PECKING

I AM NEW TO RAISING CHICKENS! I HAVE ONLY 4 AT THE TIME AND THOUGHT THINGS WERE GOING WELL...UNTIL ONE HEN STARTED BEING ATTACKED BY A BIGGER CHICKEN. THEY HAVEN'T LET THIS HEN EAT WITH THEM SINCE I BROUGHT THEM HOME BUT IS GETTING WORSE EVERYDAY. DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFRENCE THAT THE HEN THAT IS BEING ATTACKED IS A DIFFRENT BREED OF CHICKEN? I HAVE THEM IN AT NIGHT AND OUT IN DAY IF WEATHER PERMITS. I AM TRYING THE CAT , DOG FOOD FEEDING NOW, BUT AT WITS IN. ISN'T EASY TO SEPERATE BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ANYWHERE TO PUT EITHER...HELP!!!!!

Treat the hen that has been attacked with either blu-kote or pine tar, anything to cover up any blood. As long as there is blood they will continue to peck her. Make sure that they have enough space to get away from one another - you can add some branches for roosts, potted plants, (they will eat them if they can reach them!) I put some cinder blocks in my pen and fill the open holes with greenery and things that they like to eat. You can hang a head of lettuce or cabbage from something for them to peck at. You can cut a pumpkin in half for them, or a large squash. Two feeders and waterers is a good idea, also.

Increasing their protein and making sure they didn't get bored worked for me when I had this issue. I would add some vitamins and electrolytes to the water as well, to aid in the healing process.

If all this fails find the hen that is the worst offender and take her out of the pen for a day or two, that might help to adjust the pecking order.

Good luck,
Bonnie

THANKS BONNIE, I WILL TRY YOUR SUGGESTIONS, I HOPE IT WORKS, SHE WAS MY BETTER LAYER UNTIL THIS STARTED. IT IS ONE ROOSTER THAT IS PECKING HER SO BAD, SO MAYBE I WILL TRY CAGE FOR THE OLE FELLOW FOR A WHILE

57texas
Welcome to the board !

Are you actually in Texas? Tell us a little bit more about yourself and where you are located in our Where am I? Where are you?section.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=26

Does this pecking behavior also apply to ducks. My friend has some new ducklings (maybe a few months old) and the smallest "runt" is getting pecked by the biggest one. I told her I'd ask you guys for advice.

Thanks,
Cresty

Quote:
Yes, it can happen with all poultry.

57 - Is there any way you could keep the worst offender(s) in a dog crate or such like in your house for a couple of weeks? It will shove them to the bottom of the pecking order, hopefully helping the situation.

HELENA, I PUT THE HEN THAT IS BEING PECKED ON IN A SEPERATE PEN, SHOULD I PUT THE ROO IN THE PEN INSTEAD? THE HEN ACCIDENTLY GOT OUT AND THE ROO HAD HER PECKED DOWN INSTANTLY. ABOUT AT MY WITS END WITH ROO.

I raised mallards for many years and the drakes can be very aggressive to lower ranking males. I started removing the aggressive males and they would always fly back to my small pond and pen. So I started removing the lower ranking males and they never came back. They stayed on the small pond about 1 mile from my pond and pen. The attacks on a low ranking males were very aggressive.

Hi..I'm not sure if anyone tends to this forum anymore but thought I would try. I need any suggestions for bad hens...lol I bought a 6 mo. old rhode island red roo that is a big baby and I put him in the coop at night. The hens are beating him up where he won't come out of coop and stays on the roost. He makes a dash out every no and then but when they peck at him he cries and then they all go at him causing him to retreat back to the coop. I have the food and water in the coop hoping the roo will eat and drink at some point when the girls are out. I just bought 2 more hens and going to try and put him with the 2 new ones in a cage in the coop and let everyone see them then I'm thinking I will take 1 or 2 of the top bad girls out before turning them loose and hope maybe they will get situated abd then try putting the 2 back in. What does anyone think? Open to all suggestions. I never knew chickens were such a pain to have them get a long. I know the pecking order but these girls really don't like him. Thanks for any help!

Iko127 said:

Hi..I'm not sure if anyone tends to this forum anymore but thought I would try. I need any suggestions for bad hens...lol I bought a 6 mo. old rhode island red roo that is a big baby and I put him in the coop at night. The hens are beating him up where he won't come out of coop and stays on the roost. He makes a dash out every no and then but when they peck at him he cries and then they all go at him causing him to retreat back to the coop. I have the food and water in the coop hoping the roo will eat and drink at some point when the girls are out. I just bought 2 more hens and going to try and put him with the 2 new ones in a cage in the coop and let everyone see them then I'm thinking I will take 1 or 2 of the top bad girls out before turning them loose and hope maybe they will get situated abd then try putting the 2 back in. What does anyone think? Open to all suggestions. I never knew chickens were such a pain to have them get a long. I know the pecking order but these girls really don't like him. Thanks for any help!

Click to expand...

Wow this is an old thread!!!

Adding one chicken to an existing flock is fraught with risk...it's the hardest integration to attempt. If the rooster had been full grown and mature it might have worked.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.
See if any of them, or the links provided, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:


Integration of new chickens to flock.

Consider medical quarantine.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from bully birds.


Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock