Freeloading Chickens
In the Brooder
Hi all. I have a small flock of six chickens, four 20-month-olds (three Rhode Island Reds and one Americana who were all chicks together), and two eight-month-old Americanas (who we got the day they hatched, and they've been together their whole life). The two littles have been bullied by the big girls, not horribly or concerningly, but consistently, ever since we integrated the two groups, and the two littles are constantly trying to see which one of them is lower on the pecking order. We put a second night-time perch in the chicken house when we integrated the two groups and for a long time, only the two littles slept on it. More recently, it has become a source of much fascination for the big girls and there is much ridiculosity at night with nearly all of the girls jumping onto both perches to figure out where they want to sleep. Often, one or more of the big girls ends up sleeping on the little girl's perch, which I figure is probably fine as long as no one bothers anyone else. But I've been finding one of the littles, Goldie, sleeping in one of the laying boxes rather than on the perch; I always make sure that she is on a perch before I lock up, but when I go back to check on them, or when I peek in there in the morning, she's in the laying box--and always the first out of the house. When the two littles lived in the house as babies, they often snuggled together in a box under their perch at night so I'm thinking that she might find it comforting to sleep in a box, but I'm also wondering if someone is pestering, or bullying, her so much that she goes to sleep in the laying box in order to get away from them.
My question is, is it detrimental for her to do this? And if so, what can I do to help?
Thank you.
My question is, is it detrimental for her to do this? And if so, what can I do to help?
Thank you.