Chicken drama!

[Funsarah]

Backstory: I don’t know if this is important but I think it might be. I have eight chickens. Four I got first and a couple months later I got four more chicks that I introduced to the original four at about 18 weeks, They all get along fine now although it was hard at first. One of the four from the younger group was a rooster. About a week ago we gave our rooster away, he was crowing at four in the morning and we are not allowed to have roosters here in Fullerton. The same day we gave him away we got an Olive Egger that is about 16-18 weeks. Now the chickens from the younger group that the Rooster was a part of have stopped laying eggs ever since we gave him away. The first four chickens are still laying eggs every day. All of the chickens are being super mean to the new one and it stays on a completely other side of the yard. The seven established chickens, they all perch together on the fence at night to get ready to go into the coop. The new chicken is on the complete other side of the yard and hides in a bush. Do you guys have any advice for this problem or do you think it’ll just take time? I imagine the egg production issue is due to stress. I don’t know if I should give the olive Egger back?

 

[nuthatched]

It might be slightly from new circumstances stances, but more likely, if you live in the northern hemisphere, it's winter with shorter daylight hours, most chickens don't lay in the winter.

 

[Kirkwooder]

There is always a pecking order that needs to be established, new introductions are never easy, and always cause stress. Give it some time, collect the lone hen after dark every night and place her with the others. They will either accept the situation or they won't, give it a couple of weeks. The lay cycle will correct itself.

 

[Funsarah]

It might be slightly from new circumstances stances, but more likely, if you live in the northern hemisphere, it's winter with shorter daylight hours, most chickens don't lay in the winter.

Thank you for your response! Yeah, I knew egg production slows in the winter, but it happened the day we gave away Rooster and re-introduced new chicken. And the other chickens are still laying.

 

[Funsarah]

There is always a pecking order that needs to be established, new introductions are never easy, and always cause stress. Give it some time, collect the lone hen after dark every night and place her with the others. They will either accept the situation or they won't, give it a couple of weeks. The lay cycle will correct itself.

Thank you for your response! Yeah we have been putting her in at night with them. Theyre pecking but don’t seem to be attacking her so that’s good.

 

[chickenwoman1405]

Backstory: I don’t know if this is important but I think it might be. I have eight chickens. Four I got first and a couple months later I got four more chicks that I introduced to the original four at about 18 weeks, They all get along fine now although it was hard at first. One of the four from the younger group was a rooster. About a week ago we gave our rooster away, he was crowing at four in the morning and we are not allowed to have roosters here in Fullerton. The same day we gave him away we got an Olive Egger that is about 16-18 weeks. Now the chickens from the younger group that the Rooster was a part of have stopped laying eggs ever since we gave him away. The first four chickens are still laying eggs every day. All of the chickens are being super mean to the new one and it stays on a completely other side of the yard. The seven established chickens, they all perch together on the fence at night to get ready to go into the coop. The new chicken is on the complete other side of the yard and hides in a bush. Do you guys have any advice for this problem or do you think it’ll just take time? I imagine the egg production issue is due to stress. I don’t know if I should give the olive Egger back?

I am having the same exact issue, I hope you can find an answer, I'm thinking it will take time, but in some cases you have to remove the chicken because of bad abuse.

 

[David61]

well, i'm not a chicken whisper or henmund Freud but ...
i have always supervised their free range time because of hawks. I'm the rooster as i let them out, take them to or call them over to the flower bed or part of the yard i want to work. I uncover rocks , bricks and pull weeds and they all work the ground around me as i kick up bugs. The pecking order shows as the flock works the same patch of ground. As the rooster i can interject when a fuss or pecking order gets going the way i don't like. The same with treats or any interaction working as a flock. They show behavior i don't like i fuss as them, peck at them, pin them to the ground or pick them up and carry them around some. They know my name and squat when i say. I am roK BaC. Taker of eggs, giver of grain ...

 

[alwaystj9]

Is a particular hen a worse picker-on than the rest? I have a very dominant & ancient white hen that has to go to chicken jail whenever I add new chickens. (A week living in close confines with a buck goat makes her nicer to everybody) I have to do this every year when I put the new pullets in.

 

[aart]

I imagine the egg production issue is due to stress. I don’t know if I should give the olive Egger back?

Yep.

Taking her back might not be great for her,
as she will again be a single bird in a flock that probably 'forgot' her.
Adding a single bird is tricky, especially if you just chuck her into the mix.
Make sure she's getting enough to eat and drink, and not being pinned down and beaten.
This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/