I just got my chicken this past Wednesday. I got two very nice well socailized chickens from a person on his forum, and then I got two older beat up girls from another person. The girls look like they had a hard life, their back are all feather less (the lady said they where the roosters favorite) The two older girls kind of rule. I have a buff one named Zoey and a dark red one named Betsy. I can tell Betsy is the head boss, since Zoey follower she around like a puppy. But Zoey is always picking on the two little ones. She will chase them out of the coop, or out of the run into the coop. Or just chase them around for fun. I don't want my little ones to be stressed out. The other day she chased the poor little girls right out of the coop and one of them jumped into my lap! What can I do to make Zoey stop being a bully?
I think it is best to keep them seperate but where they can see eachother. It took 3 months for my old hen to be friendly to a small new arrival but I can safely let them sleep together in the coop now. Before she would have chased her out.
I agree with Warren. I would separate them for a while but do so, so that they can see each other. I use a wire dog crate for this. Zoey is just making sure the new chickens understand that they will be lower ranking than she. Over time they will adjust and the bullying should subside to a tolerable level. There will always be a natural pecking order and some pecking and showing everyone who the boss is will happen
Actually I got Zoey a few hour after the "new chicken" but they were all put into the coop at the same time. The are all "new chickens". But the other ones are younger.
