Aggression

[Heritage Farmstead]

It's been a long time since I've been on BYC, but I knew it was the place to come for an answer! I have 6 Red Stars, 1 BLK. Australorpe and 1 Buff Orpington that are all 2 years old. This spring I bought 6 EE's that have been kept seperate from my older ladies in a huge galvanized trough (like they keep them in at the feed store during chick days). This is the same thing I did 2 yrs ago with the others. I never had any issues. A couple weeks ago I noticed that 2 of them had bare spots on their backs like they were being picked at/on. I kept an eye on them and one seemed to be drying up and getting better while the other was getting worse. Last night I went out to find the worse one laying dead and nearly picked bald

This is the first casualty I've experienced and am saddened.
I read a lot about EEs before getting any and never once read that they could be aggressive..? Has anything similar ever happened to any of you? I thought maybe they were outgrowing their space and perhaps thats why, but my RSs were in there much longer and never had a problem. Sorry this is lengthy but.... today I thought I would take them out, they are now 8wks old and let them run with my older ladies and acclimate. My concern is that if this is not somewhat of a 'normal' behavioral chicken thing that happens and they are sickly or diseased (which I do not believe, they all are gorgeous and eat/drink just fine) I don't want to expose them to my healthy older flock.
Looking for some help - thank you all!

Brenda Lee
Heritage Farmstead

 

[scratch'n'peck]

It sounds like they ganged up on that chick perhaps because they are drawn to blood, which is pretty normal unfortunately. That's why a lot of folks recommend using blue kote in the horse section of the farm store, it hides the the red of the wound while disinfecting. Even mild mannered breeds can be drawn into pecking wounds. Since you didn't se any other signs of disease, I don't think you need to be worried about gradually introducing them to the adults, just be sure the adults don't start pecking at the chicks.

 

[Heritage Farmstead]

Thank you! I did know they are drawn to blood, or anything reddish for that matter - including my toes when they're polished!

My thought is to keep the two that have small bare spots seperated from all of them for now and let the other 3 out to free range with the older 8. Then we'll see what happens tonight when they all come back in to roost.... eeeks, this part always concerns me!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

That sounds like a good idea. Introducing groups can be tricky but it should all work out.

 

[teach1rusl]

EEs are generally a mild mannered breed, although I've read some comments about them being flighty. I think because they are mixed with different things, that maybe what they are mixed with has a role to play??? But even among the same breeds, different flocks act differently, ya know - kind of like how different kids act so different, yet come from the same parents and raised basically the same.
So maybe your older birds just handled the confinement better when they were little... Sorry that one of the little ones was killed. Hope their transition to the big coop goes well...