want a pecking order you need a Rooster. Rooster keep the ladies from fighting and then no pecking order. I have two.

 

[neo71665]

Chicken glasses, and a roo doesn't stop girls from having a pecking order. He will just put the top girl lower than him but the top girl will still be the top girl.

 

[Quaicken108]

Roosters don’t automatically solve problems. Pecking order is a serious thing to be mindful of.
Are you getting any eggs? If it’s really stressing the timid one than she shouldn’t be laying.
I know that they’re all the same breed and age but did you get them all together? Generally, when you get more hens and you’re intergrading them into your current flock, everyone is going to have to get used to things and the top one will attack the others.
If you think it’s serious and it seems that it’s 3 on 1 than might try removing the top girl first and see if the other 2 will attack or if she‘s really stressed and getting hurt, remove her so she can heal for the time.
You might want to let others eat first and kick the top girl out, just so you know that the timid one is still eating.
Sometimes depending on the chicken, they just don’t like them and they need a mini flock, a group, like my timing hen (an SLW) lost her 3 sisters and wasn’t fully intergraded into my flock. She was constantly attacked and bullied but after I let her heal and become strong again, I tried again and spent many hours creating a safe space for her. It didn’t fully work still because she was alone but eventually she went broody and got her daughters which made it 3 against the rest of my flock. (When they gre up).
Update us and I hope everything will go well!!!

 

[eekay]

All 4 were hatched same day and were raised together. They've never encountered and new birds. This is my first flock. Roosters are prohibited as I live in an urban area.

The bullying became very sudden, I have no idea what may have set it off. I'm sick to my stomach with anxiety over this.

I will try to give them more distractions tomorrow, as well as put in a new feeder and try to up their protein intake. I'm really just hoping it's stress from the change in seasons and they'll eventually settle down.

This whole scenario is completely ruining the chicken keeping experience.

 

[eekay]

Are you getting any eggs? If it’s really stressing the timid one than she shouldn’t be laying.

Still getting 4 eggs a day. The one being picked on still gets her fill of food and drinks openly. The bullying just flares up randomly, they were perched next to one another and dust bathing near eachother all day prior to the scuff up.

 

[Quaicken108]

Still getting 4 eggs a day. The one being picked on still gets her fill of food and drinks openly. The bullying just flares up randomly, they were perched next to one another and dust bathing near eachother all day prior to the scuff up.

If she’s still laying than I’d say she’s not under too much stress. It doesn’t sound too serious and as long as she’s not injured and/stressed I wouldn’t worry too greatly. They might just be putting her in line sometimes and hopefully she’s not getting hurt.

 

[eekay]

I made some straw piles with some treats, moved their feeder and added another. When I'm done my errands I'm going to add some more perches, graduated going higher up. I'm leaning toward boredom being the main factor. Here's hoping. So far so good today, the one being picked on is still in good spirits, and based on the way they ate their scrambled eggs this morning the one being picked on is definitely #2 in the ladder. I'm thinking it's also possibly a power struggle.

Going to try increasing their protein intake a little bit as well.