pecking order

Integrating birds into an established flock causes mayhem in the pecking order. Whether you’re adding one lonely hen, or combining whole flocks, an addition to your flock brings changes to your chickens lives. I’ve added hens and have had hens leave. Hens who are added seem to start from the...

Hi everyone! Thanks for the suggestions and advice from my last posts. Chelsea is doing very well! She’s regained her full appetite and is very mobile in my house! She likes to chase my rabbit around too. (Poor lil guy.) Anyway, it is now very cold where we live, tonight is the first temp drop...

I have “4” 12 week old Easter egger chicks. They are sweet as ever. We have gotten 6 more chickens 3 roosters we are going to sell, and “3” 6 month old hens we are gonna keep. However the chicks are terrified of the hens and roosters. What should I do? The hens step on the chicks and the chicks...

Hello!! I have two hens, a Swedish Flower hen and a barred rock hen that are just gonna be too big to keep with my little birds. I have a little spot in my coop I could keep them in the morning and at night that could hopefully get them used to my other hens and the other big hens to them. I...

Hi, I have a lovely male button I hatched a few months ago. He had one female as a pair and used to call me to eat with him. But since I introduced another female from another flock while she recovers from starvation, he keeps pecking me when I "pecked" at the feed with my finger. It's like he...

Hi I have a flock of 6 and recently found out my one silkie chicken is a rooster. The rest were able to be sexed as chicks and are all hens. However I have neighbors and I am new to the neighborhood and am doing my best to be a good neighbor but he crows so early in the morning. Do handle it I...

i was supposed to pick up two Speckled Sussex chicks to add to my Buff Orpington’s today. But one of the chicks got one eye peck out before I got her so I took home one Ameraucana and one Speckled Sussex, what should the pecking order be in my flock?

I think that our chickens are starting the pecking order. When I usually play with my chickens they seem normal and look fine. But the past week or so there combs have been bleeding. Also after they free range they last one into the pen gets pecked at and stood up to from the others. Is there...

We have had our 3 girls (pullets 16 weeks) for three weeks now, an Amrock, a Leghorn and a Sussex. They all came from the same flock. Initially the Leghorn took the role at the top of the pecking order, then the Sussex leaving the poor Amrock at the bottom of the order. No aggressive actions...

How to protect your lowest hen on the pecking order from older hens? I noticed the older hens are territorial in their roosting and feeding, protecting their stuff from the addition of new hens to the flock. I had four original flock barred rock hens, now just two, have two middle barred rock...

Hello all! This is my first time owning chickens, and my first time posting. I have 8 3-week chicks, and we're getting into some issues with the EE. S/he has been pecking the feathers of the others, so much that my poor Delaware can't seem to grow her tail. I'm worried about her tail as it is...

Hi, I’m looking for some advice on reintegrating some rescue hens and my not-exactly healthy Cockerel Sammy (he will be 1 year in November). Background info: since December I have been treating, abducting, and rehousing the chickens on the farm I live on. Their conditions are not good, with...

We have a hen that is at the bottom of the pecking order out of a flock of 5 hens. She often hangs out with me instead of the flock when I'm outside. Lately she has started roosting up in a tree instead of in the coop, should I be concerned? She is about 8 ft off the ground and hard to see, i...

Is there any cases of full grown roosters and hens where the rooster is not at the top of the pecking order (in other words being pecked on by the hens)?

I have two 5 year old hens, and I recently got two 4 month old pullets to add to my flock. It has been 2 weeks and the old hens peck the pullets aggressively anytime they see them. No severe injuries yet, but they’re pulling plenty of feathers and the pullets hide in fear anytime they’re all...

I have a chicken named Loongu (fluffy black Silkie in my profile picture), and she's pretty weird. One of her oddest quirks is how she's treated by other chickens. She absolutely never gets into dominance fights, but she gets out of the way of higher ranked chickens, and no chicken ever even...

So long story short, I had a nice flock of 5 hens. 3 Buffs and 2 cinnamon queens (sex link). My girls are about 2 years old. My partner and I split up and couldn't agree on who got the chickens so we split them. I took my favorite Buff and Queen. The Queen was attacked by a dog when she was...

I have 2 pullets right now who are about 4 1/2 weeks of age. They've been jumping at each other and flapping their wings for quite a while, and I've read that this is normal. We also have 2 pullets at about 2 1/2 weeks that are in a combined brooder with them. Everything has gone relatively...

Hello all! I live in the city where we are allowed two backyard chickens. I had two since they were born, who loved each other dearly. One of them was killed and I set out to find a replacement companion as she was quite distraught. From here on out I’ll refer to my remaining bird as Sweetie...

One of our barred rocks injured her foot. We separated her so she could heal because the other chickens were beating up on her. She is all healed now and we are trying to introduce her back to the flock. we left them free range in the backyard one day and when we came back her come was all...