Chickens acting aggressive, bickering, pecking lately...

[JimBobBillyBoy]

Hi folks,

Over the last week and a half or so, I have witnessed new behavior from our hens. We've had our hens for nearly 2 years now, and I have never seen them act like this before.

For whatever reason, they have been being mean and kind of aggressive towards each other lately. I noticed a couple of them bickering back and forth end of last week, and they would end up pecking at each other. It's like they would take turns, one would start pecking round the coop like normal, then the other would try and sneak up behind her, jump on her, hold her down, and peck at the back of her head. After a few minutes, the other one would start doing it back to the previous one. One is a Maran, the other is a Rhode Island Red.

I stood and watched for awhile until I decided which one seemed to be the overly aggressive one, then took her and held her down for a minute to try and let her know I am the dominant one, and she should stop acting out. After doing this, things seemed to go back to normal for the rest of the day and the following day.

Since then, they're all starting to act out and be aggressive towards one another. None of them are drawing blood, and it doesn't seem like they're trying to kill each other or anything, it's more like they're just having a bad day and bitching and pecking at each other.

So I thought about it for awhile and decided to move their foraging grounds to a new spot with fresh grass and a slightly larger area. After doing this, they seemed to be back to normal for a couple of days. BUT, when I went out to collect eggs tonight in the coop, it was like all hell had broke loose!!! Bickering, bitching, pecking, fighting over food, none of this makes sense!

They have plenty of pellets in the coop, they have clean water, they have oyster shells, and gravel. I've moved them to a new area of the yard with fresh grass, but now I am out of ideas!

Does anyone have any ideas what I might try next? Our hens have always gotten along just fine. There's the Maran who's always been kind of the boss of the group, and we have a Rhode Island Red who's always been kind of the sissy of the group, but I have never seen the entire group getting angry with each other. I'm lost.

We have 2 Marans, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 ISA Browns, and 6 Leghorns. We raised them by hand since they were baby chic's, and they are family, and they have always gotten along.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
JimBob

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any changes at all? New food, new schedule, a bird gone broody or recovering from illness or injury?

Any photos of your set up?

 

[JimBobBillyBoy]

We haven't changed anything. Other than the weather being insane, two days like summer, two or three days of insane freezing cold, two days warm again, back and forth, other than that, nothing that I can think of.

 

[aart]

Any photos of your set up?

How big is your set up, in feet by feet?

 

[Mrs. K]

There is kind of a fallacy that birds raised together will become life long friends, and that is just not true. I usually see posts like this when what enough space for chicks, is not enough space for hens at about 5-8 months, but you have had your birds 2 years.

A lot depends on what your run looks like, does it have hideouts, roosts, multiple feed bowls strategically placed?

But something has changed, or they have perceived a problem. Always solve for peace in the flock. Try something else...clutter, pin less peepers or removing some of the birds in your flock. Wishing won't work, you are going to have to change something.

Mrs K

 

[HeritageFan]

I don’t have chickens but I do have other fowl, and agree with @Mrs. K
I’d start with setting up some new perches, perhaps hanging a cabbage (or 2 halves of a cabbage) for them, just working on giving them more interesting things to fuss with than one another.

If they continue to be so aggressive....
you are probably going to need to decide
- if it is a space issue, even though that is less likely based on their age ....but it’s not impossible....
- do you sell or cull a few, or make a separate pen?
- you mentioned breed combinations- how many of those (if any) are Roos?

Has egg production changed with the new stress?

Are you sure the girl who is the most subject to the bullying is healthy?
Check her feet, check her for lice/ mites, consider taking a stool sample in for examination of possible.
If there is something wrong with her, even if she doesn’t appear “off” at a glance, the other girls might be trying to bully/ push her out?

Just brainstorming...

 

[homesteading101]

I've had this problem with Rhode island reds alot, I just built another coop for the aggressive ones.