[french bob]

Hi all,

I have been keeping chickens for about 18 months. I started with 4. One just vanished one day and one I had to put down because she became very ill. I think it was mareks (spelling). 

About 3 months ago I bought 2 more chooks. When they were put together I had the usual argy bargy but after a few days all was well.

About 10 days a go I noticed that one of the original chooks was attacking one of the new birds. The attacks were so vicious that the attacked bird was having neck feathers torn out. Even when the chooks had settled for the night the attacks continued.

For the last 4 days the newer bird has refused to leave the pen. I lifted her out yesterday, I wasn’t sure if she was eating. The effect was amazing she tried to get away from me as soon as she saw her attacker. The attacker just threw her to the ground and started to tear out her neck feathers, she just ran back to the coop and hid under a staging. There she has stayed since. 

I know that chooks have their own rules but this has just come out of the blue, the other 2 chickens take no part in any of the fighting. I don’t think I can do anything but if anyone has any advice I would be grateful.

[bantam novice]

You could try removing bully chicken for a day or two.  She will then have to work her own way back into the pecking order. Keep the purple spray ready in case you see raw or blooming patches on the bullied chicken. It can be horrible and distressing to watch. 

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Junie]

Beak bits would help prevent damage to the bird and getting hold of feathers, but would not stop the attacking.  I would hold this as a last resort action though, if the keeping apert for a while does not work.

[storme37]

i think you can get a spray that makes the victim taste so bad nobody want to peck her.

[french bob]

Thanks for the advice.

I am keeping the aggressor in a seperate pen and have lifted the other chook out to the garden, but after a few minutes she goes back to the coop. I will just keep them seperated for a couple of days and see what happens.

The normal egg laying from all 4 has stopped, so i'm not a happy bunny either.

Boy and I thought being a parent to kids was complicated 

[bantam novice]

It should sort itself out in a few days.  Good luck and keep us posted 

[Dominic]

I let mine "square up", and scrap a bit, but if the winner chases the loser, they get hosepiped.

Seems to work.
Theres a bit of an arguement at night over who sleeps where, but a quick bang on the coop solves that, and theres no real violence to it.

[french bob]

Thanks for the replies.

The poor chook that is being attacked now has had most of her comb pecked off, but by one of the other chooks as I have kept the first aggressor apart from the rest.

I now lift her out of the coop so at least she will eat, almost straight away the attacks begin. She offers a posture of non aggression ie she bows her head and holds her wings out and turns her back on the attacker, but to no avail. I really have to just let them get on with it. She just looks so battered and withdrawn.

Too much responsiblity. 

[matolli]

We are new to keeping chickens and when one of our 4 layers went broody we were stuck what to do; we bought 3 eggs and put them under her - that didin't work so we bought 3 chicks and that work great, speckledy got back to good health.
We had seperated speckledy from the over three, speckledy and the chicks in one part of the run, the other three layers in a seperate run but over the last week we have tried to amalgamate them.  Speckledy was eager to join her old friends but the old friends had different ideas. Speckledy's life has been a misery, we expected some problems but not the extent of viciousness I found yesterday morning.  Speckledy had been attacked by all 3 layers, there was blood all over the place and blood on each of the layers. We seperated them immediately.

I have ordered anti pecking bits in the hope that will overcome the problem otherwise the 3 layers will have to be found new homes.

[Helenaj]

Thanks for the replies.

The poor chook that is being attacked now has had most of her comb pecked off, but by one of the other chooks as I have kept the first aggressor apart from the rest.

Could the bullied hen be ill? Chooks are quite unforgiving with illness and will mercilessly attack any hen that shows the least sign of weakness through being ill. Unfortunately, hens will not show signs of illness (to us) that are noticeable until very late stage, but there may be something apparent to your hens that is not yet obvious to you and they are going for it.

[themagicaltoad1]

It's certainly odd that you've had them for 3 months and the attacks only started 10 days ago. I'd be inclined to think along the same lines as Helenaj, there must be something going on that you're not yet aware of. You might have to separate the picked on hen but then if she isn't ill, or is ill and recovers, you will have a big problem integrating her again.

[henamoured]

I had a merciless bully a while back and tried everything I could think of. Finally I fitted a beak bit and, as others have said, it didn't stop the bully attacking but rendered her harmless. After a few weeks the others just ignored her attacking behaviour because they realised she wasn't a serious threat - all beak and no peck!

The beak bits look a bit drastic but they do work. I'd really recommend them as a last resort. Trouble with leaving the situation for too long is that the victim gets so stressed and often a bit underweight that they do indeed then become ill.