We have 4 hens on an acre and we suspect our smallest hen is getting picked on by the others. All hens are different species. They free roam the fenced property and the three largest clique together while the smallest typically stays behind. We love our hens and the eggs they provide us. What can we do, if anything, to help our picked on hen?
by GasolineTrampoline
3 Comments
I’d say she needs some friends that are her size.
Chickens are dinosaurs, they are tremendously cruel animals and they do not have any type of empathy, I have seen them dismember others simply for the sake of it, the only thing you can do is separate them, do not have any doubts that the one that is now being bullied will do exactly the same when it has the opportunity with another that is worse, the strategy is that when a predator comes it will eat the weakest one and to do this they make sure that there is always one that is an easy target, it is their survival strategy and it has worked for thousands of years but obviously it is very different from the way of socializing that pack animals like humans or dogs have, in short you can let her live her chicken life and not intervene or if her way of living is very distressing to you, separate them into smaller and smaller groups because they will always bully another person in each of the groups.
Well there are a couple things you can do but they might not work.
Pecking order is a very real thing. And it’s something you can’t really control. So that’s why I start by saying it might not work.
You can take the biggest bully out of the equation by pulling her and separating her for a few days. Like 7-10. Keep her in a crate away from everyone so they can’t even hear her. The pecking order will reset and someone else will become head hen. But the new head could be kinder or even worse. And there’s not guarantee that when you reintroduce (which you would do by putting her on the roost after dark so they wake up together) the one you took away, she will fight to be the new leader again. But none of that means your pictured hen won’t be picked on anymore. I really only have done this once and it’s was mostly successful but I did it because the head hen was drawing blood regularly. I wouldn’t recommend this avenue unless desperate.
Personally I find that hens are drawn to other hens that have the same or similar colored feathers. So I would get more hens lol seems silly but that really is what I would do. Get her a buddy. And with a flock that small they tend to do better in even numbers. So I would add two more hens. One her color/breed and another that is similar to anybody else is the flock to try to avoid this again.
If getting more hens is not possible. I would try and find a human buddy with chickens and maybe do a swap. Take the pictured hen out and get someone else new but again, a new hen may become the bully/bullied. And would require you to quarantine her and introduce her slowly. Which is a whole other conversation and knowledge based skill set.
OR the best solution would be to get a cockerel. That’s their job. Protection and peace. But four hens is not a lot of hens for a cock. So you’d have to weigh that out too.
She’s probably ok. If she’s acting normal and not bleeding, having the mean hens there is enough to keep her from being lonely. Understanding the ways of chickens really isn’t human territory. So you could just leave everything as is and not interrupt their hierarchy.
Those are all the possible options I can think of