A few weeks ago I remarked that I'd never had such a balanced flock - all five hens happy, no one seemingly at top or bottom of pecking order. It has been the steadiest, calmest flock I've ever had.
Then we went away for a few weeks, had an experienced pet sitter staying with the birds and she didn't notice anything off until the last few days. Suddenly the "new" (one year old) full-size hens are bullying my five-year-old Mille Fleur d'Uccle bantam. She had let them know who was boss from the time they arrived as day-old chicks and seemed to have the situation well in hand. She would charge at them but never really threatened them - she was just protecting her turf and it seemed like a wise move given that they ended up to be three times her size.
But something happened - our absence? Something in the air with the change of seasons?
Suddenly two of the three "young" hens - an Australorp and a RIR, both very peaceable birds in general, are bullying the bantam to the point where she is hiding from them all day. She can fly so she escapes from them by going into the rafters of the coop or onto higher roosts in the pen, but she is definitely secluding herself from the rest of the flock. When I let them out to free range things seem mostly calm but then one of the two larger birds pecks at her and she cries and runs away. She will NOT go back into the coop or pen if the other birds are there as she fears being ganged up on.
Any ideas what could cause the sudden shift? I wondered if she might be failing and they were preying on weakness but she seems healthy and perky. Is this just something that happens and will work itself out?
Asking because I worry about her being so much smaller than the other birds. And because I am VERY weary of chasing her to try to get her back into the coop...
Then we went away for a few weeks, had an experienced pet sitter staying with the birds and she didn't notice anything off until the last few days. Suddenly the "new" (one year old) full-size hens are bullying my five-year-old Mille Fleur d'Uccle bantam. She had let them know who was boss from the time they arrived as day-old chicks and seemed to have the situation well in hand. She would charge at them but never really threatened them - she was just protecting her turf and it seemed like a wise move given that they ended up to be three times her size.
But something happened - our absence? Something in the air with the change of seasons?
Suddenly two of the three "young" hens - an Australorp and a RIR, both very peaceable birds in general, are bullying the bantam to the point where she is hiding from them all day. She can fly so she escapes from them by going into the rafters of the coop or onto higher roosts in the pen, but she is definitely secluding herself from the rest of the flock. When I let them out to free range things seem mostly calm but then one of the two larger birds pecks at her and she cries and runs away. She will NOT go back into the coop or pen if the other birds are there as she fears being ganged up on.
Any ideas what could cause the sudden shift? I wondered if she might be failing and they were preying on weakness but she seems healthy and perky. Is this just something that happens and will work itself out?
Asking because I worry about her being so much smaller than the other birds. And because I am VERY weary of chasing her to try to get her back into the coop...
