Bullying

[Mrs Brewster]

I have 2 cream legbars that are bullying one of my original bantams.

I have tried, separating them, taking out the troublemaker and leaving them to sort it themselves. They are still chasing her and picking on her, but it's the same bird all the time and the bantum has just come back into lay, so I'm worried they are going to put her off laying. :?

I'm stumped, I think my next step is to get rid of the 2 legbars, which I dont want to do, but I can't have them constantly picking on the the bantum.

Any ideas?? :|

 

[karminski]

it could be down to size difference between the birds , i would suggest getting 2 or 3 more bantams and putting them in thier own run or at least seprating them from your other 3 for a few weeks then try to mix them altogether the litle bantam is probably so scared being on her own without having another bird of the same size with her .

 

[chrismahon]

Try Bumpa beak bits on the two Legbars Mrs Brewster as a last resort. Or create more space for the Bantam to move. Like a couple of perches in the run plus two feeders and drinkers. We hate bullying and tackle the aggressors without mercy- some hens are not just happy with being top, they have to bully. It's a bad nature for no reason which we try to eliminate. Will only need to get rid of one Legbar as they are acting in pack mentality as I have seen TNN's do. Could try taking one Legbar out for a while and showing her who is actually top hen -which is you.

 

[Mrs Brewster]

Sorry I should have mentioned, I have 2 bantams, the other one gets left alone. She gives as good as she gets, but the other doesnt, who used to be top hen before the legbars arrived. But she also had a very aggressive moult this year, which made me wonder she has not had the energy to fight back and now is in this rut.

I have also put in 2 feeders so there is no fighting at meal times, which seems to be working. I have the cube and on a few occasions we have found the legbar sat at the top of the stairs. I have tried isolating one of them for a couple of days which worked for a while, but I'm back to the chasing and fighting. Seems like one circles here while the other chases and attacks her....definite pack mentality Chris.