Chicken Jail

[m2wandc]

I have had Rocky and Buffy in chicken jail for two days now...but I'm really not sure that it's going to work, because the dynamics of the flock are basically the same...someone familiar with Chicken jail, please explain how it could work to reorder the pecking order???

I have two chickens in one coop and two chickens in another...trying to intergrate them into a flock of four chickens.

The two that are aggressive have been put in the smaller coop...(aka chicken jail) and the two little ones have been given free run of the main coop...

But there isn't any "reordering" of the flock...they are still in pairs of two...

Give me some hope that this will work out...PLEASE!

 

[Ridgerunner]

This article can do a lot better job than I can on explaining what is going on with integrating chickens and should help you a lot.

Buff Hooligan’s Adding to your flock
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

 

[GAchick]

I think one method to use might be to let your less aggressive older chicken in with the two other birds. Leaving your more aggressive chicken alone in jail for several days. That means the two smaller birds will 'outnumber' the older bird. And the more aggressive bird will be knocked down a peg by virtue of being isolated from the 'flock'. And even then, there will be pecking involved once everybody is all together. Have an area set up where the smaller birds can retreat to if they feel the need, and keep an eye out for blood being drawn.

 

[cmom]

I had two hens that were really aggressive so I put them in chicken jail for a week where they could see the other birds and the other birds could see them. When I let them out one was ok but one was still a bully. I put the bully hen back in the chicken jail which is a rabbit hutch that I had used as a brooder, for another week. When I let her out she was still a royal bully. I understand they have to establish their pecking order, but one hen was after blood so then I would squirt her with a hose when I saw her pouncing on one of the younger birds. Every time I saw her jump on and wail away on one of the pullets I squirted her with a hose. She eventually got the message or was getting tired of being squirted and decided it just wasn't worth it. They had feed and water and a place to lay their eggs.