Topic of the Week - Chicken Behaviour and Flock Dynamics Part 2 - Bullying Behaviour

[Gilly6]

Hi thanks for replying
Mama hen intergrated the chicks from being one week old. They don’t go near her. She actively finds them and chases them

As for the flock dosent want her back will they ever let her back in. Cause she is miserable on her own

 

[Lisa Wood]

I broke down and bought aprons for the backs of the ones picked on most. Having enough room gives them a place to go, but the aprons keep them from losing skin and feathers while trying to find that safe place.

I know! I HAVE the aprons and I'm afraid to use them because of the heat! I am now considering one of two options. Either glue the canine rubber tips for toenails onto the Roo, or just isolate him. About half my 13 hens are denuded, but no serious injuries.
The younger group, who is the Roo and four hens, were bought from TS and fostered together by my Splash Orpington, and the interesting trivia is, none of his "sisters" or adopted mom.are denuded. It's as if he's easier on them?

 

[Lisa Wood]

Hi thanks for replying
Mama hen intergrated the chicks from being one week old. They don’t go near her. She actively finds them and chases them

As for the flock dosent want her back will they ever let her back in. Cause she is miserable on her own

 

[Lisa Wood]

Hi there! My first thought is, do you have any broodies right now? If so, I would slip chickd with the broody while she's sleeping. You may need to research, it just worked like a charm for us.
If no broodies, I would gather chicks and put them in a brooder, so they're not trying to approach Mom, running around getting hurt or eaten or anything like that.
There's two problems, the chicks and the Mama. If you take care of chicks, you're 50% there and can focus on Mama hen.

 

[Chick-n-lily]

We first had all our little week and half old pullets in a big pen in the garage set up nicely for them with lots to jump on and do etc we kept noticing one or 2 pullets with bloody tails. One morning we just sat out there with our coffee and watched and my husband noticed right off this one little golden Wyandotte pullet pecking at everyone no matter who they were. She never faced them, but she was more of a “back stabber” ha! Well we set up a little cage inside the bigger one and put her in time out for several days. Every time we tried to let her back out after a day she’d go back to her back stabbing ways. Well we left her in her little area until it was finally time to get them in the actual coop. We had no other chickens in there. Once in there we thought all the room and stuff to jump on and peck at would keep her busy. Nope! I went in and saw she was pecking again. Well, make shift cage back in the coop. after awhile once we started opening up the big run we started letting her out to play as long as she behaved. And at night we’d put her back in her own place. It got so she would come to me every morning knowing I was going to take her out to let her roam After awhile I think she figured out that if I saw her peck anyone she went right back in her time out. I am glad to say she is now fully integrated with NO pecking anyone. They are all close to 8 weeks now and we have a little cockerel in the mix and a light Brahma pullet that actually resides over even little Ronnie Roo. But no aggression or bullying from anyone anymore

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

this will probably not work for anyone but me, but I once had a rooster, who just did everything with gusto (attacking me included). I threw my lap chicken, my EE odile in a coop with him. she was a big bad bully once. now you would never know. she cries for me to pick her up and give her pets. she also had a broody problem, and could peck you so sharply that you would have bloody scars on your hands. I used to do my "scoop" method. now, she has the cutest, sweetest, gentlest peck when she is sitting on some eggs. she never turns into @Kiki 's fluffy squawking pancake, and will give up her eggs quite nicely!
my trick worked wonders. Odile is a completely changed chicken.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I see the worst behavior on the roost. I have two 25 wk old pullets (light brahma and Niederrheiner) who insist on flanking the cockerel and will peck anyone into submission who gets in their path. The cockerel often doesn’t want to be near them because he gets scolded by the brahma (? jealousy) so he moves; the bullies move, peck those in their new spot and the roost rumble continues until it is too dark to see. No major injuries so far but my younger pullets HIDE in the corners under the roost until later when things settle.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have a bachelor coop for my boy whenever he gets a hormone rage.
And that tends to fix my entire flock of 12 back into a peaceful rhythm.
I do have a bit of a problem at bed time...I'm in middle TN and it's hot and humid...my run and coop are all one big unit secured with ½"hardware cloth.
I have a porch on their coop that they like to sleep on except for 2 that actually use the roost inside the coop now.
They crawl and fuss over who is gonna sleep where and end up knocking one or two off the porch.
I do have a young flock....6 months and 3 months old with my boy being the oldest (don't ask).
Is thus behavior considered a bullying or just because they are young and wanna cuddle puddle?

 

[Ascholten]

I had one that was just a bully. With free range of about an acre, she would literally chase them all over terrified, they'd run into the coop screaming, crying, trying to crawl into the corners of the nesting box and she'd come in and tear feathers out and eat them and tear holes in them. I seen her do this twice. The second time I grabbed her and wrung her neck. I will NOT tolerate abusive bully's. I get the pecking order thing but to chase across the yard to attack a young one. NO.

Had another one who liked to be a bully, she was not THAT abusive but would go out of her way to be mean. She got a week timeout. She lived in a small cage, with food and fresh water of course, while the rest of the flock, including the new one, all lived and got along and situated in the coop. They got to free range, she got to live in the cage for a week watching them free range. Oh she was not happy and very vocal about it too! When I finally let her back out, it was like she was the new one to the flock, and the bullying stopped. From that day forward, they will nip at each other occasionally but all get along.

Recently added two young ones. ie two 12 week old birds to a flock 2 plus years old. They stood their distance for a few weeks, and slowly made their way into the flock. A few times some of the... I take that back, ONE of the older girls tried to show her ass, she promptly got it paddled. YES I lifted her tail and gave her a nice swat and then held her back and made her watch while everyone else ate, including the new girls. THEN she was allowed to eat. it only took twice then she learned not to snap at the little ones. Fast forward to about a week ago, I had problems with a few of them not wanting to go into the coop at night and I have to go round them up and put them on their roosts. (don't get me started on spoiled rotten birds ) well I went to do a butt count, and usually the 2 lil ones would sit on the edge of the nesting box while the big girls were on the perches. Well I look in and all 5 are on the roosts, all mixed in, no 3 here 2 there, so it was at that point I realized, ok, they are all ONE flock now

They will bully from time to time, they will fight from time to time, and sometimes you got some who will make it a daily thing to nip or peck the entire flock to let them know who the queen is. If the problem is severe, cull the bully IMO. Sometimes the bully can be isolated and then returned and, well, in my case, it worked.

This may sound like im totally off my rocker but...from my experiences.. Red birds, tend to be more bullysome than the other colors. We will count golden comets as 'red family' for this. More drama, more apt to bully others. the black colors, tend to be more defensive, accepting of the new girls when they are brought in. my black ostalorpe actually stepped in to protect the little ones a time or two and she's normally towards the lower end of the pecking order.

As far as roost wars, every day I look in there it seems they are in a different sleeping pattern. The biggest kerfluffle is when one of the late comers hops up and smacks into one of the ones up there already or knocks one off, who then has to hop back up, then there might be some drama but otherwise once they are on the roost, the games are over for the day.

aaron

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

I am maintaining three flocks in one area right now (I'm waiting for the babies to grow up so everyone can integrate at once). The only one who I have noticed as a possible problem is my bantam light Brahma. She was given to me because she bullied her last flock, and she is now at the bottom of the pecking order in her flock of three (bantam Buff Cochin and ISA Brown being the other two), but she likes to pick feathers. My poor ISA has a bare bottom and head. This bantam Brahma is aggressive when she comes in contact with the main flock (mostly EEs), which is actually kind of funny, since they're twice her size. Hopefully the rooster will sort it out when they're all integrated.