bully chickens? what to do...

[phaethona]

Hi,
I have 2 flocks about 3 weeks apart in age. my "big girls" are 5 production reds, the "little girls" are different breeds. the little girls are about half the size of the big girls(none are bantys, they just grow so darn fast). There are 2 big girls who always peck at and seem to bully the little girls, and the little girls seem to hide in one of the nesting boxes. There shouldn't be any confinement issues because the big girls free range for about 12 hours per day on an acre lot, get treats, cuddles, etc. The little girls dont free range as much yet since they're smaller and need a little more supervision. we have a space under the coop that has a door and is the same size of the coop, yesterday we took the biggest bully and put her under there for about 20 minutes, like a time-out, she did ok after that, but tonight she's back at it.

so basically what I want to know is is this typical? will it stop when the little girls get bigger? did I incorporate them wrong? what should I do to get them to get along better?

I worry about this because we recently re-homed a chicken we thought was a rooster(we can't keep roos), our friend began to think it was a hen after all and was about to bring him/her back, they introduced it into a 1 year old flock and after 4 days of seemingly ok behavior, the older chickens bullied and peck him/her to death. the last thing I want is to find my big girls have done that to one of the little girls, I would feel it's my fault.

advice?

 

[CMV]

I'd remove the bully for at least a day and maybe even two. Unfortunately, you remove one bully and another will pop up to take its place, but a time out lasting a day or two will shake things up in the coop and may give your little girls a reprieve from the assaults. Your girls will work it out amongst themselves with little input from you. Just offer them places to hide in the coop/run and several access points to resources (food and water), and TIME. Time is the great healer. They will become an integrated flock eventually.

As far as your "rooster" goes- that is why you should never introduce a single bird into an established flock. You are trying to mix two flocks of birds together which is fine. They can all share in the abuse. If you try to just introduce one bird (unless it is bigger/tougher/more aggressive than its new mates) there's a good chance the one bird will be killed or at the very least harassed to the point of injury. A hard lesson learned in flock dynamics.

Good luck.

 

[phaethona]

I see what you're saying about introducing multiple birds and them sharing the abuse. when the little girls were still inside, they established their pecking order, and we have one ruler(our white leghorn Lucy) and her sidekick, they seem to look after the others. If it were just one bird to defend herself I'm sure she would have suffered a worse fate.

I have a hunch that when they're all able to free range, that they'll begin to work together to find the "goods".
I hate to see the girls go through this, I try to keep them occupied at all times, and I referee when I can, but I can't be with them 100 percent of the time, I just wish there was some sort of on/off switch.