Aggressive Hen and Pinless Peepers

[Sdfgarcia]

I need help! We have 3 of our 4 original hens, who are 2 years and 3 months old. We brought home 4 new day old chicks at the end of February this year and had them in the garage until around mid-May. We set the Bitties up a small coop next to our grown up chicken run, where everyone could see everyone else. We let them live like that for a couple of weeks, then we let the chicks have access to our fancy tractor system, where they were separated from our free range girls by only a soft net.

We merged the two groups after a few weeks of them hanging out together with the Bitties in their tractors. One of our older girls, Ginger, who is a Production Red, has been aggressive with my family and our dogs. She chases my teenager and has more than once bitten me and my husband, and now she is being very territorial and aggressive with the new girls.

Everyone is about the same size, and they are more than familiar with one another. Ginger has chased the babes and plucked feathers on the run, and the babes are terrified of her. We put Pinless Peepers on her early this week. They keep her from biting, but she is still very aggressively guarding the coop, food, and roost. She will chase the babes, but doesn’t bite them.

I have picked her up and carted her around the yard in front of all the others. I have backed her up to the point she shows submission. I am keeping her in the baby coop at night, because the babes won’t come into the big coop if she is in there.

We have a total of 7 birds. There is 8 feet of roost inside the coop, and another 10 feet or so outside in the run. They have free range of our large backyard all day. I don’t believe this is a space issue.

Will the Pinless Peepers eventually to settle her agressin? Should we cut our losses with her now, or Is her behavior likely to improve? I have two babes squatting, and I do not want to keep them from laying. I also can’t have my 4 new ones living in terror of an old bitchy broad who isn’t even laying right now. I need help.

 

[black_cat]

It will calm down eventually. I'd recommend having multiple food and water sources, as hens can be protective of resources. Have the extra ones out of sight from the original ones. Add lots of stuff for the littles to go in, under, on, and behind, to keep them out of sight. Also maybe add a spot with a small enough opening that only the littles can get in. Possibly have some food and water in there. If you rearrange your run, that will help because it will be new to everyone, not just the littles. Good luck!

 

[Kedi]

Sounds very familiar to our current situation - I don't have any advice but good luck!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ginger sounds like a pain. How attached are you to her? If you're not truly attached to her, you might want to consider rehoming her (with full disclosure of her aggression) for peace in the flock. Hens stand a better chance of finding a home (instead of being dinner) since they can at least provide eggs.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Is her behavior likely to improve?

I had a similar experience with my second Flock. But no Pinless Peepers were used.
Both Flocks have their own coop and pen.

So the disturbance occurred if they met while free ranging, which is 1 hour before sunset daily.

One Golden Comet hen in my original Flock would chase a Pullet if they came within 10 feet of her.
This went on for about a year and only stopped after she was the only hen left from her Flock.
She slowly stopped chasing, allowing the Pullets to get closer.
4 to 6 weeks after losing her last Flock mate she was foraging with the Pullets. .
Myself if I only had one coop, I would have culled her. She has since passed.
I have five 10 week olds and three 22 months old, each in their own coop and pen.
With 2 coops I don't have to integrate. GC

 

[aart]

Will the Pinless Peepers eventually to settle her agressin? Should we cut our losses with her now, or Is her behavior likely to improve? I have two babes squatting, and I do not want to keep them from laying. I also can’t have my 4 new ones living in terror of an old bitchy broad who isn’t even laying right now. I need help.

You could try the peepers.....or get rid of her.
You could also try crating her for most the day, might take her down a notch,
and would at least give the pullets a break.

 

[CB3fish]

I need help! We have 3 of our 4 original hens, who are 2 years and 3 months old. We brought home 4 new day old chicks at the end of February this year and had them in the garage until around mid-May. We set the Bitties up a small coop next to our grown up chicken run, where everyone could see everyone else. We let them live like that for a couple of weeks, then we let the chicks have access to our fancy tractor system, where they were separated from our free range girls by only a soft net.

We merged the two groups after a few weeks of them hanging out together with the Bitties in their tractors. One of our older girls, Ginger, who is a Production Red, has been aggressive with my family and our dogs. She chases my teenager and has more than once bitten me and my husband, and now she is being very territorial and aggressive with the new girls.

Everyone is about the same size, and they are more than familiar with one another. Ginger has chased the babes and plucked feathers on the run, and the babes are terrified of her. We put Pinless Peepers on her early this week. They keep her from biting, but she is still very aggressively guarding the coop, food, and roost. She will chase the babes, but doesn’t bite them.

I have picked her up and carted her around the yard in front of all the others. I have backed her up to the point she shows submission. I am keeping her in the baby coop at night, because the babes won’t come into the big coop if she is in there.

We have a total of 7 birds. There is 8 feet of roost inside the coop, and another 10 feet or so outside in the run. They have free range of our large backyard all day. I don’t believe this is a space issue.

Will the Pinless Peepers eventually to settle her agressin? Should we cut our losses with her now, or Is her behavior likely to improve? I have two babes squatting, and I do not want to keep them from laying. I also can’t have my 4 new ones living in terror of an old bitchy broad who isn’t even laying right now. I need help.

I have had a problem with a hen as well. I had to get rid of her because nothing worked, chickens seem to be single minded i.e. driven by one mind.

 

[Megonies]

I need help! We have 3 of our 4 original hens, who are 2 years and 3 months old. We brought home 4 new day old chicks at the end of February this year and had them in the garage until around mid-May. We set the Bitties up a small coop next to our grown up chicken run, where everyone could see everyone else. We let them live like that for a couple of weeks, then we let the chicks have access to our fancy tractor system, where they were separated from our free range girls by only a soft net.

We merged the two groups after a few weeks of them hanging out together with the Bitties in their tractors. One of our older girls, Ginger, who is a Production Red, has been aggressive with my family and our dogs. She chases my teenager and has more than once bitten me and my husband, and now she is being very territorial and aggressive with the new girls.

Everyone is about the same size, and they are more than familiar with one another. Ginger has chased the babes and plucked feathers on the run, and the babes are terrified of her. We put Pinless Peepers on her early this week. They keep her from biting, but she is still very aggressively guarding the coop, food, and roost. She will chase the babes, but doesn’t bite them.

I have picked her up and carted her around the yard in front of all the others. I have backed her up to the point she shows submission. I am keeping her in the baby coop at night, because the babes won’t come into the big coop if she is in there.

We have a total of 7 birds. There is 8 feet of roost inside the coop, and another 10 feet or so outside in the run. They have free range of our large backyard all day. I don’t believe this is a space issue.

Will the Pinless Peepers eventually to settle her agressin? Should we cut our losses with her now, or Is her behavior likely to improve? I have two babes squatting, and I do not want to keep them from laying. I also can’t have my 4 new ones living in terror of an old bitchy broad who isn’t even laying right now. I need help.

 

[vantain]

I had this issue recently. I tried the peepers, and they were working to curb the aggression, but ended up causing my hens nostrils to bleed. I then partitioned the run and coop to give her her own space, separated from the others, but side by side. That lasted a couple of weeks, and she finally broke. She’s relatively good now, but really likes her space and doesn’t interact much with the others. She pecks at them, but doesn’t chase them down and thrash them anymore.

Maybe give that a try? I also let her out with the others occasionally, but supervised. I think that also helped.