Another thread about hens fighting

[Lost Bird]

Have read through many of the posts about hens fighting to establish pecking order and to just let them fight it out... but like others, my situation is a bit different than what I found.

I have a brahma and 2 RI Reds. One of the reds is the top dog (Kate), with Farrah the brahma being the middle and the lowest is Jaclyn. Jaclyn is fine with her status.

Farrah has recently started laying and is a bit confused about the process. I have learned the signs and saw she was wanting to lay an egg, but would cycle between the brooder, then close to the house, then down the yard, back to the coop. In one of her cycles Kate and Farrah got into a fight. Pecking, jumping at each other with their claws, etc. I separated them and Kate pursued, ripping out a clump of Farrah's feathers. I kept them apart and Farrah finally settled in the brooder and laid and egg. I went out to find them next to the frozen water melon, munching away when they broke out in a fight again. I put Kate in the run and let the other two continue to free roam.

I went out to let Kate out but looks like she's laying an egg now.

Could the desire to lay an egg be the reason for a fight? They weren't near the brooder in either fight. The brooder is HOT! There is a bottle of ice with a fan blowing on it, but it's still sweltering. They were raised together, have never witnessed a fight like this previously. They are 7 months old.

Farrah is bleeding a bit, but otherwise they both appear to be okay. Nothing has changed in their environment other than it went from a dry 107 degrees to a humid, steamy 102 degrees.

ETA: Correction, brahma not bantam. I was rushing too much.

 

[the poppster]

Have read through many of the posts about hens fighting to establish pecking order and to just let them fight it out... but like others, my situation is a bit different than what I


I have a bantam and 2 RI Reds.  One of the reds is the top dog (Kate), with Farrah the bantam being the middle and the lowest is Jaclyn.  Jaclyn is fine with her status.


Farrah has recently started laying and is a bit confused about the process.  I have learned the signs and saw she was wanting to lay an egg, but would cycle between the brooder, then close to the house, then down the yard, back to the coop.  In one of her cycles Kate and Farrah got into a fight. Pecking, jumping at each other with their claws, etc.  I separated them and Kate pursued, ripping out a clump of Farrah's feathers.  I kept them apart and Farrah finally settled in the brooder and laid and egg.  I went out to find them next to the frozen water melon, munching away when they broke out in a fight again.  I put Kate in the run and let the other two continue to free roam. 


I went out to let Kate out but looks like she's laying an egg now.


Could the desire to lay an egg be the reason for a fight?  They weren't near the brooder in either fight.  The brooder is HOT!  There is a bottle of ice with a fan blowing on it, but it's still sweltering.  They were raised together, have never witnessed a fight like this previously.  They are 7 months old.


Farrah is bleeding a bit, but otherwise they both appear to be okay.  Nothing has changed in their environment other than it went from a dry 107 degrees to a humid, steamy 102 degrees.

Pecking order can be pretty ferocious..especially if you have just a few hens....one will take over the position of "Rooster" or try to....if you had a roo he would stop the fighting...but if that's not an option...you might try making up another nest box or two for them...so they don't have to fight over the one....the heat will make them edgy...just like people...if you don't have one, a nice deep dirt filled box or hole in a shady spot will give them something to do...and a place to dust bath...helps them to cool off...and bond a little...any kind of diversion usually helps relive the tension between them....if you feed in one place in one feeder....add another or spread the feed out so they have to work for it...and no one bird can play King on the Mountain with the feeder....another thing you can do is put them both in the run with a wire fence between them...they can see each other but can't get to each other....especially if one is wounded....the one that did the wounding may not give up going after her....You might try a few of these things...and see what happens....if you can have one I would get a Mature Rooster....not a baby...not a youngster...a full grown experienced rooster....he will sort things out...he doesn't have to be a big roo...just a Mature one. Good luck

 

[Lost Bird]

Pecking order can be pretty ferocious..especially if you have just a few hens....one will take over the position of "Rooster" or try to....if you had a roo he would stop the fighting...but if that's not an option...you might try making up another nest box or two for them...so they don't have to fight over the one....the heat will make them edgy...just like people...if you don't have one, a nice deep dirt filled box or hole in a shady spot will give them something to do...and a place to dust bath...helps them to cool off...and bond a little...any kind of diversion usually helps relive the tension between them....if you feed in one place in one feeder....add another or spread the feed out so they have to work for it...and no one bird can play King on the Mountain with the feeder....another thing you can do is put them both in the run with a wire fence between them...they can see each other but can't get to each other....especially if one is wounded....the one that did the wounding may not give up going after her....You might try a few of these things...and see what happens....if you can have one I would get a Mature Rooster....not a baby...not a youngster...a full grown experienced rooster....he will sort things out...he doesn't have to be a big roo...just a Mature one. Good luck

Thank you for your reply!

Unfortunately we are not allowed roosters.

There are actually 3 nesting boxes, so I apologize for not being more clear.

I need to get them a bigger dust bath box. Will move that to a priority. Will also put out both feeders rather than the one I rotate.

I reintroduced them and Kate pecked at Farrah a couple of times, but Farrah kept her head low and didn't respond. Kate stared at her for a bit but eventually turned away. Before that I'd put out a frozen watermelon and was surprised that a fight broke out while they were eating it... but anyway, seems things are calm now. I honestly think that Farrah's desperately looking for a cool safe play to lay is what caused the issue. Going to have to figure out how to cool down the coop more efficiently.

 

[aart]

Pecking orders can change when laying begins...and hormones are running high with new layers.
Hopefully things will smooth out soon.

What is your climate? Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

A little confused about your use of the terms brooder and coop?
Sounds like have free range?
Do you have a coop with the 3 nests in it?

Pics of your coop/run/brooder might help folks make suggestions for improvements.

 

[Lost Bird]

Pecking orders can change when laying begins...and hormones are running high with new layers.
Hopefully things will smooth out soon.

What is your climate? Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

A little confused about your use of the terms brooder and coop?
Sounds like have free range?
Do you have a coop with the 3 nests in it?

Pics of your coop/run/brooder might help folks make suggestions for improvements.

Kate keeps going after Farrah but Farrah is not fighting back today. So it's a peck or two and Farrah bows her head. Farrah is trying to stay away from Kate,

In North Texas. Thanks for the tip.

I'm not confident of the verbiage. It's a raised coop with 3 brooder boxes with a small run under it. I'm not happy with the coop, it doesn't provide enough run. Hubs and I keep trying to make another run but neither of us is very handy. As a result I let them out and watch over them as I'm worried about predators.

I also edited my OP; Farrah is a brahma, not a bantam.

 

[aart]

Quote: Sounds like you have one of the small prefab coops....yep, usually way to small and no ventilation.

What you are calling 'brooder boxes' are most usually called 'nests', where they lay their eggs.
Tho they could be used by broody hen to hatch and raise chicks...semantics.

Kate is dominating Farrah, who is submitting to/accepting Kates dominance....not unusual.

But crowding from the too small of a coop/run can make the pecking order more unpleasant than it needs to be.

 

[Lost Bird]

Sounds like you have one of the small prefab coops....yep, usually way to small and no ventilation.

What you are calling 'brooder boxes' are most usually called 'nests', where they lay their eggs.
Tho they could be used by broody hen to hatch and raise chicks...semantics.

Kate is dominating Farrah, who is submitting to/accepting Kates dominance....not unusual.

But crowding from the too small of a coop/run can make the pecking order more unpleasant than it needs to be.

Thanks for the clarification.

Fortunately not a pre-fab so it's at least larger than that. But still not enough run, and would like more windows.

Thanks for all the help & advice!