The most stressfull thing about chickens is...

[janelle18]

Chickens that don't get along! I have one hen that gets picked on so badly, I had in in a seperate dog kennel in my main pen and she grew all her feathers back great. I decided to move her and 3 hatch mates to a new pen with two hens and a roo last night. This morning I found her back void of all feathers again n her comb was bloody! The problem is she doesn't defend herself she just gets into a corner and takes it. So sad I moved her into isolation again but not sure what to do if she doesn't fit into any pen

 

[sumi]

Does all the other chickens peck her or do you have only one or two bullies?

 

[janelle18]

I know one is a bully to her, but the others know she is easy pickings. It's frustrating cause she had JUST grown all her feathers back . She is probably around 25 weeks or more and I haven't had an egg from her. Probably too much stress

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I would separate out the bully and give the flock a chance to establish a new pecking order with your bullied bird in the mix. Then try to reintroduce the bully again and hope that they can get a long. If not it might be time to rehome your bully or make soup.

Be sure that all of your birds are getting enough protein and that they aren't overcrowded. Those are two really big causes of bullying. But, some birds are just mean and they cause a mob mentality.

 

[janelle18]

The bully bird, whom we call scruffy, is pretty aggressive. When we moved the 4 hens into the new pen she was not afraid to take on the new hens and even was fighting with the roo. He must have fixed her wagon, because today she has been taken down a couple of notches.
Two issues with your suggestion (while i appreciate it)
-the 'bully bird' scruffy, is the only hen laying- the bullied hen hasn't layed an egg yet.
-i think if i left the bullied bird in there she would get beat up more by the other hens just because they would be attracted to the blood/ new feathers if they start growing.
I may have to try and re-home the bullied hen

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Sorry if I was unclear. You should definitely want to wait until your bird is fully healed until putting her with the flock no matter what you do. My concern would be the bully just picking a new target but you know your flock and best and can better predict their behavior.

Good luck!

 

[cafarmgirl]

The hen who is being attacked is very unlikely to start laying as long as this is going on. She is stressed, injured and afraid. If there is one bird who is an obvious instigator that would be the bird I would pull out, maybe permanently. For me it's just not worth it to have a bird like that in the flock. Pecking/aggression problems can be very hard to solve and heaven help you if she gets the whole flock into that nasty habit. Often time birds that are nasty and aggressive like that just move on to another target anyway once the initial object of their attack is removed.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

The hen who is being attacked is very unlikely to start laying as long as this is going on. She is stressed, injured and afraid. If there is one bird who is an obvious instigator that would be the bird I would pull out, maybe permanently. For me it's just not worth it to have a bird like that in the flock. Pecking/aggression problems can be very hard to solve and heaven help you if she gets the whole flock into that nasty habit. Often time birds that are nasty and aggressive like that just move on to another target anyway once the initial object of their attack is removed.

I did the same thing at the beginning of the year. I had a copper maran who layed the most lovely eggs but she was so mean. At first she was just mean to one of my bantums and I kept separating them but then she just kept getting worse and started attacking my silkie and one of my large fowl and got the leghorns to gang up on them also. Then she attacked my dog. I was over it. As soon as I processed her everyone started getting along again right away and the leghorns stopped pecking. Some chickens are SO mean!

 

[janelle18]

I did the same thing at the beginning of the year. I had a copper maran who layed the most lovely eggs but she was so mean. At first she was just mean to one of my bantums and I kept separating them but then she just kept getting worse and started attacking my silkie and one of my large fowl and got the leghorns to gang up on them also. Then she attacked my dog. I was over it. As soon as I processed her everyone started getting along again right away and the leghorns stopped pecking. Some chickens are SO mean!

Mean chickens suck!!

I wish I has saw you had pecked her this time , but I know the bully chicken uses to chase her around the other other pen , maybe the solution is to get rid of the bully, just hate getting rid of layers!!

 

[missnu01]

I got a rooster and 3 hens as a package. The rooster and 2 hens are white, while one hen is brown...I noticed that the brown hen was at the bottom of the pecking order. Well then I got a mama hen and 7 baby chicks and that brown hen is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the babies and mama hen. the rooster and his matching hens totally ignore the new flock, but the low girl on the totem apparently does not want to give up her place in 4th...she runs from the babies sometimes though...so she only thinks she is tough til another chicken runs back at her.