4 months and hens still not accepting 2 new hens

[Jenjens]

Hello,

I am just wondering if there will ever be peace in my flock. I adopted 2 hens 4 months ago, I followed all of the protocols. I am putting out more food and water stations, but they are still getting bullied. I have one hen, who is relentless, and will chase them from the feeding stations. Just to be mean. NOpe, she's not hungry, just a jerk....and she happens to be my favorite girl, so it has been hard.

They do eat, but barely. One is such a sweet girl, she has taken my heart. But, it makes me so sad, because she just sits in a corner all by herself. Her friend that she came with is usually with her, but she takes a long time laying an egg.

I feel like I did a disservice to these girls, when they had a farm, and now they just sit there, scared to eat, scared to drink....They never knew what treats were, so they do get excited when they seem me come out with snacks (they looked at blueberries like they were aliens)

I can't separate them, because, what is the point at this time, and they need access to the coop to lay.

Is this ever going to end? I want happy chickens, not stressed ones, and it breaks my heart with these 2 groups and no one wants to sleep next to them at night, and it's cold! It's like high school over here. I just need some advice other than separating them or removing them, because it's already too late.... I love them.

 

[JedJackson]

Sustained aggression can sometimes be the product of too little space. Each large fowl chicken should have 4 square feet of coop space and 10 square feet of run space, at a minimum.

If that is not it, consider setting up separate feed/water stations for the newbies, far apart from the other. It's important they get enough food and water.

You might set up branches and things to hide behind in the coop so the new ladies can get out of harm's way.

Beyond that, there is not much to be done, as far as I can see. You said you don't want to separate them, but if you have a cage or old rabbit hutch, you might put your mean hen in there (inside the coop) for a while and give the newbies a break.

Hopefully this will work out in time. I wish you good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are all laying so it should not be a difference in maturity issue.

I am putting out more food and water stations
...
They do eat, but barely.

How far apart. Those stations need to be widely separated, preferably even out of line of sight from each other.

How much overall room do you have in the coop and outside. In feet or meters. Photos to show how they are set up can be helpful. I agree, lack of space can intensify aggression issues.

I have one hen, who is relentless, and will chase them from the feeding stations. Just to be mean.

Isolating the aggressor for several days from the flock is a good suggestion. I've had some success (and some failures) by using isolation. See how they behave with the aggressor gone. When you reintroduce her she may change her behaviors.

When I have issues like this I try to solve for the overall peace of the entire flock, not in favor of one specific chicken. I don't keep pets, I keep a flock that has changeable members over time. I appreciate what you said about loving them so I'll consider that in my suggestions.

One option is to continue as it is as long as one does not get injured. It's possible they will work it out or at least none gets seriously injured. Look at how much overall room you have and ways to increase that or increase the quality of what room you have. By quality I'm talking about clutter, putting things in that they can hide under, behind, or over. Things that can break line of sight. Isolating the aggressor for a while would be a good thing to try.

Option two would be to build separate facilities and split the the flock between them. Two coops and two runs. If they are permanently separated she can't bully that one.

I can't see any other real options that doesn't involve of getting rid of one of them and you sort of say that is not an option. Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

Add clutter to their space. Boxes, roosts, ladders, pallets up on blocks, pallet leaned against a wall, feed station that are placed so that a bird eating at one station CANNOT see a bird eating at another.

If a bird can be seen by every other bird while in the coop or run 100% of the time, you need more clutter. Allowing birds to get out of sight of each other can really help.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

I had them separated for a week between fences. I know it should have been longer, but I had no nesting boxes on the other side of the fence, so I had to babysit with them all together as well when I could tell they needed to lay eggs. They all are out together now. They usually stick together (the 2 new girls) and keep to themselves. 7 birds total. No run. They have access to the entire backyard. Coop is probably about 9X10? I am sorry cannot provide pictures. By the time I leave for work it is still dark and when I get home it is dark. ( I have a long commute) I will have to wait until the weekend.

When they were separated they didn't eat much either. They were from an organic farm. They were fed organic crumble, but it looked like powder honestly. They have access to FF and crumbles and pellets right now.

Not sure we ever saw any pics?