Aggressive behavior in chickens bought as pullets??

[Ebz5003]

I have a couple of hens acquired as 14 week old pullets from a hatchery that are much more skittish towards people, and aggressive towards my chicks, than any of my hens which were acquired as chicks and hand-raised by us. These two hens are different breeds. They also happen to be at the bottom of the pecking order of my adult flock, though. I was just wondering if anyone had similar experiences with aggressiveness in chickens acquired as pullets rather than chicks. I have already had one culled as she was scalping my chicks, one by one. The other pullet has started aggressively pecking the chicks since the other has left, and I'm wondering if I should have this one culled as well? I just don't notice any of this aggressive behavior twards chicks from our other 15 hens which were raised by us. Is it these 2 pullets that are the problem, or is the behavior the result of being at the bottom of the adult flock pecking order?

 

[DemeterAD9]

Could be many factors that is leading to the aggression from the new pullets. For one, mixing new birds into an existing flock needs to be done slowly, this also applies to introducing chicks to older birds. When I added 21 chicks that were about 4-5 weeks old into my starter flock of 7 11 week olds I created a safe space that the chicks could get into but the larger birds could not. I used a bunch of sticks to make an excluder for a lean-to in the run. Chicks could eat and drink safely inside while the older birds could not get in. Took only a week or so for the older birds to stop going after the chicks. Now once the cockerels started misbehaving, that was another story.

Space is also a factor, how large is the run and coop? How many birds and what ages? Do you have quality food available at all times? May be a dumb question but are you certain they are pullets and not cockerels?

Generally I would expect hatchery raised pullets to be over crowed and as a result more aggressive when it comes to feeding and having elbow room. Of course that is just a guess so no clue if it's true or not.

You can try creating a safe zone for the chicks, adding more feeders, and the soft introduction of see but don't touch. If that doesn't work an all other factors check out then you may just have some mean birds. Some just can't play nice and need to be culled.

 

[Mrs. K]

Always solve for peace in the flock. Sell those girls. But measure your space, take a look how your run is set up, clutter can help. But once in a while you get birds that don’t fit in your flock. Being you have chicks, why did you buy them?

 

[Thorn_shrike]

In my experience, 14 week pullets are in a “teenage phase” and are jerks. Every one of my girls has gone through this, I’ve always noticed an uptick in mean behavior when they are getting close to the point of lay. It’s like they can tell something is changing in their bodies and it pisses them off and makes them moody and touchy. And they respond by lashing out lol.

 

[Ebz5003]

In my experience, 14 week pullets are in a “teenage phase” and are jerks. Every one of my girls has gone through this, I’ve always noticed an uptick in mean behavior when they are getting close to the point of lay. It’s like they can tell something is changing in their bodies and it pisses them off and makes them moody and touchy. And they respond by lashing out lol.

Interesting! I didn't think of that. On the other hand, they are all about 26 weeks old now. 3 of the chickens bought as pullets from this farm are already laying, are skittish around people but do not attack chicks like the pullets I was talking about. I am starting to wonder if the tractor coops/ free range environment they were raised in were way less space, and chickens learned to bully the others to get food. Or just not properly socialized somehow. Or poor genetics for temperament. They are just so wild. I am not sure the reason yet!

 

[Bawkbok]

We have always only purchased pullets as we are not yet set up with a brooder to raise our own. We've acquired pullets at various ages, between 8 weeks to 15 weeks, different birds at different times. The first three were from a local farmer - they were obviously all sickly and not well cared for, we lost all three within a 5 week period. The second group of 4 were also purchased from a local farmer, 3 of them are gone and the 4th one is still here but riddled with health issues. The most recent two came from a national hatchery and they were shipped a long way - 5 days of travel. I was a nervous wreck. They arrived alive and in good health. Aside from being freaked out by the travel and sudden change of circumstances, they actually acclimated surprisingly well to the single pullet we had, who of course, being a couple of months older, showed the younger ones that she was the boss. These two pullets have turned out to be the healthiest we've had thus far. They are calm and have pleasant demeanors. So to summarize, the pullets we bought from local farmers were sickly and have all perished due to various reasons (1 suddenly within days, 2 from Marek's, 1 found dead in the am for no apparent reason, the others unknown). The national hatchery provides a guarantee to arrive alive, local farmers don't care about anything once you depart their company and they have your money. When I contacted the farmers due to the various issues encountered, neither farmer offered a replacement, refund or expressed any compassion - one even blamed me!! I will only deal with national hatcheries going forward. Some of those are better than others. I prefer to call and speak with them to see how they treat potential customers on the phone, if they care to answer questions, offer suggestions, etc. Some are better with customer care and service and others suck. To me, this equates to how they care about their business and perhaps, the quality of care they show their birds, defending their reputation.
The aggression you are seeing might be because they are overwhelmed by your 15 hens and don't feel safe so it could be defensive behavior. I wouldn't blame it only on the fact they are hatchery pullets. Integration for me requires a lot of time for the first week with them to ensure all remains peaceful aside from the corrective pecks or vocals. Hoping some information here is helpful for you.