What the hay is going on in this coop!! (bullying)

[happyhens44]

I have 13 hens and 1 roo.

They are 10 months old, and act really good with each other, but today........

I walk in there and my Barred Rock and RIR where fighting. And the Barred rock had blood comming off her comb,and some feathers were missing off the top of her head. (they did not become Canibals.... they do not peck at blood. ) my Black red link came and broke up the fight. That one Barred rock seemed very mean and crabby today because she tried to attack my male mallard also

Not all my hens are fighting just 3-5 the others are staying out of it, doing there own thing. The rooster kind of ignored it.

 

[faykokoWV]

any chance they are fighting over a nesting box? have they been cooped up more due to weather, that can make them cranky too

 

[pontoosuc]

my birds (16, no roo) have also become cranky!!

I think they hate the snow and cold.

Now I have hanging treats, flock blocks, more boss etc.

It's helping.

 

[happyhens44]

Yeah, Maybe thats its, being cooped up, and Stressed over the weather, I reorganized the coop and they all calmed down... Ill bring them more treats and open the door tommorrow if they wanna come out in the snow, Maybe that will help?

 

[sourland]

Since several of your hens have recently gone broody, this may be a rearranging of the pecking order.

 

[tammye]

you should remove the hen with blood on her, maybe they have not gone after the blood yet, but they will and it could turn ugly really fast, you could come home from work to find a hen with a large open sore or worse.

how big is your coop? I would not have know myself to build a larger coop for my hens if you live in an area that has winter weather, I was lucky the people we bought the house from had chickens and build a very large coop which helps in the winter when they are in all the time.