Bullying or Pecking Order?

[Tandrae87]

Hello All,

I just got a new pair of *hopefully* hens, they were suppose to be 5 months old, but after posting their photos I suspect they are quite a bit younger. I am adding them into my exisiting "flock" of 2 hens and a rooster. The rooster is going to be relocated as I can't have him in the city but he has been the best with the littles (silkie and sebright.) My question is are my hens being bully's or just trying to establish a pecking order.. they chase the littles into the coop and occassionally peck and squawk at them. I feel like it is too hard, but I am also a worrier. It also seems they don't allow the littles out of the coop during the day, but at night they all sleep in there. I am not home most of the day, but I have found no injuries on anybody.

There was also one instance of bullying, the sebright was sitting in my lap and my favorite hen came over and started pecking at the sebright. How do I stop bullying behaviors?

Thank you all in advance for your help!

 

[MarkJr]

How did you introduce them?

How large is your coop?Is there multiplefood and water stations?

 

[Tandrae87]

I put the littles in a pen of their own within the coop so they could check each other out through the bars and in the evening I allowed everyone to freely roam around the yard. Everyone was doing fine, eating, drinking and pretty much sticking to their group. Then they slept separately. Since everyone was doing well the next day I let the littles out around midday and let everyone explore no chasing, squawking or pecking for the first few hours, but at night time everyone went into the coop and the bigs slept in their normal spot and the littles found their sleeping spot. In the mornings before I let them out, I don't hear any scuffling. I am sure I introduced them way too early to each other and should have had more days near each other but I couldn't do that and provide enough shade for the littles.

They have multiple food sources and water sources.

I have also noticed that my queen hen and my favorite, ignores the littles unless they are directly in front of her then she will peck at them (or they are in my lap). It's really just my other hen that chases them. And the rooster for the most part just watches them, I have seen him puff up once at them and peck at them maybe a couple times.

 

[MarkJr]

If they aren’t pinning them down and causing damage.... let it ride. It will calm down in a week or so. It sounds like they are just getting their things in order.

 

[sourland]

Sounds like normal chicken behavior to me. As a matter of fact I would have expected more problems when integrating bantams into an established flock. As long as they are not being physically injured, I would not intervene.

 

[MarkJr]

Also, I’d you could provide something to allow the littles to get out of sight and away from the cranky hens while in the run, they’d most likely use it. Right now they are probably going into the coop because it’s the closest out of sight place to retreat to.

 

[Tandrae87]

I don't know exactly, they have about a 14 foot long run, about 4 ft wide and the coop is about 3 ft long, 3 ft wide, and 2.5 ft tall. it has 2 nesting boxes that are 13x13 and room to build 2 more about that same size. The littles are both bantam chicks probably around 5-10 weeks old (although could be as old as 5 months) and the bigs are 2 (1 male/1 female) olive eggers and a white leghorn all around 12 weeks old.

 

[Tandrae87]

Also, I’d you could provide something to allow the littles to get out of sight and away from the cranky hens while in the run, they’d most likely use it. Right now they are probably going into the coop because it’s the closest out of sight place to retreat to.

Thank you! I will build something tonight, they have 1 little hiding spot under the stairs that they love.. problem is so does Miss Fritatta (the leghorn)

 

[rosemarythyme]

Cluttering up the run: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/ Since your run is on the smaller side, you'll need to think smaller scale for clutter too as bigger items would eat up too much space. Also the run is rather narrow, making it harder for lower ranked birds to pass by without "offending" a higher ranked bird standing nearby, so maybe consider placing some narrower items towards the center of the run, to sort of divide it in half and allow birds to pass by unbothered.

Otherwise so far it sounds like your integration is going fairly smoothly, if no one is injured or being chased from food or roosts.

 

[aart]

coop is about 3 ft long, 3 ft wide, and 2.5 ft tall

Pretty small for 5 birds.