Aloha from the Big Island of Hawai'i. We have a small back yard coop with three hens.

[AlohaWaimea]

Here are a couple shots of my wife, Amy, carrying our hen, Snowy, in our front yard on a rainy day. She was giving the other hens a break from Snowy's domination so that they could eat and drink in peace.


This is Snowy's good eye side view. Photo shot on May 9th, 2014, at 4:25 pm.



Here is Snowy's bad eye side view. Photo shot on May 9th, 2014, at 4:25 pm.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Nice pictures! Looks like Snowy is used to your wife spoiling her and she knows she is special. It is quite a job she has keeping her new younger sisters in line... that is going to be a cute flock, pretty colors.

 

[AlohaWaimea]

Nice pictures! Looks like Snowy is used to your wife spoiling her and she knows she is special. It is quite a job she has keeping her new younger sisters in line... that is going to be a cute flock, pretty colors.

Mahalo! Snowy has been through a lot and deserves some spoiling. We just wish that she would lighten up on the other hens a little bit. She's a little tyrant! They are really frightened of her.

 

[Kelsie2290]

It is funny how a chicken that is so nice and sweet to you can be so evil to the other hens. She should lighten up on the new girls in a little while, a period of time of seeing but no touching usually works pretty well, if you can divide the coop/run section into two parts or keep one set in a cage and let them live side by side so they can see each other through the wire but not touch for awhile that may help establish the pecking order to some extent, or you could keep Snowy separated out of the coop for a few days to bring her down a peg, but like drumstick diva said, as a feral chicken she had to be pretty aggressive / competitive to even stay alive. There are a couple of articles in the Learning Center on pecking order/ Bully chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/a-guide-to-understanding-the-chicken-pecking-order and https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens

 

[AlohaWaimea]

It is funny how a chicken that is so nice and sweet to you can be so evil to the other hens. She should lighten up on the new girls in a little while, a period of time of seeing but no touching usually works pretty well, if you can divide the coop/run section into two parts or keep one set in a cage and let them live side by side so they can see each other through the wire but not touch for awhile that may help establish the pecking order to some extent, or you could keep Snowy separated out of the coop for a few days to bring her down a peg, but like drumstick diva said, as a feral chicken she had to be pretty aggressive / competitive to even stay alive. There are a couple of articles in the Learning Center on pecking order/ Bully chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/a-guide-to-understanding-the-chicken-pecking-order and https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens

Snowy started to back off on the new hens yesterday. She still goes after them, but, not as badly as before. The other two are actually coming out from hiding under the nest boxes in front of her now. Today, I was able to hand feed all three some clover flowers as treats through the wire. I had to keep feeding Snowy on the floor level and Princess and Lacy up on the roost to reduce the competition a bit. Snowy still went up to the roost several times, so I kept coxing her down to the floor level for her clover flowers. It was fun to be able to hand feed all three today.

Mahalo for the pecking order links, Kelsie2290!

 

[AlohaWaimea]

I have fenced in a small courtyard to give the hens a much larger run to hang out in for a break from their small coop. I just uploaded 22 photos of the hens enjoying their new run. They have been in there several times. They are getting used to us picking them up and carrying them back and forth between the coop and the run. Meal worms work well as an incentive for them.

Here are some photos of them enjoying their run. We can watch them from the living and dining rooms. Much better than watching fish in an aquarium!

I put up a shade cloth over the fence and above the run nearest the fence. I also put bird-netting over the top to protect the hens against any Hawaiian Hawks ('Io) or owls (Pueo). I have witnessed an owl flying over our yard in the past. It was amazing how silent it was. I didn't hear even a whisper of a sound and it flew low through the trees in our front yard.

 

[roostersandhens]