Bullying or Pecking Order?

[mrsmistoffelees02]

Hey everyone, quick question for you -
I’m worried two of my older pullets are bullying my younger batch. Their coop is 50 square feet and they have 50 square feet of covered outdoor space, and a 50 square foot run. I properly integrated the new ones over 5 weeks in a dog crate, and even put the bullies in the crate for a week to try and take them down a notch. The older group was about 18 weeks old and the younger group was about 12 weeks old when I introduced them to each other.
When the culprits are around, the younger ones tend to stay in a corner and cower or avoid them altogether. Every now and then I hear a distressed squawk from one of the littles, and occasionally the bullies will chase a couple of them, but they never do anything if they catch them.
HOWEVER, they are all eating well, drinking, I haven’t seen any blood, feather picking, weight loss, etc… So is this just part of the pecking order?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Sounds pretty normal. As long as the younger birds can eat and drink and aren't getting injured I consider it acceptable to leave them to their devices.

 

[Cryss]

You gave coop and run dimensions. Thank you. How many adult and how many chicks are in that area?

 

[raingarden]

The pecking order is just regimented bullying. When you think about, chickens are not nice creatures.

 

[mrsmistoffelees02]

You gave coop and run dimensions. Thank you. How many adult and how many chicks are in that area?

You’re welcome! I have 13 total “teenagers” with different age ranges - the oldest batch hatched at the end of April, and the youngest batch hatched at the beginning of July. They are all about the same size (except for my little Serama rooster, but nobody really bothers him and he doesn’t bother anyone either).

 

[mrsmistoffelees02]

The pecking order is just regimented bullying. When you think about, chickens are not nice creatures.

So true. Reminds me of high school cliques!

 

[Cryss]

You’re welcome! I have 13 total “teenagers” with different age ranges - the oldest batch hatched at the end of April, and the youngest batch hatched at the beginning of July. They are all about the same size (except for my little Serama rooster, but nobody really bothers him and he doesn’t bother anyone either).

This may be the problem. Your coop is big enough for 12.5 birds ( let’s count that Serama rooster as the half ) at the minimum of 4sqft/bird, while your run is big enough for 10 at the minimum of 10sqft/bird. Overcrowding can cause fighting in a flock. Also considering that most hatches have about a 50/50 split between pullets and cockerels you probably have about 7 boys in there. The standard ratio is 10 females for one male. A 1/1 ratio is hard on females since the male can mate 30 times a day. If there is male competition there can be fighting. You may consider finding homes for a few of your boys (not the Serama!)

 

[mrsmistoffelees02]

This may be the problem. Your coop is big enough for 12.5 birds ( let’s count that Serama rooster as the half ) at the minimum of 4sqft/bird, while your run is big enough for 10 at the minimum of 10sqft/bird. Overcrowding can cause fighting in a flock. Also considering that most hatches have about a 50/50 split between pullets and cockerels you probably have about 7 boys in there. The standard ratio is 10 females for one male. A 1/1 ratio is hard on females since the male can mate 30 times a day. If there is male competition there can be fighting. You may consider finding homes for a few of your boys (not the Serama!)

Thanks for your input! It’s hard because when researching before getting chicks I found a lot of conflicting info about how many chickens can comfortably fit in a 8x5 coop (several websites said 24… I wouldn’t try that though!) and of course, chicken math. I definitely wouldn’t keep that many roosters per hen though, I have 2 Roos and 11 ladies,

My main concern was that the batch I got at the end of April seemed to bully the batch I got at the beginning of June -because the younger ones avoid them like the plague. But since it’s been a couple months that they’ve been together and everybody is still eating/drinking and no blood has been drawn/feathers plucked, I’m going to take @rosemarythyme’s advice and leave things for now while keeping a close eye on them. Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Cryss]

Thanks for your input! It’s hard because when researching before getting chicks I found a lot of conflicting info about how many chickens can comfortably fit in a 8x5 coop (several websites said 24… I wouldn’t try that though!) and of course, chicken math. I definitely wouldn’t keep that many roosters per hen though, I have 2 Roos and 11 ladies,

My main concern was that the batch I got at the end of April seemed to bully the batch I got at the beginning of June -because the younger ones avoid them like the plague. But since it’s been a couple months that they’ve been together and everybody is still eating/drinking and no blood has been drawn/feathers plucked, I’m going to take @rosemarythyme’s advice and leave things for now while keeping a close eye on them. Thanks again for your advice!

I tend to agree. I just wanted to offer another possibility but of course you know more the situation and whether it fits the advice. Sounds like you’ve got it under control.

 

[Chiggums]

I'm having a similar concern with my flock. I have 5 hens in a 9x12 foot run with plenty of perches and toys, including a peck block. But I have one hen in particular that regularly chases one of the other hens around. When she catches her she pecks her maybe once or twice, but it never results in any injuries or missing feathers. In general the bullied hen eats and drinks just fine but usually gets bullied out of treats. The bullying seems to get worse throughout the day to the point where the bullied hen ends up spending the latter half of the day staying inside the coop to get away from the bully.

The flock is all about 7 months old and have been together since 2 months of age, and this has more or less been the dynamic all along but it seems to have gotten worse since we lost a hen a few months ago that was previously at the bottom of the pecking order and was getting the brunt of the bullying.

Is this normal behavior in re-establishing the pecking order with the newly smaller flock?
Is the flock TOO small and in need of a few additions?
Any suggestions for curbing this behavior without separating the bully?