[Junie]

I will wait a few more weeks to see if my hens beak bits fall off.  I hope so  - did not like taking that one off.  I bought mine from ebay, they were very reasonable .

[cejx]

hi Jackie,

this is the info I had from the BHWT.  In the end, my bullied girl went to live on a farm elsewhere,  Now there are 5, but I've a horrible feeling things are starting all over again having brought another hen in this morning to clean up the blood, spray her purple and soak her in anti peck!  Bully separation will possibly begin again next week!

email 1.Dear Claire,

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

It is quite common to see bullying problems when re-homing. Your hens will have only just met each other and have to sort out the pecking order between them. Whilst this usually involves a few playground scraps before its all sorted out sometimes hens will pick on the other birds.

It is quite important not to remove the bullied hen from the group, as tempting as this often is. Whenever you keep a birds away from the group, they are removed from the pecking order, so whenever you try and reintroduce her, she will automatically go in at the bottom of the pecking order and is highly likely to be bullied. In this instance, as you have already removed the bullied bird, you will need to reintroduce her to the group before you can deal with the bully. When it is dark and you have put the other birds to bed and they have all settled down, this is when you should reintroduce the bullied bird back in to the group. It is likely she will be bullied again, however unless she is injured, it is important to leave her in there.

If the bully is pecking and pulling feathers out then it is more serious and if she draws blood it is important to get the injured bird out straight away, as chickens are attracted to the colour red, and once one bird is bleeding she will get further picked on and things can turn quite nasty. Once the injured hen has completely healed she can be returned to the group, however she will now be at the bottom of the pecking order and may be bullied again.

There is generally one main bully, even if other birds join in. The only way to stop bullying is to take the bully out and keep her on her own for about 48 hours. For this purpose a spare coop or large cardboard box is fine, though this is not a punishment, just a way to re-establish the pecking order. The other two will re arrange the pecking order and when you reintroduce her, at night when the others have gone to roost, the bully will be at the bottom of the pecking order and peace should be restored! If another bird then becomes the bully, the same treatment applies and after a few 'musical hens', hopefully all will be sorted out.

More feeding and watering stations are a good idea, which will hopefully help the lower ranking birds exist slightly happier while all the problems are sorted out. I have attached a poultry care pack, which I hope will also prove useful.

I hope this answers your query. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Sarah Bee BSc (Hons)
BHWT Careline

email 2. Dear Claire,
 
The bully should be completely separate from the other birds for at least 48 hours. She should not be near the other hens, in view of them of otherwise – complete isolation is needed, unfortunately. She should also not be put with the other birds to roost, or to have a run around in the day, she needs to be completely separate, in order for the structure of the pecking order has time to change.
 
Sometimes the smallest hens can have the hardest time, though more often than not, it is the smallest and baldest hen doing the bullying, one presumes as a consequence of being bullied in the battery farm. Chickens are similar to people in that some hens will be confident, while other hens will be less so. all it would take is for the little hens to gain confidence and start to stand up for herself, which will hopefully come in time. At present she regards the upper layer of the run as being safe, as she does when she is with you.
 
One other useful trick is to get hold of a childrens water pistol, and give the bullies a short, sharp shock with the water when they go in for the attack.
 
The best thing to feed all of the hens, is the Ex-Bat Crumb or Pellets, as you are doing. The corn and meal worms should be fed in moderation, in the afternoon, though I am sure this is something you are already aware of. The crumb will provided boosted levels of nutrients to help the hens get back on track, though I am afraid confidence will only develop in time.
 
I hope this information helps you to allows your chickens to sort themselves out.
 
Kind regards,
 
Sarah

[joyfull]

until you get the beak clips (and not many shops sell them) I would just seperate the bully. Keep her seperate for several days (even a week) then hopefully she will lose her status. Sadly some chickens are just plain evil and don't learn.

wasn't that what I said?

[jackieand glenn]

hi claire, thanks for sending that on, ive read it and it appears ive done most of it correct, BUT..... we gave the bully away, on a farm where she can roam free. tried to put the pecked one back in with the other 3 on monday, she was all healed and no blood. you guessed it another one started on her in the hour we left them, shes again covered in blood and in her own little pad again. she is small compeared to the other 2  so i guess she is always going to have to stay where she is now. we need to get another 2 in the better weather but i really do not want to go through this again. anymore thoughs or help would be great. hope you all have a very happy new year. take care xxxx

[orchardlady]

You mention that you would like to get a couple of more hens once the better weather arrives. If you do decide to make sure that your current birds are really well adjusted to each other before introducing new birds and that any pecking issues are overcome first.

OL

[ferretkeeper]

I had a similar problem, having rescued 4 ex batts last May, by August I was hooked and decided to get some more hens - I acquired a Light Sussex cockerel and so got 3 hens to go with him for meat birds, I also got 2 silkies to be my broodies and 2 araucanas for their blue eggs.

I decided to collect the chickens before their house was finished, but I had temporary housing set up. However made a really obvious mistake, the ex batts were in a large enough house so thinking there was a bit of room in there for 2 more hens I put the araucanas in. the other 6 lived together in a separate run of the same size. Those were all fine, apart from a little bit of squabbling and the silkies getting put to the bottom of the pecking order.

But the araucanas were subjected to some nasty bullying, to the point where they slept on the roof of the house while the other 4 went indoors. I should have rearranged everything sooner but being a beginner I made the mistake of giving the araucanas special treatment, like shutting the others out of the run so they could eat and drink. There was never any blood spilt though, they just avoided the big hens.

But it ended with the black araucana having her eye pecked so badly it had to be taken out - I actually couldn't tell at first, a real big scab formed over the wound, but again no visible blood. It cost me a small fortune at the vet but I owed it to her, she was still in really good form, eating and scratching around so I couldn't cull her. The vets had never done the op before, mainly because no-one in their right mind would spend 5x the cost of a bird getting it better, but she turned out brilliantly, the vet was so pleased with her.

Now all the flock live together in a gaden shed I've converted, the small hen house is available and the araucanas have the choice of going into either. They do still get the odd peck around the feeder or drinker but I have put out multiple feeding stations so they can just move somewhere else.

In hindsight I should have kept all the newbies together, even if it meant a bit less space for them, but I was thinking maths not chickens.

I did learn though and when the time came for full integration there were more newbies than the original 4 so they settled their differences quickly, and now they all free range together all day.

But if/when I bring more birds in I would have a larger number of new birds than the existing flock so they have the advantage. This might not be practical for everyone, effectively doubling your flock when you just want a couple of extras.

I would also strongly recommend to quarantine the new birds for a while. Even though I went to a breeder I met at the smallholding show I ended up with a bout of respiratory infection spreading through the flock and lice/mites that I don't think the ex batts had before. Goes to show their relative intensive conditions aren't great compared to us back yard lot.

One thing I am going to try soon as the weather picks up, one of the broody silkies has hatched a chick for me, and because it's been so cold they've been in a heated outbuilding, completely separate from the flock outdoors, so they are at risk of bullying, esp as she's so protective of her baby. 

When the time comes I'm going to put a small self contained house and run inside the big chicken enclosure so they can all see each other but not get to them. I've been reading up and this seems to be the best way to introduce new members to the flock, I'll have to suck it and see to decide when they actually all go together.

It's a massive learning curve, the drama used to stress me esp as my hubby works away all the time, but now I take it in my stride. Oh and I check this website A LOT! Thanks everybody 

[jackieand glenn]

hi all,some really interesting stories and advice on here, thanks to everyone for there advice. well my up date, after trying to put the pecked chichen back in with the other 2 last weekend, she is back on her own again, after an hour they turned on her again, more blood. it upsets me so shes better off on her own. shes in the same run, just fenced a part off, but she seems happier as laying everyday. the other 2 dont peck each other so at the mo its all settled down. once weather better we are going to extend the run and temp fence a piece off and get 3 more chickens, not sure but i would rather get x battery hens, trouble is its miles away from me to collect. is there anyone on this site from suffolk to advise me???. hope you all have a very happy new year and trouble free chickens. all the best. jackiexxx[