New chicken lady here- so many questions some silly I know. Just want to make sure our chickens are taken care of!
Some background...I have a small flock of 5 that I adopted in two groups from the same home. 2 hens and 1 pullet first; the older hen was clearly the boss, the middle hen was apparently picked on when she was part of the larger flock but quickly began picking on the pullet when they came to my house. A week later I added another older hen and another pullet. Both pullets now stick together and have become friends, the older hen is so sweet and appears to be in charge but she’s not mean to the other chickens. My original two hens though continue to somewhat bully the pullets, particularly the middle hen. She will almost run off the pullets for no reason. She’s not hurting them but is definitely not friendly and not even indifferent towards them.
Is there way to correct this behavior? This hen is only 1 y/o. Hoping she will come around now that she’s in a new environment. More time maybe? I definitely saw it improve a little bit when we increased flock size, less for her to pick on but she still seems mean. Maybe I need more chickens??
I have two coops and can section my run off into two areas- should I consider separating them? Right now they all go in the first coop (pictured below). I leave them the option of both but they all go into one- except the pullets usually hide behind the nesting box and the 3 hens roost on the high roost. I moved the nesting box In between the roosts to try to give the pullets a place to roost, now I’m worried they won’t lay in these nesting boxes facing outward (they were on the wall opposite of the big roost facing the roost so a little more “privacy”.
Lastly- what should I consider for shade/heat remedies when it starts to warm up? The area they are in catches the afternoon sun- it’s only warming up to 80’s this week but will hit 100’s this summer. They have shade from the coops, cool grass and some dirt- I might add a sun sail or tree to give a little more shade- what about some kind of water element?
Any advice or recs are appreciated!!!
Some background...I have a small flock of 5 that I adopted in two groups from the same home. 2 hens and 1 pullet first; the older hen was clearly the boss, the middle hen was apparently picked on when she was part of the larger flock but quickly began picking on the pullet when they came to my house. A week later I added another older hen and another pullet. Both pullets now stick together and have become friends, the older hen is so sweet and appears to be in charge but she’s not mean to the other chickens. My original two hens though continue to somewhat bully the pullets, particularly the middle hen. She will almost run off the pullets for no reason. She’s not hurting them but is definitely not friendly and not even indifferent towards them.
Is there way to correct this behavior? This hen is only 1 y/o. Hoping she will come around now that she’s in a new environment. More time maybe? I definitely saw it improve a little bit when we increased flock size, less for her to pick on but she still seems mean. Maybe I need more chickens??
I have two coops and can section my run off into two areas- should I consider separating them? Right now they all go in the first coop (pictured below). I leave them the option of both but they all go into one- except the pullets usually hide behind the nesting box and the 3 hens roost on the high roost. I moved the nesting box In between the roosts to try to give the pullets a place to roost, now I’m worried they won’t lay in these nesting boxes facing outward (they were on the wall opposite of the big roost facing the roost so a little more “privacy”.
Lastly- what should I consider for shade/heat remedies when it starts to warm up? The area they are in catches the afternoon sun- it’s only warming up to 80’s this week but will hit 100’s this summer. They have shade from the coops, cool grass and some dirt- I might add a sun sail or tree to give a little more shade- what about some kind of water element?
Any advice or recs are appreciated!!!
