Why would hens (in a hens only pen) attack/peck each other?

[geminihc]

My hens have been laying for about 2 months now, and all were good and peaceful but i noticed just recently one is pecking quite aggressively at one of them (this one is abit smaller also). And this smaller one is clearly scared and runs away when the larger one approaches.

Why could this happene what can I do to prevent this?

I've seen this before in male to male fighting for competition, and sadly I had to cull them. I never thought this would happen to females as well, why? what changed? All that changed was weather is maybe abit warmer now that its summer ~28C max in the pen and they are older.

 

[orloffer]

Hens do peck each other, to establish and maintain their 'pecking order.' If your hen gets too aggressive and continues to target one victim, however, you may have to separate her from the flock for a bit.
How big is your chicken run?

 

[Quailobsessed]

Hens do peck each other, to establish and maintain their 'pecking order.' If your hen gets too aggressive and continues to target one victim, however, you may have to separate her from the flock for a bit.
How big is your chicken run?

They are quails

 

[Quailobsessed]

Females will still peck each other, as @orloffer said, to maintain a pecking order. If their is no male to lead the group, a female will take that role, meaning they may have to fight it out. If they get too aggressive, you may have to do some separating.

 

[Nabiki]

How much space do they have? That's still a good question, because they are more likely to become aggressive if they don't have enough space.

Just like people when they're all quarantined in the same house...

 

[geminihc]

it's a 5ft x 3ft enclosure , 3 hens. thanks for the feedback, i've tried to seperate the aggressive ones. but it seems like 2 of the 3 always "bullies" the 3rd smaller one.

 

[orloffer]

They are quails

Eek! Yes, they are quail. Well, I have coturnix quail, too.

 

[JettyBee]

When our dominant quail died earlier in the year the remaining girls did a bit of fighting for a while to establish their new pecking order. It was a bit unpleasant so I did some web-based research and eventually came across the tip of adding a mud/sand bath to the run which I did. They all immediately stopped fighting and formed an orderly queue for mud bathing. It was like magic! No problems since. (I'm well aware of how bizarre this sounds but it really did work!)

 

[Nabiki]

It sounds like they have plenty of space. I would keep an eye on them, but if there are no injuries, they may just be sorting out their dominance.

They probably have hiding spaces, but it won't hurt to add a few more. Quail are very much "out of sight, out of mind" creatures.