Poorly chicken

[ThreeChooks]

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all well.

 

I haven’t posted for a while and all is/was going well with my chooks, but I’ve noticed a bit of bullying recently.

 

Bit of background:

I acquired two young Pekin bantam hens back in September, then a little strange Silkie hen in around November time. The two Pekin bantams would hang around together with the silkie either joining in or just off doing her own thing.

 

Fast forward a few months, they all started laying eggs in January, nicely sharing the nest box in the Go Up. All three of them have also been broody at some point but I have managed to snap them out of it. However recently over the past few days the more dominant Pekin bantam has been bullying and chasing away her friend who she has been with since the beginning. It’s a bit of chasing and pecking, so now the less dominant bantam is wary of going anywhere near her and if she is near you can hear nervous sounding “bok boks” from her. Bully hen is also really screechy and whiny and they’ve been good for months, not really making too much noise. Yesterday I picked up bully/screechy hen and put her in a carrier as the annoying “sqwaaaaaark sqwaaaaaark” was quite grating and annoying and I doubt the neighbours wanted to hear that all afternoon as she screamed around the garden.
 

The silkie is pretty oblivious to all of this and gets left alone and doesn’t mind hanging out with either of them. Nothing has changed in their routine, they get the run of the garden most of the day now that it’s light, treats in hanging feeders etc. They’re coming up to a year old, does that change anything?

 

sorry for the long post, any advice would be gratefully recieved!

[mullethunter]

It’s most likely hormonal I’d say. Perhaps she’s working up to being broody again - how long has this been going on?

[The Dogmother]

A good splosh of water will soon unlearn her squawking habit.

The Silkie doesn't have a friend which looks like her (that's the problem) they tend to gravitate towards a hen which looks similar. I'd get her a couple of friends. I recently answered the same question on another online page, so apologies if that was you and I am repeating myself.