chickens fighting... not same old questions NEED HELP!

maf2008

Songster
12 Years
Feb 19, 2009
429
4
209
Please help!

I have tried introducing my 8 week old chickens to the 5 week old chickens (different breeds some) because the 5 week old's are nearly killing the 3 week olds, in fact they did peck one to death.

I did give more protein to ALL chickens(grains/pellets/grasses/table scraps)
which they all devoured and seperated the bigger from the smaller. Some of the 3 week olds are getting feathers again.

So I put 5 week olds in with 8 week olds and they ran to corner to hide. I watched for a whild no serious problems. Later today I went out to see most of them pecked BAD and one in shock with tail missing.

What can I do? They can all see each other through the wire/doors, I do not want to cull some of them, or free range as I am building a bigger coop just now.

I really NEED ADVICE FROM SOMEONE as I do not know what else to do..... standing by and waiting for a reply. Thanke everyone.
 
I think you should keep them separated but close enough where they can see each other but not touch. The 8 week old should be really getting into establishing their pecking order and can kill younger birds. I put mine in adjacent coops and runs and only let them out in the yard when I'm out there to watch them. In the beginning I had them take turns being out in the yard. I also make a place where the younger birds can go to get away from the older birds. I put plenty of scratcdh grain treats out so they will fixate hopefully more on the treats than the younger birds.
 
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I think you are getting good advice. The only thing I'll add is to watch and see if there are one or two instigators you could identify among the older birds. If so, you could try removing them for a few days. Another possibility, if you can identify the older birds at the bottom of the pecking order, you could try introducing a few of them into the younger birds territory.
 

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