Bad start with chickens; now what?

[Stillplaysindirt]

We moved into our house a year ago and it came with a nice prefab coop, about 3x5 feet. The attached enclosure is about 30 sq ft total which includes the space under the coop. We didn’t get any chickens last year because things were crazy, but this past April we ended up taking two 6 month olds from my aunt and uncle - a Buff Orpington hen and a Welsummer cockerel.

Being brand new to chicken ownership and knowing nothing about chickens, the rooster was too much. Also we knew that having just one hen for him was a bad scenario. We gave him away to a good home this past week, and our hen actually seemed happy for a couple days alone in the pen.

This past Saturday we brought home another buff hen around her age, along with an 8 week old barred rock and a black maran. The guy we bought them from had all his chickens together in one massive enclosure, from 6 weeks all the way up to full grown hens and roos. Because of this and his advice that they’d all “figure it out” my husband was okay with putting them directly in our pen with our current hen.

Having read the forums here, we’ve done everything wrong so far as chicken owners. And our once sweet and gentle buff has turned into a nasty bully. I know about the pecking order but she and the other buff are preventing our younger ones from leaving the coop. I’ve provided food and water both inside and out, and in a way I think the young ones are at least safe inside away from the older hens. But I did read that 8 weeks is generally too young to put them with bigger hens. On the contrary, I then read that taking them out and reintroducing them later would only cause them more bullying when I bring them back.

I have no idea what my best course of action is now. I wish I could go back in time and not bring home the hen and roo, opting to get all chicks at one time. The balance and pecking order has been off ever since. Can anyone offer some advice on how to help the two young ones feel saver and keep the two older ones from bullying them?

I know your frustration and you hurt. I've had to deal with it myseIf. The way I handle it. I had enough room to section off part of the roost in and build her a little house off the main house with food and water and portioned off part of the run for the little hen that they picked on. That way she can still sleep on the same roost but there is hardware cloth (wire netting) between her and the others and they can't get at her. She still longs to be part of them, but it's not safe for her. If you are still game to try something new, I wondering if you couldn't add upper level to the run, above the ground about two feet, for now. Like a second floor. So the run would have two "stories". the top floor could be in two parts on hinges (like doors that are parallel to the ground so they can be folded up when you need to go in there.) leave space between the two for the hens to jump. Build two frames out of 2x4s. cover them with 1/4 inch hardware cloth (because your flock has small feet right now). Attach each one to its side of the run with hinges. to hang them level attach a 2x4 to their house to support the far end when the second level to in use. at your entrance way, attach the second "floor" by wires attached to the to the roof of the run to hang them level. Hang a box of dirt for her to bath in. But then, you'd have the bullying in the house. ugh! Give away the two older ones and keep the new ones. I don't think the older original one, would change her behavior after the rooster is gone. Mine didn't. My little one is so lonesome, she hasn't laid an egg. Poor baby. Just a thought. And, you can build, I do all the time. and love it. Just jump in and try. All this work can be done with a handsaw and a drill or hammer. Get them second hand if you don' have them. Best wishes.

 

[countryladyNH]

Thanks for the advice so far. I had a hunch the space was not adequate, and we were planning to build a larger run but I can’t seem to convince my husband that it’s urgent. I’m attaching some pictures of our current setup for reference.

Our plan was to get two older buffs to go with the one we had, but when we went to pick them up the seller said he’d made a mistake and only seemed to have one older buff. That’s how we ended up with two younger ones, as I didn’t want to bring home just one young hen to be with the two older ones.

So to clarify, we have:
Our original 7 month old buff
A new 8 month old buff
New 2 month old barred rock
New 2 month old maran

I did just order two 4x4 foot pens that I was hoping to move around the yard while I’m outside, like tractors so that they could have grass and be separated if necessary. Free ranging isn't possible, since we have two dogs and lots of wild animals around. As of now, I’m ready to give all of the chickens away I’m so stressed out.

2 months old is too young to put them in with the hens.
We have a wire dog crate that we bought several years ago at a big box store for just such a purpose. When our new chicks were old enough---close to the age of being integrated into the flock we would put them in the cage and set the cage up against the run so they could all see each other during the day. At night the 'littles' went into the brooder, and later into one of those tiny, cheap coops from places like TS, to sleep by themselves. Eventually we built a removable partition for the actual chicken run, made of a frame with hardware cloth and it attached with 4 screw eye hooks at all 4 corners. This way, a section of the run could be just for the 'littles' and they could all see each other. They had their own food and water. This always worked out great. After a few weeks of this, the littles were able to go in the coop and run with the older girls with no issues, and the partition went back into the shed for use in future. Good luck!

 

[countryladyNH]

I agree that you should just start by expanding your run. Lumber is priced in the stratosphere and I know at this point we couldn't afford it, but recently we designed and built a 3 bay compost area in our yard using only wood pallets we got for free. We're pretty proud of it and really love it! You might be able to get some and use most of that for the run. You still might have to purchase some lumber, but the more you can use what you can salvage the more economical it will be. Good luck!

 

[3KillerBs]

2 months old is too young to put them in with the hens.

Not necessarily. I have 7-week-olds integrated with my Ladies. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/integrating-the-splits-documenting-the-process.1469700/

They don't sleep together but that's because my current coop is too small.

 

[countryladyNH]

Not necessarily. I have 7-week-olds integrated with my Ladies. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/integrating-the-splits-documenting-the-process.1469700/

They don't sleep together but that's because my current coop is too small.

Everyone has their own way that works for them, but in our opinion 2 mo. is just a little too young, but we've certainly started integration by then, but separating them and allowing close visual.

 

[aart]

Not necessarily. I have 7-week-olds integrated with my Ladies.

Agrees.
I have started integrating chicks as young as 4 weeks.
Of course they are not fully integrated until the youngsters start laying, but still.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[lunahills]

We have a wire dog crate that we bought several years ago at a big box store for just such a purpose. When our new chicks were old enough---close to the age of being integrated into the flock we would put them in the cage and set the cage up against the run so they could all see each other during the day.

I have put a dog crate inside the run, but I can’t imagine caging the little ones in it all day, they’d have even less space than they already have.

We still have plans to expand their run, but I just purchased two of the wire expandable dog kennel fences that you can set up in different configurations. I’m putting them together into one run (32 square feet) that will function as a tractor and I’ll move it around for them to get some grass and variation. It will also serve as a way to alternate the big girls and the little girls for now.

For us in the next couple of months, fortunately, money is slightly less of an issue than time. So this will hopefully hold us over until we can build something better and more permanent, and by then the babies will be a little bigger as well.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I’ve done what I can with what I have for now. Inspired by photos I saw on another thread here, I used the crate and made a door out of cardboard to allow the little ones to go in but keep the big girls out. I thought it was brilliant until I saw one of the big girls in there a bit ago Looks like I have more work to do.

You did wonderful but I had to laugh whenever you said one of the big girls was in there. I bet it was a funny sight to see her get through that tiny opening! This thread is wonderful!

 

[lunahills]

I agree that you should just start by expanding your run. Lumber is priced in the stratosphere and I know at this point we couldn't afford it, but recently we designed and built a 3 bay compost area in our yard using only wood pallets we got for free. We're pretty proud of it and really love it! You might be able to get some and use most of that for the run. You still might have to purchase some lumber, but the more you can use what you can salvage the more economical it will be. Good luck!


View attachment 2695321

That looks awesome!

 

[lunahills]

You did wonderful but I had to laugh whenever you said one of the big girls was in there. I bet it was a funny sight to see her get through that tiny opening! This thread is wonderful!

I only wish I’d seen it! Especially with her big fluffy butt, I’m sure it was a sight