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

[Ascholten]

As hens age, dominance can change. Has anyone noticed this at all, I mean like actually seen it or studied it? Does it just happen one day, a squabble and poof there's a new leader or does this turn into an entire re determining the whole pecking order and another few weeks of cluck drama?

Aaron

 

[TimonHens]

But I was curious if anyone else had similar experience w/ chicks who just don't seem to mature like they should? And how did you handle that?

I am having a similar problem and it is giving me fit. I started with a bantam surprise set that ended up very heavy on cockerels and followed up within the month with an equal number of standard female chicks.
However, the most personable pullet is a silver duckwing phoenix who looks very unique. Suddenly as the standards approached 20 weeks, bedtime bullying started. Which is problematic because the victim needs the cozy and it was all of the standards at once. 10-1.
So far I have sold off 4 standard pullets and used the proceeds to place 2 of the surviving boys at a sanctuary. Mornings are quieter but her confidence is dropping. I make sure to give her private snack time, but currently I just end up in the coop at sunset after everyone gets coaxed out of the crabapple trying to help her identify someone settled enough to snuggle between.
I feel like I need to radically rework the perch and board before they start laying or it gets colder but I'm not sure if it will really help the issue.

 

[Chinachik]

I read some articles on how to prevent bullying in the flock. The one that I chose to use was to make only one roosting bar. Our girls are about 5 months old. Two Delawares and a Dominique. The Dominique will get a little pecky. If there is anything flying around the faces of the others she seems to want to peck at them. Not mean just wanting to get that speck. I have put my new chicks in the big coop and let them out of their dog crate. My big girls don’t seem aggressive towards them. Not sure if I can get them all on one roost bar when they are bigger. 4 chicks and one roo. The big girls like to sleep outside in the run on a high bar. With colder weather coming not sure if they will want to go in the coop at night. Hoping that the same level roost bar will work with all eight. Current roost bar. I hope to make a single bar like the one in the last picture.

 

[WoDia]

I have a Golden Sebright Bantam rooster that is the meanest little beast I’ve EVER encountered in my 20+ years of chicken-keeping. He’s so adorable though that I just can’t bring myself to dislike him.… just his behavior. On multiple occasions, he’s found himself serving time in the ‘chicken clink’ due to terrorizing other chickens. I use the look-but-can’t-touch cage until he transforms back into his temporary little angel self. Then I allow him back with the others.

 

[MamakathyRN]

I have two Araucana hens, I Rhode Island Red and one Leghorn. The leghorn is picked on. I think there's a pecking order with the Araucana just inherently being more aggressive. I now feed the two separately than the other two. The white leghorn is missing her chest feathers (which are now growing back in). I actually removed the two Araucanas for a time but recently got 2 coyotes frequenting the creek behind my home so for all hen safety, I put them all in the same run and coup at night.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I free range them, so they have their space. Earlier, I would put the bully hen in the “jail” coop. The jail coop held the big mean rooster. So he got his girls, and after a month or so, the hen had settled down

 

[Tnate]

I never had obvious or really extreme bullying with the last flock I had. This new flock...oy!
I just noticed today a wayndotte chasing and pecking my biggest girl..a buckeye. The Buckeye (Big Boo) is docile and sweet...which I believe is why the Wayndotte (Piper) zeros in on her.
I did grab Piper today and walk around with her. If I keep seeing her bullying, I will jail her.
I know they are working flickorder out (they are 22 wks), which is fine. Terrorizing is not allowed or your out!
Pic of Big Boo

 

[BDutch]

This reaction is about how I got a bully toward chicks, after she was being bullied and traumatised herself. She’s not a bully for other hens.

I never bought chicks but had broodies hatching and caring. The bullying started twice with chicks /young pullets after the broody/broodies stopped caring.

First time this happened was when I had a broody with 2 cockerels and one pullet. I had 2 separate ads on our craigslist (marketplace) for the two cockerels. I cant keep roosters, but one could stay until next spring when he starts to rise and shine (crow) too early in the morning. The cockerels must have been 12 - 14 weeks old when a men came with his two sons and asked if they could have them both. And I stupidly said yes.
The 3 chicks had nicely integrated until the cockerels had gone. But the one pullet had a bad time after they had gone. She (Janice) was bullied at roosting time and wasn’t allowed to roost with the flock. It was not one agressor but a few who did this. Janice turned into a scared and flighty hen, and preferred to roost apart from the rest of the flock for several years. Over a year ago she finally roosted with the flock.

Last year Janice and another hen got broody and I gave them both hatchery in two nest-boxes aside from each other. The eggs were marked so I could take away the extra eggs. A third broody joined. And the did very well, too well. 9 out of 11 eggs hatched and turned into 4 young cockerels and 5 pullets.
After the chicks were weaned they were no longer welcome in the coop to roost. Janice was the one of the nastiest hen if it came to bullying in the evening. The youngsters had a branche in the run where they slept. I naively thought the hens saw them as a invasion because they outnumbered my hens. And this was the reason the got expelled from the roosts in the coop.

I had ads on Marketplace for some time, but so-far people where only interested in pullets and I only wanted to sell one if they took a cockerel for free too.
Finally someone bought most of them. Was happy with the cockerels and took two more as he really wanted to help me out. I had two pullets left. But they still were not allowed inside to roost. I had learned from the situation with Janice that its not helping to put the young pullets in between the other hens during the night. So I made a small coop for them in the run. Less safe but a nice solution it seemed. After a few weeks my eldest hen started to join the two pullets. And during the day she hang out with them once in a while too. But then, one white pullet disappeared. And I was glad the other pullet had the company of my eldest hen. After a week, Janice joined them and then bullied the pullet at roosting time. She was not allowed to roost in the small coop in the run too and started to roost on a branch in the second run alone (without cover). I had put her in the coop with the other 4 hens after dark and was thinking how to resolve this new problem, when she disappeared too.

Finally, I think I made a mistake to give away all cockerels at this young age. They probably would gave protected the pullets against the nasty behaviour of the adult hens. And having this one hen that is traumatised at a young ages is not a nice hen in the flock. I shouldn’t have let her being a broody. The was too protective and aggressive towards me when she had chicks. The 2 pullets I kept learned from her to be frightened for me.

Next year I want to buy some hatchery eggs and I try to figure out whats the best strategy to follow. I see two options: Letting one of my friendly hens sit. My sweet oldest hen Ini mini, or Kraai or Black who are friendly to me too.
Or buy a small incubator and raise the chicks myself so they can grow up in thrust if a human and keep them separated until they are old enough in the second run.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Many times, especially with first time owners, is what is enough room for chicks, is not enough room for full size birds. As the birds mature, they need more space, and can become quite aggressive.

Wishing birds would just be nice, really does not work. I always solve for the peace of the flock. Sometimes I have found it is the victim and sometimes it is the bully, but aggressive behavior will dramatically decrease your pleasure in the birds, so you need to do something about it.

Measure your space - not enough, then you need to make bigger or reduce the flock. Try pulling out the victim... how does the flock act, is the tension gone? If not, try pulling out the bully... wait a day or two and see. Sometimes I am not sure if it is which bird that is pulled, or simply that you have reduced the number of birds, but sometimes it is a particular bird that is not fitting into your flock, for whatever reason. Sometimes cull both the victim and the bully.

Once I had coons reduce my numbers, within days I noticed a tremendous decrease in the tension of the flock. I had not really even been aware of the tension before, but once it was gone, it was very noticeable. I am now very aware of tension in the flock. Get rid of it, and the most efficient way is to get rid of the birds involved. Count heads, and know that this is a better fit for your set up.

I know many of you hate to cull, but I am telling you a happy flock is worth it.

Mrs K

I still dont know how I would go about culling a chicken I've realized tho, that I should not rely on others to do it. My circus, my monkeys (errr, chickens)

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I use fold-up dog crates too. I have them in 2 sizes and they work great!

Same