Absolutely bloody viscous fights between my 2 hens. What to do?

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Take bird(s) of interest to a table and gentle toss bird up about a foot and allow it to flutter to soften landing. Then pick up and repeat in rapid succession until bird begins to drop wings when standing and pants. Both are methods of dumping heat but you should also see the birds reaction time increase as oxygen deficit kicks in. If surface is rough enough you can also push bird side to side making so it runs also wearing it out. Being exhausted will dampen motivation to fight. Be careful to not allow too much time before introducing birds as they can get their energy back fairly quickly.

Penned birds can acclimate to procedure and may start to like it which does not make a lot of sense to me unless they feel better later. Some that I did this with more regularly in the past seemed to make a game of checking me out for eats. The actual activity may also promote testosterone production, even in females, which may make acclimated birds more full of themselves when in a rested state. Working muscle mass in at least some species, including humans, promotes testosterone production.
 
chickens really said:
What do you feed these Chickens?...When you say brown, do you mean Redish layers?...Nutrition plays a huge part in Chicken behaviour...Could be a simple fix?....
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They have a continuous supply of regular layer pallets and get treats of organic scratch & peck grains in the morning and evening and occasional veggies. In the moment they both get their own portions but both of them are eyeing the other ones ration even their own is on front of them.
 
azygous said:
While your injured hen was recovering, the other one declared herself top hen. Now, the two have reunited, so to speak, and they have a serious disagreement as to which should be the boss of the other one. This is normal.

Usually, chickens work through this sort of thing very quickly, but occasionally, neither one is agreeable to backing down. So the disagreement continues.

By preventing them from settling the matter in chicken terms, you are actually prolonging the conflict. I know it's uncomfortable to watch, and it looks like they're hurting each other, but it would be an extremely rare thing if they hurt each other badly enough to kill one of them.

Try to let them work it out. You will know if things have gone too far if you see one literally standing on the other one, hammering away at her head. If that happens, then you need to break it up.
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One more question, what do I do with the injured foot now? It can hardly put any weight on it and is limping after the last fight. Should I wait for it to heal or let them fight again anyway. It would bring the injured one in a disadvantage right away and maybe it submits quicker. But it seems so unfair!!!
 
Inesg9 said:
They have a continuous supply of regular layer pallets and get treats of organic scratch & peck grains in the morning and evening and occasional veggies. In the moment they both get their own portions but both of them are eyeing the other ones ration even their own is on front of them.
Click to expand...
Breed?.....Many red layers require higher protein that layer feed lacks....
 
Inesg9 said:
They have a continuous supply of regular layer pallets and get treats of organic scratch & peck grains in the morning and evening and occasional veggies. In the moment they both get their own portions but both of them are eyeing the other ones ration even their own is on front of them.
Click to expand...
What is the protein percentage of the layer feed you are suing?
Might cut out the scratch grains and give something with more protein, especially animal protein instead.

Inesg9 said:
One more question, what do I do with the injured foot now? It can hardly put any weight on it and is limping after the last fight. Should I wait for it to heal or let them fight again anyway. It would bring the injured one in a disadvantage right away and maybe it submits quicker. But it seems so unfair!!!
Click to expand...
I isolate birds with injured legs to 'force' resting it. You might swap each bird in and out of isolate crate until injured leg heals up.

I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray. Put crate right in coop.

Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in.

If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.
 

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