Controlling Coop light from the Omlet app

[alison+59]

I have 4 pekin bantams who free range in my large garden. Two hens were bought 3 years ago and two were introduced last summer. The new hens were not quite point of lay and I kept them separately and introduced them over a four week period. After 5 weeks the two new hens had abandoned their own coop and went home each night to the same coop as the old hens. They have lived together without obvious problems for over 6 months.

 

One of the younger hens started laying in the autumn and kept going over the winter. The second young hen came into lay after Christmas and both old hens are now laying too. About a month ago one of my old hens started to be fierce with one of the youngsters and she lost some feathersaround her head. I used anti peck and kept an eye on them. Last weekend i looked out of the window in time to see the older hen back the younger one into the pond and peck at her until she submerged. Poor thing had stopped struggling by the time I reached her and was completely under water. fortunately some meal worms, a box in the warm and a hairdrier were sufficient to revive her! As soon as I put her back into the garden the older hen started pecking her again. I separated her for a few hours and then let her out. All four hens walked round the garden with no problem. I went out to see them and the older hen started pecking really viciously at the younger hen, who just crouched down and let it all happen.

 

I have split the pairs of hens and put the younger pair into a coop away from the older pair. I would like this to be a short term split.

 

Please does anyone know why one hen suddenly started to bully another? (Lavender the bully! is second in the pecking order and poor Rosie is at least as big as she is). All 4 hens look in good condition. Does the time of year make a difference? Do you think I will be able to put them together later in the year?

[Tweety]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Is your other older hen ok with the new girls? If so, I would try removing the aggressive hen from the equation and keeping her separate for a couple of days. Others on the forum have had similar problems, and the general advice is removal of the aggressor which will have the effect of changing her position in the pecking order and, hopefully, result in her being less aggressive when you reintroduce her.

Good luck - let us know how it goes.

[coco]

I would seperate the aggressive hen and leave her on her own for a week or so, hopefully this will stpo the bullying. One of my hens Lola is a bully and persitant feather pecker, she has been in the sin bin for about 4 weeks now but is just as bad when I let her out. She lives in the WIR with the others but in her own little house and run. TBH it doesn't seem to bother her. You could also try spraying the agreesive hen with a water pistol every time she misbehaves.

[Patricia W]

We have had this, and tried everything. Mine are Polish Bantams. In all other cases, I've found that a bumpa bit is the ultimate solution that works, but bantams are too small for them. In our case, we've actually had to separate the bullied one permanently and she now lives with another chook in a separate eglu.

 

But it's early days in your case, so the first thing I would do as someone suggests is separate the bully for a few days so she goes down the pecking order. Good luck.

[juliepops148]

Hi all

Just searching for advice on bullying and found this thread. I have 3 hybrids, in a 12ft by 12 ft WIR, with a wooden house and smaller run inside that.

One of the hens has been ill and I returned her to the farm where I got her - she was away for two weeks and then returned to me as supposedly healthy. I saw no difference in her so took all three to vets - and treated all with Tylan and all some strong mite drops from the vet.

The sickest one was always lowest in pecking order, and I've seen a bit of pecking at feedtimes, but today I've been really shocked by some really agressive bullying and pecking by the top (and biggest) hen. I haven't got a seperate house or run to put the bully in as has been suggested here, unless I brought her into the garage?

 

Any ideas from forumers would be appreciated,

Thanks

Julie

[chicken bark]

Hi all

Just searching for advice on bullying and found this thread. I have 3 hybrids, in a 12ft by 12 ft WIR, with a wooden house and smaller run inside that.

One of the hens has been ill and I returned her to the farm where I got her - she was away for two weeks and then returned to me as supposedly healthy. I saw no difference in her so took all three to vets - and treated all with Tylan and all some strong mite drops from the vet.

The sickest one was always lowest in pecking order, and I've seen a bit of pecking at feedtimes, but today I've been really shocked by some really agressive bullying and pecking by the top (and biggest) hen. I haven't got a seperate house or run to put the bully in as has been suggested here, unless I brought her into the garage?

 

Any ideas from forumers would be appreciated,

Thanks

Julie

I think the biggest problem you have is that effectively you are introducing one hen into the group (as she has been away for two weeks). You will need to beg/borrow a rabbit hutch/cat carrier etc to put her in and also put one of your more docile hens in with her. Once they have made a bond then you can reintroduce the pair into the main group with your Top Hen.

I'd try that first before knocking you top hen down the pecking order a peg or two.

 

 

Alison - I agree with the approach others have suggested. Good luck.

[juliepops148]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Everything has settled down now - the thing which seemed to do the trick was anti-peck spray - only needed one application. The chicken who was getting picked on is now looking much healthier too I think, so she's obviously less stressed. Just got a slightly pale comb to deal with which I'm hoping to solve with some poultry spice and some greens in addition to pellets.