Favorelle being bullied

[Cchurchill91]

My chickens are bullying my young Faverolle. Theyre all roughly the same age (3, 4, 5 months) but she is the smallest and the only one of her kind. I have a small mixed flock (Buff Orps, RIRs, azure blues). The RIRs chase her around and I found her huddled head down in a corner this morning with my buff rooster pecking at her. She’s completely taken to my two 3 week old ameraucana chicks that I keep separate in the coop (the chicks go in a dog crate at night in the coop) so I let her hang out with them alone during the day now for the company and safety. I haven’t been crating the fav at night with the chicks so there’s the window of time in the morning where she gets picked on if she decides to go out to the run with the other chickens. I don’t know what else to do to keep her safe and I’m worried that keeping them separate like I have been for the last week is going to make the future integration even worse than it has been for her. I hate having to keep her in the coop all day but she loves being with the chicks. I have a huge coop and run so space is not an issue. Any tips on bullying behaviours or what I could do differently would be much appreciated! Thanks for reading.

The pic is from tonight when I went in to put the chicks in the crate for the night. She hopped right in with them looking at me like “can I please have a sleep over tonight?”

 

[JaeG]

I have read that Faverolles are so sweet and docile that they often don't do well in mixed flocks with more assertive breeds. Is there one particular bird doing the bullying? If that is the case you could try to crate the bully for a week so that they lose their status in the flock order, but there's no guarantee it will put an end to your Faverolles being bullied seeing as they are such sweeties.

 

[Cchurchill91]

I have read that Faverolles are so sweet and docile that they often don't do well in mixed flocks with more assertive breeds. Is there one particular bird doing the bullying? If that is the case you could try to crate the bully for a week so that they lose their status in the flock order, but there's no guarantee it will put an end to your Faverolles being bullied seeing as they are such sweeties.

She really is so sweet. All 4 of my RIRs gang up on her and jump on her. It’s been going on nearly a month now since I’ve had the fav and behaviour seems to only be getting worse. The RIRs were previously at the bottom of the pecking order and faced similar bullying but not nearly as bad. Wondering if it’s just hormones and it’ll slow down when they start to lay. I hope I don’t have to rehome her because she’s becoming my favourite but I’d hate to have her live bullied or segregated. We’ll see how things go!

 

[Vickischics]

My chickens are bullying my young Faverolle. Theyre all roughly the same age (3, 4, 5 months) but she is the smallest and the only one of her kind. I have a small mixed flock (Buff Orps, RIRs, azure blues). The RIRs chase her around and I found her huddled head down in a corner this morning with my buff rooster pecking at her. She’s completely taken to my two 3 week old ameraucana chicks that I keep separate in the coop (the chicks go in a dog crate at night in the coop) so I let her hang out with them alone during the day now for the company and safety. I haven’t been crating the fav at night with the chicks so there’s the window of time in the morning where she gets picked on if she decides to go out to the run with the other chickens. I don’t know what else to do to keep her safe and I’m worried that keeping them separate like I have been for the last week is going to make the future integration even worse than it has been for her. I hate having to keep her in the coop all day but she loves being with the chicks. I have a huge coop and run so space is not an issue. Any tips on bullying behaviours or what I could do differently would be much appreciated! Thanks for reading.

The pic is from tonight when I went in to put the chicks in the crate for the night. She hopped right in with them looking at me like “can I please have a sleep over tonight?”

Awwe, so sweet. She does want a Sleep over. Awwe!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Faverolles are known for being docile compared to other breeds, and RIRs are known for being aggressive to other breeds. So having both docile and aggressive birds in one space is part of the issue here.

Any photos of your coop/run to see where improvements can be made? Ideally you want a a good mix of obstacles so she can hide behind/on top of things to get relief from bullying.

Since she's friendly with the chicks, you could possibly integrate her with the babies and then try integrating them all as a group once you're ready to move to that stage.

 

[Cchurchill91]

[/QUOTE]

Faverolles are known for being docile compared to other breeds, and RIRs are known for being aggressive to other breeds. So having both docile and aggressive birds in one space is part of the issue here.

Any photos of your coop/run to see where improvements can be made? Ideally you want a a good mix of obstacles so she can hide behind/on top of things to get relief from bullying.

Since she's friendly with the chicks, you could possibly integrate her with the babies and then try integrating them all as a group once you're ready to move to that stage.

I‘ve been considering rehoming my 4 RIRs. Unfortunate because they’re so close to eggs but every time Ive introduced a new flock member they become aggressive. I wasn’t aware of their aggressive nature before I picked them up. My other breeds are quite docile and I feel like they throw off the harmony in the group. Integrating her with the chicks when the time comes was my next plan. My run could also definitely use more obstacles than it has. She used to just hide in the bushes or jump up on the roosts but it’s not enough. We will start working on that aspect next because it would definitely improve things regardless of if I decide to keep the RIRs or not. Thank you for all your help.