[Tricky]

i have five pol that arrived more or less the same size, in the last month i have noticed one is being picked on by another. now i know about pecking orders but the one that is being bullied is now half the size of the others, it is often not allowed near the food at all.
my questions are:
can/how do i stop the bullying?
shall i seperate them for a while?
if so, do i contain the bully or the bullied?

[ferretkeeper]

Hi tricky, I have a little experience in this area so I hope I can give you a few ideas.

Unfortunately you can't really do much about the bullying, hens can be really nasty and I have spent a fortune at the vets getting a chicken better after it was bullied so much it lost an eye. She is absolutely fine now, better than fine, but my guilt led me to spend over 5 times her cost in putting her right! And she gets on great with all the other hens now, in fact I can introduce new hens and chicks and re-introduce my broody with her chicks with very few confrontations. I must admit I didn't see the need for a cockerel at first but I have one now for breeding and even though he's a bit of an old woman at times he does seem to keep the girls in check! That might be worth considering, 5 hens isn't too bad for one boy.

Otherwise you could try more feeding/drinking stations so everyone has plenty of choice but make sure your little hen is still able to eat enough before getting pushed aside, which is kind of inevitable.

 Or try taking the little one away from the others, but only to feed, if she is separated for any length of time you have all the problems of re-introducing her to the flock and establishing the pecking order all over again. 

If you do keep her apart to eat I would add some nice things to her food to boost her back up, when I want to spoil my lot they have warm porridge or weetabix with live yoghurt on top, and leftover pasta esp spaghetti which they think is worms lol!

 I also put cider vinegar, garlic, poultry spice, citrus extract, nutri drops in their food or water as and when - get a stockpile of remedies in, I got it all from happy chicks but I've seen a lot of these in my local animal feed/country stores.

While you're at it get some of the violet spray, if chickens see red they peck it more, so if you spray it purple it sort of disguises it, plus it has some anti bacterial properties as well I think. I prefer to have everything to hand after getting caught out last year, and I used this recently when one of a brood of 10 chicks was getting picked on. the evil little siblings were hanging onto her comb, it got very red and swollen so I made it purple, it did the trick!

good luck with your hens, you'll soon have the hang of it!

Best wishes,
Helen

[shetan]

i've never really had this problem but other, more experienced, members have mentioned taking the bully away for some time and allowing the other hens to re-establish the pecking order so that when the bully returns, she will be at the bottom. i'm not sure if this will work in your situation but hopefully someone will be along to explain the process better. something to consider maybe?

best of luck.

[Lewjam]

As a start make sure there are enough feeding stations so that it can get to food.

If you just have one it may struggle, so get another so it has an option!

Is it the same breed as the others? - Not had a smaller breed mixed in with larger breeds as this will naturally be a target? 

[Casey76]

Sorry you are having a problem with bullying, unfortunately it is the chickens nature to pick on the smallest and weakest.  There are several things you can do to help minimise it though.

1) have more feeding stations than you have chickens, and space them out so that one chicken can't guard two feeders.

2) ensure you have enough space per chicken (at least 2m square per chicken)

3) ensure there are lots of enrichments in the chicken area to prevent boredom

4) ensure that there are places that a chicken can hide away from the others

Be prepared with some Purple Spray (gential violet) - available from horse tack shops/feed merchants - to quickly hide any redness or blood, if drawn.

If the bullying persists, remove the bully.  Either keep her in a separate pen for a few weeks, or, if the current pen is big enough corner off a section to keep her separated so she loses her place in the pecking order.

Good luck

[joyfull]

you could also buy beak clips which will prevent the bully from griping any feathers 

[Tricky]

Thank you all for your prompt replies.
I thought about getting a cockerel and now you have mentioned it I think I will.
They live in a 5’ square shed between dusk and dawn then they have a 30’ x 10’ outside run, there are two water and two food stations.
They are all the same breed so I think its just a case of survival of the fittest.
I have now removed the bully into a separate coop for a while with food and water, but the other one is on special treats to boost size.

[joyfull]

be careful with getting a cockerel - he may well use the small bullied one as his favourite girl - simply because she is less able to defend herself - they can end up very bald and if he is a lot bigger than her he can injure her

[Tricky]

good point. i think i'll try and fatten her up before i introduce a cockerel or the other bird back.

[Dominic]

That does sound very strange, theres loads of room, so that shouldnt be causing fights.
I can only advise add more feeding stations, and perhaps scatter some feed as well.

[cejx]

move the bully out of site for a few days - when she is introduced back to the others she should be bottom of the pecking order.  Have feeders and drinkers dotted all over the place.  There is a good chance that when the bully is removed, another will take her place, so be prepared for musical chickens for a while.  good luck.  purple spray will be your friend.

[hardygeranium]

We got some really horrible spray from the vet, which we douse the new girls/bullied girl in.  Apparently it not only smells foul (sticks to your hands too!) but it tastes nasty too.  Stockholm tar does the same thing and so does anti-pecking spray.  As a last resort, we remove the bully and give her a touch of solitary confinement.

The only time this didn't work was when we introduced 3 19 week girls (two Faverolles and one Cream Legbar).  The Legbar inserted in no problem but poor Fifi and Lulu never did get in and when I went in one morning and found that despite everything, both girls had bleeding legs where their feathers had been pulled out and pecked beards, we called a halt and gave them a home of their own.   

We have tried using multiple feeders but we find that all 10 birds want to feed exactly the same time from the same feeder and preferably nobble the stuff that the bird on either side is trying to eat!

[Tricky]

We got some really horrible spray from the vet, which we douse the new girls/bullied girl in.  Apparently it not only smells foul (sticks to your hands too!) but it tastes nasty too.  Stockholm tar does the same thing and so does anti-pecking spray.  As a last resort, we remove the bully and give her a touch of solitary confinement.

We have tried using multiple feeders but we find that all 10 birds want to feed exactly the same time from the same feeder and preferably nobble the stuff that the bird on either side is trying to eat!

do you know what the spray from the vet was called?
i have also removed the bully for a while, and as you say, regardless of how many feeders, they all want to feed at the same time from the same place!

[joyfull]

was it ukadex?