Bedtime drama

[Rick589]

We have a flock of BO’s, 5 adults(1 rooster),2 teenagers of about two months old and three peeps of about three weeks old. All of the young ones were hatched out by two of our hens that went broody. Anyway, of the two ‘teenagers’ one is seriously harassed at bedtime for some unexplainable reason. During the day everyone seems to get along just fine although this youngster in question, which we suspect may be a rooster, does tend to stay to itself often and is pretty skittish and scared most of the time. So, I’ve recently been overseeing the return to the coop at night to keep things as calm as possible, nevertheless this young ones acts totally terrified as it’s picked on and usually ends up hiding in a nest box where it seems to stay at night. I’ve placed cardboard up to split one of the roosts so that it can roost and not be pestered by the other chickens (with limited success) and have handled it to calm it down and place it on the ‘protected’ portion of the roost (again with limited success). The bullying comes primarily from one hen even though the others will peck at it as well. They also peck at the ‘sibling’ but it doesn’t seem to bother that one has much nor does it appear to be as aggressive.
I truly feel so sorry to see this one young chicken go through this but I don’t know whether I should continue to intervene somewhat until it is older and bigger for its own self defense or should I just keep my hands off and let it sort out on its own. I will say that the coop is small, a larger coop is being built, but they are not in it at all during the day and there is plenty of roost space still available. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

We have mixed integration going on frequently here. What I would try first in that situation is taking the worst offender out, the hen, for a few days and see how it goes after that. Sometimes, if the bully is out, the others won't be aggressive either. That's worth a shot anyway.

If it works to settle everyone down a bit, and after few days she's been out, then I'd try putting her back in and see if her behavior has changed as that should reset the pecking order as well. If not, keep her out longer.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can you post a couple of photos of the pre-teen in question. One closeup showing the comb and wattles and another still reasonably close but showing the legs and posture. At 2 months we might be able to settle the question as to whether it is a male or female. That might help in your decisions.

Debbie's suggestion is a good one if you can manage it. Sometimes that helps, sometimes not.

The small coop might be the problem. Can you let the 2 two-month-old ones sleep somewhere different until the larger one is finished? What looks like plenty of roost space to you may not be all that much for them. I've seen a hen leave her normal roosting spot to chase chicks off of the far end of the roost. Each chicken is different, each flock is different. The answer is not always easy.

 

[Rick589]

I've seen a hen leave her normal roosting spot to chase chicks off of the far end of the roost.

This is what tends to happen actually.

 

[Rick589]

Hi,

We have mixed integration going on frequently here. What I would try first in that situation is taking the worst offender out, the hen, for a few days and see how it goes after that. Sometimes, if the bully is out, the others won't be aggressive either. That's worth a shot anyway.

If it works to settle everyone down a bit, and after few days she's been out, then I'd try putting her back in and see if her behavior has changed as that should reset the pecking order as well. If not, keep her out longer.

Appreciate the advice. I don’t, at this point, really have a convenient spot to relocate although it could be done. I’ll give it a go per your recommendation.

What looks like plenty of roost space to you may not be all that much for them

You most likely are correct. The reason I mentioned plenty of space is because the five adults all roosted on the same roost while another shorter roost went unused other than being a jumping off point. I’ve actually installed yet another roost (divided by the cardboard) to provide even more roosting space and they still all want to be on the one roost yet want to harass the young ones for being on unused roosting space.

 

[Rick589]

Can you post a couple of photos of the pre-teen in question. One closeup showing the comb and wattles and another still reasonably close but showing the legs and posture.

Sure, this is the one that gets picked on the most, is the most afraid, and tends to stay by itself often. We tend to think we have another roo coming on but we’ve seen hens develop faster as well. The other one we are 99% is a hen.

 

[thecatumbrella]

Geez, I'm sorry this poor guy's still having issues. I'm very, very curious if moving everyone to the new coop will be enough of a shock factor to knock the bullies out of it.

In my case, I did not have very good luck removing my bedtime bully. She slept in my basement for a few days, and upon return, amped the violence up to 11. Not knocking Debbie's suggestion or anything, because it's a good one! Just wanted to warn you that it backfired in my case.

Can you fit a small, protected crate in the coop for your victim to sleep in? This would have been my next move if I had the space.

Also, if that cutie's only 2 months old, I would almost certainly assume it's a cockerel.

 

[Debbie292d]

Appreciate the advice. I don’t, at this point, really have a convenient spot to relocate

You don't need much for one chicken. This is our broody jail. It's the XXL or largest the TSC or whatever store had when we got it like a decade ago.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, that's a hard one at 2 months. I see some things female but some also male. The posture is male but body shape more female. The legs are a bit heavy but not that heavy. The comb could be either, even at 8 or 9 weeks, but the bright red wattles makes me think probably a male.

Does it have pointy hackle feathers? Hard to tell on that photo.

 

[Mrs. K]

This is a common problem as birds begin to reach full size, the coop that remains the same size is not enough space. In my opinion, your birds are telling you that there is not enough room no matter what the measurements are. Some birds can take over crowding and some cannot.

I would recommend reducing the size of your flock by selling or giving away a bird, or harvesting a bird. WHEN you get a bigger coop, then think about adding more birds. Chickens don't wait for better times to come.

Mrs. K