Bully chicken

[Okaythen]

I have 3 hens and they all grew up together. Recently my blonde hen (the oldest) has been picking on her middle sister, the youngest does this too. This isn’t regular pecking order, the oldest goes out of her way to chase her down and bite at her face (they bit her comb off when she was younger). I chalked it up to her being jealous that her middle sister got all my attention so I started to give the oldest my attention to stop the bullying. However is seems like even that doesn’t help. The middle one isn’t sick and is healthy, I just don’t know what to do I really want to keep all of them together and not have to take any away. (The red arrows indicate where she has been hurt)

 

[DemeterAD9]

Unfortunately pecking order problems are mainly an issue when there is 1. not enough space and/or 2. not enough individuals to divide any bullying attention among the group. So a handful of birds is much more likely to develop problems than a flock of 12+.

How are they housed and how big is their pen? You can try doing things like having a larger space for them and adding some large objects to break up the line of sight. If the bully can't see the other hen then she won't attack her. Wooden pallets, cardboard boxes, really anything can work for added cover.

IMO adding more hens, assuming space and funds allow, and perhaps even adding a good rooster will help the pecking order problem. That being said some birds are just going to be jerks and those are the ones that I tend to eat. On the flip side, some birds are just going to get bullied, possibly because they are just too submissive or there could even be something wrong with them that we aren't aware of.

 

[Okaythen]

Unfortunately pecking order problems are mainly an issue when there is 1. not enough space and/or 2. not enough individuals to divide any bullying attention among the group. So a handful of birds is much more likely to develop problems than a flock of 12+.

How are they housed and how big is their pen? You can try doing things like having a larger space for them and adding some large objects to break up the line of sight. If the bully can't see the other hen then she won't attack her. Wooden pallets, cardboard boxes, really anything can work for added cover.

IMO adding more hens, assuming space and funds allow, and perhaps even adding a good rooster will help the pecking order problem. That being said some birds are just going to be jerks and those are the ones that I tend to eat. On the flip side, some birds are just going to get bullied, possibly because they are just too submissive or there could even be something wrong with them that we aren't aware of.

we aren’t able to add any more chickens as of now but we are working on building them a bigger coop. (there current coop is about 4ft by 6 1/2 feet they are all pullets, we built this coop for them when they were babies please don’t judge the size too harshly ) around what size should the coop be for the bullying to ease up?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have 3 hens and they all grew up together. Recently my blonde hen (the oldest) has been picking on her middle sister, the youngest does this too. This isn’t regular pecking order, the oldest goes out of her way to chase her down and bite at her face (they bit her comb off when she was younger). I chalked it up to her being jealous that her middle sister got all my attention so I started to give the oldest my attention to stop the bullying. However is seems like even that doesn’t help. The middle one isn’t sick and is healthy, I just don’t know what to do I really want to keep all of them together and not have to take any away. (The red arrows indicate where she has been hurt)

What breed are these hens?

The injury to the top of the beak and perhaps under the beak and on the comb are ones that are commonly seen when a bird sticks their beak through wire or rubs against wire. The beak and comb injuries look minor, so they should heal up on their own.

 

[Okaythen]

What breed are these hens?

The injury to the top of the beak and perhaps under the beak and on the comb are ones that are commonly seen when a bird sticks their beak through wire or rubs against wire. The beak and comb injuries look minor, so they should heal up on their own.

Ooh now that you mention it I put a protective netting around their free ranging spot so birds can’t get them. I’ve seen them stick their heads through the netting to try and escape. How can I solve this problem? As for the breed I’m unsure, I haven’t asked on BYC yet because some people told me they are too young.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Ooh now that you mention it I put a protective netting around their free ranging spot so birds can’t get them. I’ve seen them stick their heads through the netting to try and escape. How can I solve this problem? As for the breed I’m unsure, I haven’t asked on BYC yet because some people told me they are too young.

If spacing in fencing or netting is large, they will usually always stick their head through, especially if they think they can reach a bug or weed.
The only solution I know of it to use fencing or netting with smaller spacing/gaps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

we aren’t able to add any more chickens as of now but we are working on building them a bigger coop. (there current coop is about 4ft by 6 1/2 feet they are all pullets, we built this coop for them when they were babies please don’t judge the size too harshly ) around what size should the coop be for the bullying to ease up?

Coop or run? For 3 birds a 4 x 6.5 coop is very good. If you meant run, it's small for sure.

You will commonly see 10 sq ft per bird in run minimum mentioned here, but even with a small flock in order to fit clutter and to give you room to maneuver I'd go no smaller than a 10 x 10 (100 sq ft).

 

[Okaythen]

Coop or run? For 3 birds a 4 x 6.5 coop is very good. If you meant run, it's small for sure.

You will commonly see 10 sq ft per bird in run minimum mentioned here, but even with a small flock in order to fit clutter and to give you room to maneuver I'd go no smaller than a 10 x 10 (100 sq ft).

Okay thank you!

 

[Gezellige_Poes]

I have 3 hens and they all grew up together. Recently my blonde hen (the oldest) has been picking on her middle sister, the youngest does this too. This isn’t regular pecking order, the oldest goes out of her way to chase her down and bite at her face (they bit her comb off when she was younger). I chalked it up to her being jealous that her middle sister got all my attention so I started to give the oldest my attention to stop the bullying. However is seems like even that doesn’t help. The middle one isn’t sick and is healthy, I just don’t know what to do I really want to keep all of them together and not have to take any away. (The red arrows indicate where she has been hurt)

You could try pinless peepers on the offender. I have had great success with this. In multiple situations, the offender(s) only had to wear them a short while and issues were resolved. Good luck!