Chicks introduced to big girls....chaos and....blood (!)

[Hillschicks]

Hands down the worst part of backyard chicken keeping... We also fenced off under our nest boxes an area about 7' x 2' for our chicks... After a couple weeks we cut holes at both ends so they could come and go as they please and also when being chased have a 50% chance of picking a good corner with an escape route (within no time it was 100%, they know where they wanted to run to) ... Before we knew it we went out at night to check on them and they were on the top roost with the bigs... Still some minor pecking going on, but way smoother than the first time we put new chickens in... We didnt know it was going to be a problem and ended up with an exposed skull... Healed up just fine, but we learned a few lessons lol

 

[bobchristenson]

Well, since the start of this thread, we're now at week 8. I just put them together again (all day today) and it's not going much better, but the chicks are bigger so I feel like they're a little less in danger. I opened up the coop so they're much less likely to run into chicken wire etc, when trying to get away, so that was a good lesson learned.

I've decided I'm going to just leave them in the coop tonight and hope for the best. Fingers crossed I don't come out to dead chicks in the morning.

The boss hen seems SOOO mean to them. It's not just a peck or two to keep them in line. It's constant charging them, cornering them, and pecking at them until she's got a mouth full of feathers and they get away. This happens about every 5 minutes.

Is it normal that they'd be SO agressive? I was anticipating some pecking until the chicks were submissive, but it seems like she's literally trying to hurt/kill them. Can it get bad enough they could get killed at this age?

They're still hiding under the laying boxes 100% of the time. I put food/water accessible from underneath, but the boss hen still sticks her head under there and causes havoc frequently.

Any advice before I decide to eat Boss Hen Soup for dinner?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yes, it's normal, chickens can be absolutely horrible to new birds. That's why it's best to wait until the chicks are older and closer in size to the the older birds. And yes, chicks can be killed. Rather easily actually. And if you turn Boss Hen into dinner the next hen in the pecking order is likely to simply take over where she left off.

I hope too that it works out for you and you don't have serious injury or casulties in the morning. MIght want to go out there pretty early so you can supervise when they start to get off the roost. I'd be concerned since they are in that frame of mind and your youngsters are still pretty young. My latest batch just turned 16 weeks old on Christmas day and they are still in their seperate pen alongside the big girls. I will let them out to free range the pasture with them any day now but I would not have done it sooner.

 

[Hillschicks]

If it is 1 chicken causing the problems i would relocate her until the new additions are in with the rest of the flock comfortably... Then i would re-introduce the big mean chicken... Her being gone will place her outside the pecking order and she will need to re-establish herself to the entire flock instead of just picking on newcomers

 

[Hillschicks]

Either way tread carefully... If one mean chicken exposes blood the others will most likely join in... They actually use to sell red tinted glasses for chickens just so they couldnt see blood and attack each other

 

[Doubleyolker]

my Father had an old saying. Kinda makes sense now. " When their old enough to fly the coop?" Those old sayings have hung around for years. Maybe they aren't old enough to fly over to the "big side " yet? And now that the drama has started I would hold off and let them have a fighting chance.

 

[bobchristenson]

My issue really is one of having good enough housing to keep them separated long term. That's why I keep trying to introduce them into the same run (I really only have a single area that can't easily be divided again). We got a snow storm today so it means they're not going outside either...

Will they eventually work it out? (if they dont get killed first) I can't imagine it woudl continue like this for too many days...it seems like eventually the older bird would accept the new situation. True?

 

[Hillschicks]

Most likely... Just watch for blood... Bloody chickens need seperated or they will be relentless

 

[bobchristenson]

Two years later and lots more experience and I just re-read this post after I just introduced my next set of chicks (the babies in the original post are the big girls now). Some of the best advice in this thread is about "when they stop peeping and start 'clucking', they're ready to mix". I found that to be 100% true. I think when the big girls hear 'cheeping' its like asking to being beat up.

I also think it depends on the breed of the older hens. I just reintroduced my second set, this time at about 7 weeks, and didn't have a single issue. The big girls beat up on them on and off for the first couple days, but it was never very harsh and calmed down quickly.

Thanks to everyone who commented on this during my first go-round...it's made my second attempt smooth as silk!

 

[n3kms]

I'm still working on my first flock of chicks but reading for the future. I appreciate your follow-up and the good info from all the others.