Pullet Getting Picked On

[canesisters]

Hey Mary, if you can determine if it was one bird that started it, then removing THAT bird for a week or so might help. When she comes back she will have to work her way back through the pecking order. Sometimes that is enough to adjust a bully's attitude.
Just another option to worry over...

eta: My SS were at the bottom of the order for over a year. Then they got moved to jointly raise some chicks (they had shared the nest and were doing the 'mommy' thing together). When they came back they started kicking chiken butt from one end of the run to the other!! They are now the top hens - and make sure EVERYONE knows it too.

 

[ninnymary]

Canesisters, I saw both peck her while I was waiting for my husband to come and help me. Don't know who started it as she was fine one day then bleeding the next. I'm going to keep her separated for a week and then I just might pull the more agressive of the two out for a week. Thanks for that suggestion.

Mary

 

[journey11]

I would bet more likely it is boredom from their close quarters. I have more trouble with pecking and feather pulling in the winter when the snow keeps them stuck in the coop.

Hanging cabbage, broccoli, bundles of greens just nearly out of reach works really well to give them something to do. I've tried the flock blocks and didn't like them. They ate the whole thing in a couple of days!

Try tossing in lots of grass clippings, straw, leaves, compostables, etc. into their run (and you can scatter your BOSS, mealworms or other treats in there too.) It gives them hours of fun scratching through stuff like that.

Once she's healed up and if they have something to distract/keep them busy, although she'll probably still be low-hen on the totem pole, they may not pick as hard. (The sight of blood gets them excited to pick more.) Most picking happens on the roost at night I've found too. Sometimes it helps to have a couple different levels/heights of roost poles so they can get away from each other.

Good luck!

 

[ninnymary]

Well yesterday I tried to integrate her with the other 2 pullets. They both started pecking her quite a bit. I even put on a chicken saddle to protect her but they were going for her wings and everywhere else. I am so disappointed. I think she will have to be kept separate for another 2 months until I integrate all 3 with the others. But I'm really worried that it won't work and I'm not sure what I will be able to do. She is the speckle sussex that I have been wanting for a long time.

I did add grit, B.O.S.S.and a peach to try to distract them but it didn't work.

My initial plan was to get 6 chicks in late summer and start all over with a new flock. But then I wouldn't have eggs for 4 months. I saw the speckle sussex and made an impulse buy and got 3 chicks thinking that I would still have my hens to lay while my chicks were growing. Why wasn't I strong enough to wait?

Mary

 

[canesisters]

Awwww I'm so sorry it's not working out. Have you considered replacing the 2 'bullies' with a couple others? Maybe some that are a little bit younger than the sussex? Are there any swaps near you? There is almost always one here on Saturdays - if you're willing to drive a little.
Have you been on BYC yet? If you find the thread for your area under "Where am I, Where are you" you might be able to work out a trade with someone.
Best of luck.

 

[Nyboy]

Sorry mary it is hard to be strong when you see something you want bad.

 

[baymule]

Chickens are so hateful to each other. Bad chickens! Maybe take the two bullies out and put her in the coop to see what happens. Are the two that picking on her new or old hens?

 

[so lucky]

Mary, are all three of the new girls speckled Sussex, or only the picked-on one? How old are they now? Do they have all their adult feathers? I'm just wondering if you put all the chickens together now, the change would be so confusing to the two bullies, that they would stop. I know you know that pecking order changes pretty often. And sometimes it doesn't take much for things to get tossed in the air again. The girl that used to be on the bottom is now on top at my hen house.
My experience is that the more you show favor to one chicken, the more it gets bullied. Like the other girls gang up on the "pet." That sounds crazy, I know.
Please consider, too, that even tho you may have allowed the suggested amount of room per bird, it may not be enough for your girls when you do get them integrated. One way you can make more room is to divide the height of their yard, making an area that is double decked, with a ladder or limbs for them to use to get up on it. A chicken doesn't need 6 feet of height to be happy.
I hope you can get this worked out. I really hate to see a chicken get picked on, too. I know it's natural, but....I don't like bullies.

 

[ninnymary]

so lucky, the speckle sussex is the one getting pecked on. The two bullies are a silver laced wyndotte and a red sex link. That is a great idea about using a ladder to divide the coop. I will do that when I integrate the pullets with the hens.

Bay, right now the 2 month old pullets are separated from my hens. I have a small section that was added to the coop for chicks or pullets that are stil on chick starter feed. I have separated a section of this part for the speckle sussex that is getting picked on.

I am really worried that I may not be able to keep the sussex. I will keep her separated for another 2 months until I get all of them integrated. Maybe the ladder idea will give her a place to go.

Mary

 

[baymule]

I have a rather large roost in my coop. It is 5' wide with 6 rails of 2x4's and 5' tall, slanted and placed against the wall. I find that when I integrate new chickens in the coop, they take refuge on the roost during the day and let the bully girls rule the coop, feed and water. They sneak down during the day or late in the evening when the big girls displace them on the roost. "Hiding" on the roost seems to give them somewhere to go while the big girls strut their superiority.