what to do with bullying chicken?

[AmericanDwarfChicken]

One of my chickens has been bullying lately, pulling feathers, and drawing blood. She doesn’t let any of them eat, so i’ve put her in chicken jail with food in water. A week goes by, it does not stop. What do I do?

 

[FrostRanger]

How many birds? How old? What breeds? How big are the coop and run (pictures are helpful here)? What's their diet like?

 

[AmericanDwarfChicken]

How many birds? How old? What breeds? How big are the coop and run (pictures are helpful here)? What's their diet like?

I have 35 chickens, at least 12 are getting terrorized by this chicken. The bully is 2 years old, while most of the victims are 3 or older. I have two coops, both 6 feet tall, 6 foot wide, and 12 feet long, I feed them 19% layer food, with some cracked corn and mealworms on occasion. The bully is a mixed breed, while the victims are Golden Comets, Orpingtons, Ameraucana, and Chocolate Orpingtons. The bully has pulled most of their feathers out, and they were just finishing their molt. Their run is about 100 feet long, by 12 feet wide.

 

[Shadrach]

This excellent article may help.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-bully-chicken-victim-a-two-sided-issue.73923/

 

[Mrs. K]

Why would you keep her?

 

[Ridgerunner]

One of my chickens has been bullying lately, pulling feathers, and drawing blood. She doesn’t let any of them eat, so i’ve put her in chicken jail with food in water. A week goes by, it does not stop. What do I do?

You've done what I would have done, try to alter her behavior by isolation.

I don't keep individual chickens, I keep a flock that can have changeable members. I do change some every year, by both addition and subtraction. If I had a hen doing this kind of stuff she would have volunteered to be a subtraction.

I don't know how precious this one hen is to you. If you want you can continue to try to modify her behavior or permanently isolate her from her victims. But I value the peace of my flock more than one individual.

 

[FrostRanger]

I have 35 chickens, at least 12 are getting terrorized by this chicken. The bully is 2 years old, while most of the victims are 3 or older. I have two coops, both 6 feet tall, 6 foot wide, and 12 feet long, I feed them 19% layer food, with some cracked corn and mealworms on occasion. The bully is a mixed breed, while the victims are Golden Comets, Orpingtons, Ameraucana, and Chocolate Orpingtons. The bully has pulled most of their feathers out, and they were just finishing their molt. Their run is about 100 feet long, by 12 feet wide.

The coop is about half the size it needs to be. I would expand it regardless (run is fine) but I agree that if it's just her, I would strongly consider removing her permanently. That said if you want to keep trying, in addition to a larger coop space (which they need anyways) you can try removing her out of view of the flock for a week or 2 (if you haven't, I couldn't tell if you meant a jail in the coop or away from it) and/or pinless peepers

 

[Mrs. K]

coop is about half the size it needs to be

I think she has two coops that size.

I think that hen needs to go.

 

[AmericanDwarfChicken]

I think she has two coops that size.

I think that hen needs to go.

Yup. She’s going to the chopping block along with around 12 other older hens.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have 35 chickens, at least 12 are getting terrorized by this chicken.

I don't mind a little chicken drama from time to time, but I've culled a hen for less than this. I won't tolerate very much. These are show silkies, and aside from molting, don't need anyone beating on them or pulling their feathers out.

If you've addressed that they all have at least 4 sq feet per bird in their coop and 10-15 sq feet in their run, and you've put her in jail for a week and that didn't work, she's got something wrong with her, and you wouldn't want that to breed into any chicks anyway.