At my wits end

[Peppercorngal]

I have many different breeds and have easter eggers as well without any pecking problems. We free range the chickens but had to put up fencing to keep the daytime coyotes, foxes and stray dogs from getting them. The fence has worked, they have plenty of room and do not fight or pick on one another as they have 1/2 a football field to run around in. I have 39 chickens right now and am doing everything to keep myself from running down and buying more chicks!

 

[Panhandler80]

Somebody mentioned 300 square feet run being entirely too small for 14 chickens. I realize that the original post said that COOP is 300 feet, but still...

I thought 10 square feet of run / chicken was the minimum. If that's the case, wouldn't 300 square feet (21 square feet per bird) be more than adequate?

As far as the difficulty with the pecking... I'm brand new to this, but perhaps it's the fact that the first part of their lives was free ranged, and then they were cooped???

 

[Peppercorngal]

You say "so the chickens were brand new when we brought them home April 23." What does brand new mean? Just hatched? Little chicks? I can't think of any reason for them to turn on each other like you are describing except for space. The best food, nor the coolest toys will keep them from pecking one another if they don't have space. The technical manuals may say that what you have is fine, but the behavior of your chickens says it's not enough for them. So sorry you lost your rooster, I hope you don't loose more to this. It's so heartbreaking to loose a best friend, I know.

 

[sealer39]

From your description, you have plenty enough room for your 14 chickens. I’ve had to cram more chickens into a smaller space than you and I’ve never had that kind of problem. Sounds to me like you just bought a group of mean birds. Trust me that your experience is not the norm. You may want to just start over with a new flock. There will always be ups and downs with chickens but raising chickens should be a pleasurable experience.
My stress level went way down when I recently culled a mean rooster. I had gotten to the point that it was not fun to go in my coop to collect eggs let alone if I had to do any maintenance. Now I have my avatar, which happens to be an EE, and he is a perfect cockerel. So, I couldn’t imagine nor would I attempt to keep an entire flock that are as mean as you describe.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I thought 10 square feet of run / chicken was the minimum. If that's the case, wouldn't 300 square feet (21 square feet per bird) be more than adequate?

That's why 10 sq ft per is considered minimum. In many cases it works fine and the flock gets along. In other cases the chickens turn on each other, maybe not to the extent that the OP has described, but they'll feather pick or chase and harass one another.

 

[Panhandler80]

That's why 10 sq ft per is considered minimum. In many cases it works fine and the flock gets along. In other cases the chickens turn on each other, maybe not to the extent that the OP has described, but they'll feather pick or chase and harass one another.

I just figured 2x the minimum would definitely be plenty. I'm looking to get 15 soon and was looking at about a 400 foot run.

I understand that there will always be exceptions to any rule, but earlier the comment about 300 not being big enough sounded almost as though there shouldnt even be any surprise that 14 aren't getting along in 300. I found that to be odd and it got me thinking / worrying about my plan.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I understand that there will always be exceptions to any rule, but earlier the comment about 300 not being big enough sounded almost as though there shouldnt even be any surprise that 14 aren't getting along in 300. I found that to be odd and it got me thinking / worrying about my plan.

Your plan should be fine. Just my 2 cents, but consider what you can add inside the space as well as overall sq footage. I posted a link earlier about how to clutter up a run, it's a good read to give you some ideas on how to make the run a more interesting/entertaining place for your flock.

 

[Bear and Dart]

So we got chickens April 23rd. 2019. We got 14 hens and one rooster. My husband built a beautiful chicken coop 300 square feet and a 100 by 10 foot run. I completely fell in love. They run to me every morning for cuddles and jump up on my back and are very friendly. Our problem started with my ladies picking on my rooster (Mr. Big) Big for short. Big was a lover never a fighter. He was just a beautiful boy and I loved him with all my heart. It got so bad we had to buy a large dog crate and put him in to heal. Make a long story short after healing and putting him back in of course it started all over again. I sobbed like a baby as I held him for the last time before giving him to my husband to take away his suffering. That was in November and I still cry (I am right now) every single week when I picture my Big boy lumbering around. Now the ladies have turned on each other. I’ve tried everything!! My husband built five perches, a swing, lettuce teather ball, treat balls, pie tins, mirrors etc., etc., etc.!!! I’ve sprayed blue Kote we’ve put peerless peepers on them NOTHING!!! NOTHING will stop it. Once again I’ve spent every day/night crying researching I just don’t know what to do. I should mention we were free ranging until a Fox got ahold of a couple in the fall. We’re in a very rural area and surrounded by Fox and coyotes not to mention hawks! So we’ve decided to let them back out to free range. I figured they either kill each other or another animal does. It’s like watching your babies get slowly tortured to death. I’ve told my husband if it doesn’t get better he’s going to have to kill them all and we’ll just have to give up as my heart can’t take the hurt. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? I’m at my wits end and completely heartbroken!

I’m so sorry about your rooster, I had a lovely hen who we had to put down about a month ago. I can agree it’s such a terrible thing that I’ve been crying about since that day. As for you hen situation it could be a couple of factors too that come to mind could be space or the breed of chickens you have. There could be one hen who’s starting the fighting, I recommend watching their behavior closely so you can get a gage on how these things are starting and which hens are most aggressive. Then you can go from there and make a decision based on what you’ve gathered. Many of the others helping you might have a lot more info then I do though. I wish you good luck!

 

[Kazzandra]

I have had 15 years of experience with up to 23 chickens, with no more than 1-3 of any given breed, and 2-3 which are easter eggers or ameraucanas, and 7 of which are roosters (!) in a 8x8 coop with a perhaps... 12x12 run. I frequently have had hen-pecked roosters (even when I only have two, but strangely enough, none since last year, when we went from 5 roosters to 7) but nothing that would ever have been a reason for medical concern, much less to put one down.

What you're speaking of is highly unusual, and if you could post pictures of the coop, the run, and the flock themselves, we might see the obvious problem that isn't obvious to you or your husband.

This is a detriment to their own survival, and most living creatures want to survive, suffice it to say. You have a weird, heartbreaking situation, and without seeing those pictures, I agree with the advice others are giving to analyze the flock itself. Maybe next time go with silkies and cochins especially if you enjoy loving your flock. Also, while I see you are taking protein-based measures (mealworms), 18 percent feed always helps me when my hens get to being bored and picking on each other in the 12 hours of daylight I keep them in year 'round.

 

[Rosebud25]

Some people have good luck with Easter eggers all mine have been premeditated jerkwads.
They can be wishy washy.