Chicken bullying another - help!

[BroadwayFlock]

Hi BYC!

Two weeks ago, we lost one of our 4 hens (2 cinnamon queens, 2 Australorps).

Since that time, Judy (Black Australorp) has started pecking at Carol (Cinnamon Queen) only at night, when she enters the coop, driving Carol back out.

The 3 girls get along during their daily free range time. No bullying behaviors at all. We only see this occurring at night as they enter the coop before the auto door closes (sundown).

Judy will either block the coop door, keeping Carol from entering OR peck at Carol once she has entered, causing Carol to leave the coop.

As a side note, we’re also seeing our other Australorp, Liza, starting to block the coop entrance from Carol as well.

How can we correct this behavior? It only started a couple of weeks ago when we lost our fourth hen and don’t want this to become a permanent issue.

If you recommend separating - please tell me how to do it without stressing the girls out. I’m one stressed chicken tender

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

First, welcome to BYC, thanks for joining!

Second: what are the dimensions of your coop, in feet? (L x W)?

Third, how old are your hens?

And finally, how did you lose your hen? Predator attack? What kind? Did it happen at night? Details, please.

 

[BroadwayFlock]

First, welcome to BYC, thanks for joining!

Second: what are the dimensions of your coop, in feet? (L x W)?

Third, how old are your hens?

And finally, how did you lose your hen? Predator attack? What kind? Did it happen at night? Details, please.

Thank you for the welcome! So happy to be here Apologies in advance for the novel - just want to answer your questions thoroughly.

Our coop is an Omlet Cube (fits 6 hens). They have a good amount of space between them at night when asleep (I’ll post photos with measurements and what they look like when sleeping). When we had the 4 girls, we never noticed this happening.

As for our lost hen, Bob Fosse, we lost her due to respiratory distress. We have a camera in their coop that I check nightly after their auto door closes. One night, about 10 minutes after their door shut, I checked the camera and saw she was having breathing issues. I went outside and brought her into the house. After no improvement, I rushed her to an emergency vet. After 4 hours of treatment, we unfortunately lost her. The necropsy showed no known cause of death and they are suspecting it was an aneurysm.

Our hens were hatched in early April 2024 and are just shy of a year old.

Thank you so much again for your help

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So the square footage is 9 sq. ft., measuring at the ground. The general rule of thumb for large fowl chickens to be comfortable is 4 sq ft per hen. Your Eglu actually has room for only two hens, using that formula. Pecking and bullying are common behaviors among chickens that feel crowded. I'm afraid that's at the heart of the problem. I'm not sure I have any good suggestion for correcting the problem, but others might!

 

[BroadwayFlock]

So the square footage is 9 sq. ft., measuring at the ground. The general rule of thumb for large fowl chickens to be comfortable is 4 sq ft per hen. Your Eglu actually has room for only two hens, using that formula. Pecking and bullying are common behaviors among chickens that feel crowded. I'm afraid that's at the heart of the problem. I'm not sure I have any good suggestion for correcting the problem, but others might!

Thank you!! I had thought of that but I guess I just figured if it was spacial, we would have seen the behavior with 4 hens. Not just after losing one.

Their run is 9ftx9ft with an acre to free range. As for the coop, definitely something for me to look into though; thank you so much for the feedback/help

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just wish I had a good answer for you! It doesn't make sense to me, either, that your one hen would suddenly start bullying now that she has MORE room!

We had a problem with bullying once when we integrated some littles into the older flock. One Miss Priss decided she should have one whole roost to herself and wouldn't share! So we stuck her in a dog crate on the bottom of the 8x10 coop for 3 nights. But ... she went back to bullying, so back in the crate she went. She got the 3-night treatment three times before she had an attitude adjustment and decided she could share after all. Don't know if or how you could adapt that treatment to your situation but that's all I've got!