Bully Hen! Help integrating our pullets.

[Oursisafunnyfarm]

Hi All,

I need some help. We have an established small flock of three, year-old leghorn hens. They were raised together from chicks. Great girls, great layers! We were hooked and decided this year we would add 4 more chicks to our little flock. When the chicks were fully feathered (estimating they were about five weeks), I moved our chick enclosure inside our Chicken Run. 2/3 of our flock could not have cared less, but, Big Momma, our biggest leghorn was obsessed. She has spent the last two weeks circling their enclosure and trying to peck at them through the chicken wire. A couple of times one or two brave chicks would sneak out while I was changing their food/ water into the main chicken run. Big Momma immediately chased them pecking and plucking huge tufts of feathers.

My chicks are now 7 weeks and I have tried several times to integrate them, but Big Momma is relentless and I end up having to save a chick who gets cornered and plucked. I know they need to figure out their pecking order, but I am terrified she will kill them. We only have the one run, so I cannot really give them a territory free place to get to know one another. I have provided places for the chicks to hide from the older hens, but my chicks are not the brightest and don't seem to find their way to safety. Any suggestions?

 

[chickens really]

What breeds are you trying to introduce?..Leghorns like Rhode Island Reds are aggressive and don't handle change to the flock well...

 

[theoldchick]

Big Momma needs to wear a some pinless peepers:

Amazon.com has them. Ebay has them. Good luck! I hope this helps!

 

[Oursisafunnyfarm]

What breeds are you trying to introduce?..Leghorns like Rhode Island Reds are aggressive and don't handle change to the flock well...

Our three older girls are White Leghorns, our new girls are Barred Rocks (we think) and Rhode Island Reds.

 

[Oursisafunnyfarm]

Big Momma needs to wear a some pinless peepers:

Amazon.com has them. Ebay has them. Good luck! I hope this helps!

Interesting, I didn't realize they were pinless! Awesome, we will be giving these a try.

 

[chickens really]

Our three older girls are White Leghorns, our new girls are Barred Rocks (we think) and Rhode Island Reds.

Three breeds higher in the aggressive behaviour..Separate the picker for a few days and try introducing as they free range..Might never work either..

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What @chickens really said. Always remove the bully till they get knocked down in the pecking order.
7 weeks is very young for adding to an existing flock. It is better to wait till they are like sizes.
She is doing what nature tells her to do. Interlopers are seen as a danger to the health of the flock and need to be driven away or killed. New birds will compete for food and water and could be introducing disease.
Did you say how much space they have for 7 birds?

 

[rossi.chicks]

She looks feisty!

 

[Oursisafunnyfarm]

What @chickens really said. Always remove the bully till they get knocked down in the pecking order.
7 weeks is very young for adding to an existing flock. It is better to wait till they are like sizes.
She is doing what nature tells her to do. Interlopers are seen as a danger to the health of the flock and need to be driven away or killed. New birds will compete for food and water and could be introducing disease.
Did you say how much space they have for 7 birds?

I will continue to keep the girls separated for a few more weeks. We have about 250 sqft run.

 

[aart]

7 weeks is very young for adding to an existing flock. It is better to wait till they are like sizes.

Well, maybe...I've had great success with integrating at 4 weeks after brooding in the coop form 1 week. But I built a good setup to do this, and lots of space.

@Oursisafunnyfarm maybe these tips will offer some solutions....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.