Chicken Fights

[Lille]

Hello All,

Possibly I shouldn't have started a new post for this as I'd guess I'm not the first to have this problem but I can't seem to find a previous post to reply to so....

I'm a brand new chicken owner and dumb as a rock about them... Last week I bought two hens ( Golden Comets ) and one pullet. ( A Black Copper Marans ) The hens got along just fine but they spent most of the day chasing the pullet all over the place. So yesterday I went and bought three more pullets/ ( another Marans and two EE's ) , thinking I'd spread the aggro around a bit and give the first pullet a bit of a reprise. Well, now the hens have stopped picking on the first pullet but the four pullets are fighting like crazy ! Not just chasing each other but actually pecking at each other !

What to do ? Is this a behavior that will pass or have I created a bad situation ? Not sure what to do but I feel badly about all the picking that's going on.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks !

Lille

 

[M.sue]

The pecking among the pullets is normal. They are establishing rank. As for the other hens....how old are they? You should probably keep them separate (the hens & pullets) for a while and then slowly reintroduce them to each other. There are threads on here to tell how to go about it. Good Luck and enjoy your chickens!!

 

[DanEP]

Every time you add new chickens to a flock it upsets the pecking order and it has to be worked out. This will take a few days but they will work it out themselves and as long as nobody is getting really hurt (bleeding ) it's best to just leave them alone and let them work it out. I know that it can look pretty rough but it will pass, but the more you interfere the longer it will take. Just watch for one or two that are really being bullies this might call for action. your flock needs to work out the pecking order and as soon as they do things will get a lot more peacefull. Just be aware that as your pullets get older the pecking order may change again but will be a lot less dramatic than the first go around it's just part of being a chicken.
I have 35-40 chickens right now that have been together for several months now and they still duke it out every nite for who get to sleep where but free range every day together just fine.

 

[Megaears]

I'm so glad someone else had/has this issue. I love all the help I'm finding on BYC

 

[Cosmos]

Our chickens seem to fight all the time but not too badly. We have three different kinds and they fight the other kinds. Is that inter racial fighting normal or is it just the pecking order thing?