Three 18 mos. hens suddenly agressive to one

[Eggin 'Em On]

Hi, I have 4 hens, all 18 months. 2 Americaunas, 1 Buff Orpington, 1 Australorp. Their living situation is great, lots of room, no pests, plenty good quality food, water, THEY ARE LIVING THE GOOD LIFE. Last week 3 went nuts and started pecking the #!$@ out of the poor Australorp (Cora). She is a sweet bird, has always been the Americauna's best friend. They pecked her head bald and bloodied her comb. The very tip of her beak is broken too. I've got the Buff (ringleader) in lockdown, hoping to knock her down the pecking order before re-uniting the flock. The 2 Americaunas also just go right for poor Cora so I have them separated too. While Cora's feathers grow in I've got her head painted purple with Wound Cote (looks gorgeous, darling) and topped off with Vicks and tea tree oil to boot. But when I try putting them in with Cora they go right for her and commence the pecking again. Cora was completely healthy and she was the one consistant egg layer before all this started. Now nobody's laying much. What happened? HOw do you move the peaceful one up the social ladder?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How big is the coop and run? What are you feeding? Generally that type of aggression is from them feeling crowded or from a protein deficiency. Once they start drawing blood it can quickly get out of control if the victim can't escaped.

 

[Eggin 'Em On]

How big is the coop and run? What are you feeding? Generally that type of aggression is from them feeling crowded or from a protein deficiency. Once they start drawing blood it can quickly get out of control if the victim can't escaped.

Thanks for the reply, Oldhenlikesdogs. Their coop is 4'x8'x7'high. Attached run is 8'x16'x6' high. They get unlimited 17% protein layer pellets and oyster shells, plus a bit of black sunflower seeds and a pinch of scratch. They also free range the garden about 4 days a week. Can't see how it is a deficiency of either protein or space. A week later, the problem persists. Yesterday I started silently squirting the evil one with a jet of water when I catch her in the act. She hates that; we'll see if it does any good.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds all okay, hopefully your behavioral modifications works out, sometimes someone needs their attitude adjusted.

 

[Eggin 'Em On]

Here we are after three more weeks and all is well. All girls back to "best friends forever". And me scratching my head as to what it was all about. I AM finding more odd feathers scattered about and when I pet them I'm finding pin feathers coming in around thier necks. So was this all a molting-related hissy fit?? And do chickens in a mild climate like coastal california not do an obvious all-at-once molt? OR...was it related to the eclipse??? The day after the eclipse is when I noticed all was back to normal in chicken land......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's good to hear that everyone has calmed down. I get angry more in the heat of summer, so maybe it had something to do with it.

All birds molts differently, some do it quickly and hard and others take their time. It seems the better the layer the quicker the molts.