Chicken Bully/Coop Issues

[Virgie87]

Have any of you dealt with hens that didn’t want to go in the coop at night due to bullying? I have 8 hens outside, 5 are a year old and 3 are almost 6 months. Once I introduced them (slowly and separately) with just normal pecking order behavior, the new 3 and 3 from my original 5 all started sleeping outside on the roof of the coop. I’ve noticed that one of my hens does peck at them a little when I place them inside at night, but everyone soon settles down. I plan on building a bigger coop anyways (I currently have the bungalow from MPC and 8 bantams) but I’m curious if anyone else has dealt with this.

 

[Tonyroo]

I just get rid of the Bully, cause trying different ways to alleviate the stress from new and old birds never seem to work. And I end up with constant drama and stressful reoccuring situations.

Once they learn a bad habit they just keep at it, then others start learning from her.

So far this method has remedied the situation. Everyone gets along. But that's from my experience with my flock, I have 5 roosters one of which is disabled living in harmony with 12 hens in one large coop.

 

[Tbrad]

Have any of you dealt with hens that didn’t want to go in the coop at night due to bullying? I have 8 hens outside, 5 are a year old and 3 are almost 6 months. Once I introduced them (slowly and separately) with just normal pecking order behavior, the new 3 and 3 from my original 5 all started sleeping outside on the roof of the coop. I’ve noticed that one of my hens does peck at them a little when I place them inside at night, but everyone soon settles down. I plan on building a bigger coop anyways (I currently have the bungalow from MPC and 8 bantams) but I’m curious if anyone else has dealt with this.

I would try isolating the bully first. I had one that was constantly mean to several ladies and I finally got sick of it and put her in a wire crate inside the coop with her own food and water. It ended up being a total of I think 3 days. I let her out day 1 to see if she could play nice and went back to bullying so I increased the time. She did stop laying just so you know to expect it

I actually had to put her back in recently but I think she remembered and was fine after day 1.

 

[Saveria]

Have any of you dealt with hens that didn’t want to go in the coop at night due to bullying? I have 8 hens outside, 5 are a year old and 3 are almost 6 months. Once I introduced them (slowly and separately) with just normal pecking order behavior, the new 3 and 3 from my original 5 all started sleeping outside on the roof of the coop. I’ve noticed that one of my hens does peck at them a little when I place them inside at night, but everyone soon settles down. I plan on building a bigger coop anyways (I currently have the bungalow from MPC and 8 bantams) but I’m curious if anyone else has dealt with this.

How is the ventilation on your coop? Sometimes if it is too hot they won't want to go inside.

 

[Virgie87]

How is the ventilation on your coop? Sometimes if it is too hot they won't want to go inside.

Ventilation is fine, they’ve been doing this since at least April or early May.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How big is the actual coop? I assume this is a prefab, it may not have enough roost space for all of them.

 

[Tired old Rooster]

Part of the problem might be the different breeds? Some are more feisty.

 

[aart]

bungalow from MPC

This one?:
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/the-bungalow-coop-run

How big is the actual coop? I assume this is a prefab, it may not have enough roost space for all of them.

Yeah, it's too small for that many birds, especially for integration.