Suddenly Aggressive chickens

[Orpington11Mom]

Hi Good Morning everyone

I have a flock of 13 chickens , 9 of them are Orpington ranging from 6 years to 3 years and I have never had a pecking issue with these girls . This past summer in July I got 4 Barred Cochins Bantams . The 4 of them have always been together , cuddled and sleep together , stayed together ate together . Recently , about 2 weeks ago I noticed that one of them had been pecked on her neck and was bleeding . I cleaned her up and put medicine on her wound and put her in a separate cage inside the coop . A few days later I noticed another Bantam was bleeding from her neck , so I did the same thing with her . I tried a few times in the past few days to let them out with the rest of the girls but everyone seems to like to go back to the wound area and peck even though the wounds are healed they still have missing feathers and to top it off one of the injured girls tried to aggressively attack the other injured girl . I again separated them for fear they would be killed . I do not know what to do or why this even started . They can't live in separate cages for ever but I don't have any ideas of what I should do. ANY help for be greatly appreciated . The other 2 Bantams seems to be fine with each other , a little pecking here and there but not bad. I am not exactly sure who caused the initial wounds whether is was one of my older girls or the younger ones but as I said I have never had this problem before and have had chickens for 6 years . Thank you again for taking the time to read this and for any advise. I don't know what to do makes me sad

 

[tripletfeb]

How much space do they have? Sounds like they don't have enough and they are bullying each other out of boredom

 

[Orpington11Mom]

We have a very large wooden shed that we turned into a coop and a run attached to it

 

[Mrs. K]

Sometimes smaller birds just do not work with older birds. Sometimes it is certain breeds, and sometimes it is certain birds.

I would let some birds go. Either the victims or the bullies.

What they are telling you is this coop and flock are not working together for whatever reason.

Mrs K

 

[Orpington11Mom]

We have a very large wooden shed that we turned into a coop and a run attached to it

Sometimes smaller birds just do not work with older birds. Sometimes it is certain breeds, and sometimes it is certain birds.

I would let some birds go. Either the victims or the bullies.

What they are telling you is this coop and flock are not working together for whatever reason.

Mrs K

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it
It's the smaller birds that are also attacking the smaller birds. So I am at a loss for what to do

 

[Orpington11Mom]

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it
It's the smaller birds that are also attacking the smaller birds. So I am at a loss for what to do

They have been fine for 9 months together and all of a sudden this starts

 

[Alexandra Runner]

Do you think anything might have caused them stress? I've heard that bullying\picking could be a result of stress.

 

[McChooky]

Inadequate protein,too many treats,not enough food, too little space or lack of privacy or hiding places are a few of the most common reasons they become aggressive. A coop that provides each bird 4 sq foot and 10 in the run is usually sufficient.A photo of your set up would help.

 

[McChooky]

Sometimes smaller birds just do not work with older birds. Sometimes it is certain breeds, and sometimes it is certain birds.

I would let some birds go. Either the victims or the bullies.

What they are telling you is this coop and flock are not working together for whatever reason.

Mrs K

My hen only flock still chases the leghorns I added last spring and refuse to mate the roosters. Sometimes its just easier to maintain separate flocks or get rid of some I agree!

 

[aart]

My hen only flock still chases the leghorns I added last spring and refuse to mate the roosters.

This is a bit confusing...is it a hen only flock, or are there roosters?