Bully Chicken

[HopMomof3]

I have drama in my coop! I have 2 Barred Plymouth Rocks (about 2 years old), and back around Easter acquired 2 Easter Eggers. Long story short, I tried to introduce the 2 EE into the coop too early, and the BPRs pecked one to death. The remaining EE has been kept in a small coop fence to fence with the BPR for the last several months, and spending time together in a large fenced area. Trying to introduce the EE into the coop has been a total nightmare! She is just terrorized by one of the BPRs. I went and acquired another hen (an ISA Brown), hoping that by introducing them together it might deflect the total attention from the EE. The one BPR continues to single out the EE for punishment, I put the mean BPR in solitary confinement for almost a week, and peace reigned in the coop. I brought her back, and we're back to square one. HELP!

 

[blairctchickens]

welcome from NE Kansas!!

Wow got a Meany on your hands! how big is your pen/run? Could be a space issue............ could put her in the coop in late evening while they are sleeping/ roosting and see if she can mind her own feathers the next morning!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with integration. It's very frustrating.
When you put the bully in solitary, did you leave her within sight of the others? If she was just the other side of the fence, she will still maintain her pecking order position. Unfortunately solitary has to be "solitary", with no contact for at least a week so that she is coming into the coop almost as a newbie.

Space can be a big issue when you are integrating new birds. If they are getting on OK in the run or free ranging and only having problems when roosting, then there may not be enough roosting space. Can you put some sort of partition inside the coop so that there is a safe place she can go out of sight of the bully. Some heavy duty cardboard stapled to some laths would be enough. It's just to allow the EE to get out of sight of the barred rock so it doesn't have to be overly substantial.

Good luck resolving it.

Regards

Barbara

 

[BruceAZ]

they have a pecking order

so i would wait until the chickens are about the same size and provide plenty of space

my leghorn is often being chased around a lot.. but there are plenty of space for her to run to avoid being pecked at

this short video might be helpful for you