bad girls

[AmericanMom]

Have hope and keep trying.

In my experience, this is normal behavior for artificially bred, reared and housed chickens, or the offspring from those that descend from such a recent ancestral environment and social structure.

They've lost the instinct for the natural family group after being reared without mothers, fathers, and a normal varying-age group flock structure for many generations. The instincts will come back if you let them, though it may well take generations. But you'd need to breed them naturally, and separate or not breed those which show absolute intolerance and violence to others. Some of your current flock may never adjust to other birds, as they often can't outgrow the faulty instincts in one generation.

Getting birds from a hatchery often means you get birds which are only tolerant of their own age group, gender, and type. Birds from any breeder who separates flocks and artificially rears them are rather often behaviorally/instinctively confused and aggressive to others.

This isn't a problem I ever have with my non-hatchery stock. Injured or ill birds are not harassed, babies range unmolested with mothers among the whole flock, roosters get along without fights, it's all very peaceful. It IS possible. But I remove or rehome bullies and violent birds, and won't breed any that show negative mentalities. So if you're not keen on doing that, then you may just have to work around your resident bullies/killers indefinitely.

I'm not saying my way is the only way, but it's best for me; what's best for you may be different. I need my flock to freerange in peace for health and productivity's sake, I won't keep birds that harm others or won't get along. Genetics have a lot to do with this, but so does environment and rearing.

Both genders can get along with others of all breeds and ages. All you need to do is remove any that absolutely will not tolerate others, or at least don't breed them, and breed those that do. In a few generations your flock will regain instinct.

Best wishes.

Exellent post!!! I am slightly worried about integrating my flock when the time comes and am at this time letting them see each other as much as they choose to without the babies getting hurt, when they are bigger I will put them out with the others and will watch for overly aggressive behaviour, I understand the pecking order and never have stopped the normal "I'm boss, clear out" behaviour. The older flock is non hatchery stock but although the 19 babies are incubated chicks they are the offsprings of the hens and Roo... I do worry about them never being accepted.
Also, The three month old boys were rasied with the flock and since realizing they were in fact males and not the hens I was hoping for I figured those two would have to be culled, but after spending all day outside working my husband and I both remarked that the youngsters spend 75% of their time with the Rooster, he tolerates them just fine and even still finds food for them. we figure they are learning how to be a Rooster, of course neither of them have started trying to crow yet so time will tell if he is still accepting of them then.

 

[chooks4life]

You sound like you're on the right track there. Hope all goes well. The pecking order is necessary for sure, I agree, but when it stops being just hierarchy level reinforcement and begins to be harassing and bullying, then I remove birds for it. It can be hard to define for a lot of people what exactly is just reinforcement of the pecking order and what is bullying, and of course it is dependent on your beliefs and knowledge of animal behavior. Whatever works for you is best.

Sounds like you've got a good shot at a peaceful flock structure. Introducing young males to an adult, who shows tolerance for them, is a good way to add males to the flock. Having exercised tolerance of them as cockerels he is more likely to take a lighter hand with them as adult roosters than otherwise. When they start showing male feathering and behavior, they'll still be too weak for them to challenge him, so he can keep them in a lower social position as they mature without any serious fights. Once they're feeling at full strength, they may challenge him, but it's only a problem if they fail to resolve it. Some fights are natural and positive, as long as both opponents aren't out to destroy one another. None of my roosters have ever killed another, or spurred them. None of my hens have ever killed another either. They can fight without drawing blood or injuring one another.

I've only had one adult rooster out of many fail to assimilate into my flock, and that was his refusal, not due to rejection by the flock. I'd buy or get for free roosters from other places and just let them watch and be seen by the flock for a week or less before being introduced, and I'd put at least one hen in with him to bond him to the female, who's bonded to the place. A hen seems to be the one who bonds to a territory, whereas males seem to bond to females and will go wherever they go; I would make sure a new hen stayed in a cage for at least a week to bond to the location since she won't automatically bond to the flock in many cases.

Best wishes with your flock and I hope it just gets better and better. Never accept an unhappy status quo, is sort of my unofficial motto. Too many people persist with distressing circumstances, like being beaten around the yard by their own roosters, or having hens who regularly cannibalize and brutalize others. Not happy for them or you is the definition of not working.